Holy Rock Star

Every year for our anniversary, in lieu of gifts, Nelson and I elect to do something together. We figure that time together is always better than stuff. This year he surprised me with a trip to Atlanta's Lakewood Amphitheater to see Heart and Def Leppard in concert. What can I say? I married an 80’s fan.

Now I've never been a huge fan of "hard" rock but I love live entertainment so I was game. After waiting out a huge thunderstorm and power outage, we finally got in and rocked it out big time. With the first strum of Nancy Wilson's guitar I was taken back to my high school days. So we threw our hands up with rock fingers extended and danced and screamed with the best of them. We had so much fun!
We stayed the night in Atlanta so this morning when we woke up we did some research on local churches and mass times. We finally settled on attending mass at the Catholic Center on the Georgia Tech campus.

The congregation was made up of about 70 people, most of whom were college students dressed in everything from sundresses to shorts and flip-flops. It was a totally different experience than what we had experienced last night, and for that I was glad. Rocking it out for a bit is fun but it's certainly not something I want to do all the time.

The moment the priest started talking I knew we were in for a great experience. He had the joy and magnetism of a man who not only loves the Lord, but who genuinely enjoys being a priest.

His homily did not disappoint. He spoke of the Trinity in a way that was totally memorable for the young crowd (and those of us a little beyond our college years). He spoke the truth in a way that was exciting and inspiring. I was immediately drawn in to what he was saying. What I happened was the most spiritual experience I have had during mass in a long time. He radiated Jesus and I wanted to catch some of the light.

In the midst of my prayer during mass it occurred to me that this young priest was every bit the rock start that the bands we heard last night are. I found myself being very grateful that I felt that way and that I realize that Jesus is a much bigger deal than any band I will ever see.

We stayed to talk to Father after mass to tell him what a great job he was doing. He asked what brought us to town. In the conversation that followed he told us that he was actually a bit of a rocker himself and that in fact he liked Heart so much he had them on video. His parting words to us were in fact, “Rock On! Barracuda!” See? Rock Star!

There is a time and place for rock and roll, but there is never a time or place I want to be without Jesus.