Finally! I've waited for this concert for two months since my birthday last June...one thing that made me look forward to this was that my friend, Jerrymi, promised to get me a ticket as his gift for me.
It was just two weeks ago that Chris Tomlin came to the Philippines and now it's Nashville-based SONICFLOOD. We are indeed blessed together with the other places that these anointed bands have decided to visit.
I've never been to any of their concert so I took the chance to be there and to listen to what God has to say through the famous band who popularized "In the Secret (I want to know You more)", "I could sing of Your love" and "Better is One Day".
And just like the previous Fridays, it was raining...and traffic jams in Manila when it rains...everywhere, anywhere! About 6:30pm, from Makati, my friends (Jerrymi, Tin and Len) we took some shortcuts going to Araneta Coliseum to make it at 8pm. Thank God we made it despite of the roadtrip challenge. The water was rising along the streets and Jerrymi punched a line saying, "because it's sonicFLOOD that's why!" When we got to the Coliseum, our friend Aydin, was there. So we settled down and waited for the concert to begin.
The concert started with a front act by a band from Christ Commission Fellowship. Then Paul Tanchi, son of Peter Tanchi of the same church went up and share God's Word. He told his "parking story" that happened in the U.S. and related it to our salvation. I spoke for about 20 minutes and led to pray with people as they opened their hearts to Jesus.
After the short message, the SONICFLOOD took over. They always have a way of making the arrangement of the songs different from others. Aydin said he was a fan since his high school days... and that was over a decade ago!
I was just sitting down and listening to their songs...Rick, the lead vocals and guitarist, was very passionate and anointed. His accent always makes their songs quite different from the others. Their genre is pop rock but they always sing the songs with different melodies and style.
The most unexpected moment happened when Rick started sharing his near-death experience about his intestinal sickness and how God used that situation to bring him back. My eyes were filled with tears and my heart was pounding fast as I listened. One of the many faith statements he said was something like this, "my body needed healing but God knew what I needed most, a new heart." The Lord's amazing grace was experienced by such a desperate man...and he was not only healed but he was changed. And he continues to dedicate himself to worship the God who healed him and gave him life. Then he posted a challenge. Did an altar call. And people ran toward the stage. Rick and the other band member went down and started laying their hands on the people. I was praying and praying and praying as I was sitting beside my friend Len. Little did she know that I was also praying for her. It was quite difficult for us to come down and go to the stage from where we were, so I was hoping that somehow I could pray for her. I could see from my peripheral that she was crying. And there I asked her if she wanted me to pray with her. Tears fell and I started to pray. After that she turned over to Tin and wept.
One soul and it was all worth of all the efforts...but it was more worth the life, death and love of Jesus.
If we only make ourselves available for Christ I believe that it is possible that we can win our country for Him...and greater, the world that we live in.
I want to know my God more and more for He gives me more reasons to sing of His love... today and forever!