Alright. I know what you’re thinking. I said I was going to use this blog to keep everyone updated on what’s going on in my crazy life on tour…but it’s been 2 months on the road and I haven’t posted anything. Yeah…about that…
It didn’t take me very long after things got started to realize that our busy schedule was going to make it a little difficult to keep up! I promise I’ll try to do better. Haha So that being said, I’ll do my best to try to recap the last 2 months. Forgive me, this may get a little lengthy…there is much to cover!
After everyone arrived in Pittsburgh in August, we spent a quick minute getting to know each other over a scrumptious meal at Primanti Brothers, then got right down to business the very next morning to kick off training. For about a week, our days looked a little something like this:
10AM – Meet in the office, team devotions/prayer, discuss what our lives would look like for the next 9 months
12PM – Lunch break! (We introduced the out-of-towners to the 8th wonder of the world, Sheetz, leading to us enjoying many of our lunches, sometimes dinners as well, there.)
1PM-ish – Working in the office, writing/memorizing talks, practicing skits
4PM – Head to the warehouse down the road where we learned how to use all of the equipment, how to load and unload the truck, and how to set up and tear everything down. Then we’d spend hours upon hours practicing and running through the entire show.
Somewhere between 2 and 5AM we would finally wrap it up for the night (er…morning…) and return to our host homes to get a couple cherished hours of sleep before doing it all over again the next day.
Again, I know what you’re thinking. 16-19 hour work days?! That’s crazy! How the HECK did we function all week?! The only possible answer to that question is this:
Jesus and energy drinks.
Haha Monsters and Red Bulls were definitely appreciated among the team from time to time, but the reality is no amount of sugar-loaded beverages could truly keep each of us coherent, positive, and patient with one another if that was all we were relying on. The reality of it all is that God is our strength and provision. Only He could sustain us as each long, crazy hour ticked by, as we rehearsed for the 86,000th time. We often didn’t really realize just how exhausted we were until we were told we were done for the day! God provided us with just enough strength to do what we needed to do and learn the entire show and process surrounding it in only a week.
Of course we made plenty of time amidst the chaos to goof off as well, which was rather helpful in keeping our sanity ;) I swear I should have abs of steel by now after how much I have laughed since we’ve all been together…we definitely keep each other entertained, that’s for sure!
Once training week ended, we loaded up our glorified shuttle bus, said goodbye to our wonderful office family, and hit the highway! We had our first bunch of shows and school assemblies in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. When Hurricane Isaac pushed us out of that area, we escaped to Houston, TX about a week earlier than we had originally planned. After some relaxation, shopping and family bonding, we jumped back into show mode for another 2 weeks of shows deep in the heart of Texas. A quick stop back in MS followed by a weekend in Arkansas wrapped up our southern shows for a while, so we travelled back to Pittsburgh for a little break. During this time I got to spend time with my family, a bunch of friends, and my mentor, which was very refreshing and exactly what I needed to prepare for our biggest show yet – Cranberry.
Last Sunday we had a show at Victory Church in Cranberry, PA. Typically on show days I get that butterfly feeling in my stomach as I’m about to go on stage, but on this particular day, I was insanely nervous ALL DAY LONG. Why? Many reasons. We had a crowd of a little over 1,000 people, which included people from our office, my family and some of my friends. It’s so different when you’re on stage in front of people than you know as opposed to a large crowd of strangers. But, as always, God pulled through, calmed my nerves, and used me (as well as the rest of the team) on that stage.
In case you don’t know exactly what I do in the show, I am in a skit in the beginning, then later I do what we call the boundaries talk. I get up and talk a little about my personal testimony, my journey of abstinence, how I’ve remained pure in an impure world, and some tips for dating and waiting. Though I wrote my own talk, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve blanked on the entire thing just moments before walking out in front of the crowd. Panic. Deep breath. Lights come up. Mouth opens…and 8 minutes later I’m taking my mic off backstage, completely speechless. Sure, I don’t hit it perfect every night. Actually I think I’ve only done that for 2 out of the 16 shows we’ve had so far. But the beautiful part is…it’s out of my control. I practice my talk every single day, whether I go through it in my head to pass time on the bus, talk to the shower walls while I wash my hair, or perform for my hotel room mirror. I do my part. I give it my all. But when it comes down to show time, there’s no more time for practice. Now it’s all in God’s hands, and it’s been such a blessing to learn night after night that I am not in control. This is not my show. It is not my responsibility to simply memorize a bunch of empty words in a script. Much rather I am just a vessel for the Spirit of God to inhabit and speak through. All I have to bring is the emotion and passion I feel…He’ll provide the words.
As I write this, we are on our way back to Pittsburgh after a show last night in Warren, PA. I sit here completely consumed by thankfulness. Sometimes I still can’t believe this is my life. 4 years ago I walked into a church in Indiana, PA with my youth group and walked out with a silver ring on my finger. 3 years later, just last year, I was volunteering at shows while just visiting a friend when she suggested that I look into applying for the tour team myself. Now here I am, on the opposite side of things, doing everything I’ve always wanted to do but didn’t know I could have all together. My interests/passions of acting, speaking, being on stage, working with people and kids, ministry, and seeing change in a downward-spiraling culture…they all combined into one big package called the Silver Ring Thing national tour team. And I get to be a part of it. I couldn’t be more at peace and in love with where God has me. It is so true that He knows the desires of our hearts. This has been mine all along and I didn’t even realize it until He revealed glimpses of His plan to me and said, “Go.”
Sure, life on the road with 12 other people, living in close quarters and getting very little sleep isn’t always a bundle of rainbows and butterflies. Sometimes it’s difficult to see the silver lining or the bigger picture when you’re tired/hungry/sore/sick/irritable. But it is in those times that the Lord stretches and grows each of us on this team to become more and more like Him…preparing us for a beautiful purpose.
(If you want to see for yourself a little of what the team has been up to, check out our webisodes! Silver Ring Thing videos)
