Creation Northeast 2008 (finally!)

(Sorry this took so long...it is long also)

Sometime last fall my husband Brian says to me "would you like to go to Creation next summer?". You have to know two things:
1) my husband is NOT a crowd person
2) I LOVE a concert and have wanted to attend Creation for years but never thought anyone would go with me.
So......guess what my answer was?????? I did ask Brian if actually knew what Creation was ;).

So in February when the tickets first went on sale I bought them (they are cheaper the earlier you buy them). I was so excited and planned the trip for months (yes I'm THAT anal)!

We traveled up the day before it started so we could put our tent up and get settled in and just relax. Nice ride. About 7 hours from home. Mostly interstate travel and then nice little towns in PA. Once there we parked and set up camp. It is a very nice set up. They have been doing this for 30 years (this was the anniversary year)so they know what they are doing. Lots of RV's and tents. We walked around and found the shower area and the arena. We had a few issues but that was on our end. The fuel we bought didn't fit our stove (although the REI people showed us what to buy)and our air mattress had finally found its last leg (the air didn't stay in very well...time to get a new one). The power supply I brought wasn't strong enough to power my water boiler so making coffee was going to be a challenge. We did bring some cool stuff though....our canopy was rocking. The tent we bought was very nice
(it was a 7 person tent-air mattress fit well and then there was another "room" with the extra space). We laid down to sleep about 10:30pm.

“Home”



Wednesday June 25
Up at 7am (that's early when I don't have to up but my back was killing me since the air mattress was not staying filled). Went to the showers-$15 for hot shower for the week-oh yeah-well worth it!
Since our stove didn't work our neighbor felt sorry for us and let us use his spare stove.
We relaxed during the day. Read books, took a nap, went walking around campsite. The bands didn't start today until 5:15pm. We headed to the field and saw Flyleaf open. Lacy has an amazing voice-they were very entertaining to watch. She told us that she enjoyed playing at Creation because they didn't play in front of Christians often. I wanted to get her autograph (my stepson really likes them) but the line was so long that they cut it off when I got to the tent. Leeland was next-I always enjoy seeing them in concert. The speaker for the night was Justin Luckadoo. His question to us was "do you look like Who you follow"? He told us that in everything we see,say, think or do we should ask "if God could speak to me through this what would He say?"-then shut up and listen for God. It is time to get serious and follow Christ (does your life mirror who I say I follow?)They had a tribute to Keith Green. His wife came out to speak (they really should have just done a video montage instead). She rambled on for about 30 minutes and I still don't know what the heck she was talking about and we both wondered what she smoked before she got on stage. I am not kidding-she acted just like a person high on crack (and I've seen people high on crack several times). It was just very odd and no one seemed to be paying attention to her. At the end she tried to give an invitation which was just pitiful (she told us 5 times that they were telling her to wrap it up). After this we went shopping-bought tshirts (I needed a new Toby shirt!) The next band was Skillet. I don't listen to them usually but they put on a rocking show. And last but not least was Switchfoot. I have been a Switchfoot fan for years but until just recently (Carowinds in June) I had not seen them in concert. I sure have been missing out! They are excellent entertainers and I love them music. (Really looking forward to the Music Builds Tour with Third Day and Switchfoot!) We got back to the tent a little after midnight-air mattress held up better this night. Started to rain in the middle of the night which made for nice sleeping weather.

*NOTE* I have very few pictures. The only decent ones were taken during the day light. My night pics didn’t turn out. Too far away for the flash to matter so I don’t have many to share.

Relaxing


Hey!


Where we sat


Flyleaf


Flyleaf


Leeland


Why you don’t take pics of the video screen. I love to see people do it.


What I saw during Switchfoot.



Thursday June 26
Rained most of the morning so we just slept in.
I went to the showers about 11:30-mistake-stood in line for an hour ...that won't happen again.
Chilled at the tent-read, eat, sleep, read.....
The rain stopped about 11am and the rest of the day was beautiful but very hot. We decided to go to the arena later in the day so we missed Family Force 5 and most of Aiesha Woods (should have been later because she talked more than she sang...she kept trying to get people to respond to her). The Parachute Band sang 2 worship songs and then Ron Luce spoke. I found him dull and he lost my interest very early. Afterwards we went walking around and I bought another t-shirt. Then David Crowder band came on ...they started playing as we were walking back to our spot. They played "Undignified" first...which is my VERY favorite so I was dancing all the way back to our tarp. I listened to about 5 songs and then went to stand in the autograph line. I could still hear the music but couldn't see the stand very well. I wanted to get my picture of me and David Crowder signed. As we were in line a storm was brewing and we were told that it was about an hour away. Crowder finished playing and then the wind started getting worse. They arrived at the tent and we started going through. There were about 20 people ahead of me in line. I saw Toni (David's wife) and spoke to her for a few minutes. She is such a nice person. Then I gave David my picture which he thought was very cool. I had all the guys sign it and "draw" themselves in the picture. As soon as I got back to Brian I told him we needed to pack up and leave (Newsboys were on stage by then) because a bad storm was coming. We started to leave and they stopped the show. Rain and lightning followed. We stood near the vendors for a while until most of the crowd had left then went to our tent. As we got there we heard the Newsboys start to play again. I'm sure the people that stayed saw a great show.

Me!


Crowder (the only pic I got of him)



Friday June 27
Slept in...was told is was going to be very hot. Pretty much just sat around the tent and read books. Love our shade tree!!! Rain came again about noon. Alot of it. We spent about 2 hours in the tent. Went to the arena later so we missed some of the opening acts. I did see Kutless. I like them more each time I see them. All week long they kept telling us that Friday night we would have a special guest to help celebrate the 30th anniversary. Brian and I tried to figure out who it would be. I figured it would be an older artist that had been part of Creation for years. He picked on me and said it would Michael W. Smith. For those that do not know...I do not like MWS at all. I just can't stand to hear him sing. Some of his songs are really good but please let someone else sings them. (The opinions in this blog are my own and you have to right to have bad taste and disagree with me ;)) So....Brian told me that he would laugh his head off if it turned out to be MWS. Well after Kutless they started setting up the stage for the next act. There was no piano in sight so that was a good sign. Pastor Harry began introducing the artist (20 years ago this artist played at Creation......blah blah blah). Please welcome Amy Grant. Wow....that is just as bad. I sat down....Brian laughed. Now Amy has been around for many years and there is bound to be a song that she can sing (El Shaddai I can handle) that people would know right? She picked some off the wall songs that NO ONE knew (even the people behind me who said they were BIG Amy Grant fans didn't know the song *rolls eyes*)....why??? Anyway...once that was over and I lived through it :) Chris Tomlin came on the stage. Chris just amazes me each time I see him. He is so very humble and I love his music. I enjoyed every minute of it. "Amazing Grace" put me on my face literally. God is just so good. Then the candlelight service took place...what an amazing sight. They said there were about 70,000 people on the hill and each person was given a candle. When all the lights were turned out and everywhere you looked you saw candlelight it just warmed your heart. Pastor Harry told us that we are to be the lights in the world. If only we (me included!) would then our world would be some much different! Now I do have to add this …(you have to take this lightly because I truly do love singing worship music to God but some songs I like to sing less than others)…During the Candlelight service Amy Grant returned to sing a few more songs. She started singing (remember she is not my favorite) and guess what…it was a MWS song “Everywhere I go I see you”….not my favorite either THEN…she started singing the only song I don’t care to hear Mac Powell ever sing again “God of Wonders”. Brian just laughed at me. For those that know me this is rather funny…those that are in the dark…well can’t help you there ;).

Saturday June 28
Up at 7am (I told myself 5:30am to put my tarp up front...yeah right). I wanted to sit closer for the show today because it's Toby!!! I didn't really want to be in the mosh pit section so I went to get as close as I could in the chair section. Tarps were everywhere when I got to the arena but God is very good and right up front was a spot just big enough for my two-person tarp! Put my tarp down, went to get some coffee, took a shower and back to the tent within an hour. I managed to lock the keys in the car ....Brian went to the admin office and about an hour later some really nice people showed up and unlocked my car. We relaxed again today. That has been the best part of the trip. We could have done more but we were happy to just relax and spent time with each other. We straightened up our stuff so we would be ready to pack it up in the morning. Headed to the arena. Barlow Girl was first. I'm not really a big fan but those girls are quite talented. While watching them I noticed Gabe Real (from Diverse City) standing in the crowd. I walked over and spoke to him. He is just too nice. Got a picture and autograph.
Reggie Dabbs was the speaker. He was hilarious. He told nursery rhymes and then correlated them with Scripture.
Mary had a little LAMB
His fleece was white as snow....
(What name is given to Jesus? Lamb of God. Who is His mom? Mary)

Jack and Jill went up the hill
to fetch a pail of WATER
(Jesus is the living water that you never have to go fetch again)

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall
all the King's horses and
all the King's men couldn't put
Humpty Dumpty back together again.
(Reggie said since all the King's horse and men were around then the King was near by also. We are to call on the KING OF KINGS when we need help not the horses or men).

Jeremy Camp was next. I haven't seen Jeremy in years. What a shame. He always rocks it. Enjoyed him alot.

Next up...TOBY MAC!!! I am so glad that Toby won the GMA Artist of the Year this year. He and Diverse City blow me away every time I see them. I was having a blast (I did miss my Toby buddies though because Brian doesn't know all the moves). Glad I watched the DVD... ;)Fun fun fun. The rain held out until "Jesus Freaks" and then it was just a drizzle. What a great way to end a great week.

Our “microwave” (we just put the soup on the car and about an hour later it was hot enough to eat).


Inchworm


Me and Gabe



Sunday June 29
Up at 6:30am to pack it up and head home. Nice ride home. Took a nap and then went to work (yeah I know....I should have taken another day of vacation).

This trip was very nice. Hope to do it again! Maybe Third Day will show up next time!