I Can Only Imagine...

I have been counting down to the joint Mercy Me and Steven Curtis Chapman Christmas concert at the Glendale Arena where the Phoenix Coyote NHL ice hockey team normally plays. Finally Dec 11 arrived, we went there early to avoid the traffic and also look at the booths. There were the usual merchandise booths as well as the Christian radio stations giving away freebies. The concert started with a friendly banter between Bart Millard (lead singer of Mercy Me) and Steven Curtis Chapman. Most of the time, Bart teased Steven about his age and the Arizona weather - no white Christmas. Steven doesn't look too old, probably in his 40's and he is the most honored Christian singer with more than 40 #1 hits in Christian radio plus Grammys, Doves (Christian music awards) and other accolades. Then they played a short medley of hit songs that won't be sung in this concert like Word Of God Speak, Homesick (one of my faves), Dive, Livin' Out Loud. Awww... was kinda disappointed but it made sense that the 3 hour concert will not have time for all the hit songs and this is called a Christmas concert... and it should have Christmas songs! Bart joked that some of Steven's slow hit songs were during his parents time and then took over the first half of the show while Steven sang at the latter half. Then the techno fireplace and falling snow outside the window came on the LCD screens to give Arizonans a feel of what a white Christmas is and the show began...

There were a few touching moments in the concert. Steven sang a song called All I Really Want about kids who don't want the latest toy but a hope for a family. Towards the end of the song, a group of Phoenix adopted/foster children came onto the stage to sing the chorus and that was very tears inducing. Steven is a champion for adoption and he formed an organization called Shaohannah's Hope (named after his adopted daughter) to provide help to those who plan to adopt. He himself had adopted 3 girls from China and his message of giving hope to unfortunate children this Christmas spurred me and my wife to do something. Even though me and my wife are planning to have kids of our own, we are now considering adoption. We are taking the first steps towards foster care and adoption by applying for a license in Arizona. Adoption is expensive, it would cost $15k for a baby girl from China and about $10k for local American babies. Adopting Arizona's kids would be free and they will be slightly older. So now, we are dreaming of probably 3 kids of our own and 3 adopted ones. I can only imagine... that could be a lasting legacy I could leave in this world.

One of my favorite songs was Mercy Me's I Can Only Imagine. Whereas John Lennon imagined about no heaven and no religion, Mercy Me imagined about being in heaven and meeting Jesus. This song was inspired by Bart's dad who died of cancer when he was in his teens. He then wrote this song about loved ones who had passed away and why they would choose heaven instead of earth. Towards the end of the concert, he sang a new song, Joseph's Lullaby (and cleverly splicing it with I Can Only Imagine), about the love of Joseph for his son, Jesus, who is not his own flesh and blood. Seeing Jesus' tiny head and cradling his tiny body, wondering about the future of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords as Jesus lay soundly asleep, Joseph imagined what will it be like in heaven, "Surrounded by Your glory, what will my heart feel? Will I dance for you Jesus or in awe of you be still? Will I stand in your presence or to my knees will I fall? Will I sing hallelujah, will I be able to speak at all? I can only imagine..."