Faith Day 2008

Today we enjoyed Faith Day at Coors Field.  This is a yearly event however it isn't highly publicized.  In fact that link on my previous post was really hard to find.  This event is mostly advertised just at area Churches.  This was Darly & my second Rockies game.  Dh has gone to one other Rockies game.

We take the light rail because it's easier...the train takes us almost the entire way from our house, there's no fuss for parking and with gas prices, we're pretty sure it is much cheaper!  So the first shot in the slideshow is on the train.

We got to the game very early because last time we went the wait to pick up our tickets at the Will Call box was very long and we missed most of the first inning.  This time because we were so early there was no wait and we got to watch them prepair the field for the game...snore!  LOL!

The Rockies got pounced on by the Padres.  It was pretty sad.  However, the game was not the only thing we were there for.

Because they were expecting rain the stage was set up near the 3rd base line and they had all of us move over to that side of the field.  There were over 4,000 at the game and I would guess there were easily over 1000 for the Faith Day presentation & concert.

First they had a few speakers talk about their faith and then Stephen Curtis Chapman came on stage.  Stephen talked for a bit about his recent loss.  If you don't already know, Stephen's daughter Maria went to Heaven back in May.  He shared with us the story of when he first met his daughter Maria in China.  He was there doing some work for the orphanage and he asked to hold one of the two foster babies that he had met.  He asked the name of the one he was holding and she was Maria.  There aren't many babies in China named Maria...and the first thought through his head were the words to a song he had written 12 years earlier "Maria"   Before he left on the trip his wife MaryBeth had warned him to "NOT come back with another baby.  Their house was full...there's no room at the inn!"  He called her crying about Maria.  MaryBeth still said no, however, when Stephen got home she had already started filling out the paperwork to adopt her.
When Maria had attended preschool she was learning the lyrics to "Big Big House" and she was asking MaryBeth about them.  "Does God have a Big Big House in Heaven?"  "Does he have a Big Big Table with lots and lots of food?"  MaryBeth caught on and said "yes and he's got a big big yard where we can play football!"  Maria was suprised, and then said that she wanted to go and see that big big house.

Stephen sang "How Great is our God" and some other songs that are escaping my memory right now, probably because I have the radio on.  But he told us that he struggled when he knew that he would return to the stage about which songs he would preform.  He was certain that he would never sing "Cinderella" again.  However, he knew that Maria's life wasn't over and that he had to sing the song again.  Only for us he changed the last line to "Because I know the Truth, the Dance will go on!"

Stephen started singing another song but the rain wouldn't hold off any longer.  By the time he was about 1/2 way through the song, the crew was covering up all the equipment.  But Stephen kept on playing.  He had mentioned earlier that he wasn't at all worried about getting zapped, in fact if it started lightening he would be out chasing it.  But his crew put a tarp over his keyboard before his song was over and let him finish before they covered it completely.

Stephen said that if we wanted to wait for the rain to quit he would come back out and play the rest of his set for us.  So we decided to see if we could get a seat that had some protection from the rain on a lower level.  (note our first seats for the ball game were on the 3rd level in the nosebleed section.  Our second seats were still on the 3rd level, only closer to home plate. 

So while it rained we made our way to the lower level...and what did we spy there?  Why it was Bob & Larry from the Veggie Tales!  Darly really wanted a picture with them (she's been a bit jealous of a friend of hers who is seen posed with them on her mom's blog.)  So we got the shot.  When I took the picture, I gave Darly the Thumbs up...and LOL!  Larry gave me one back.

The rain quit right after we made it to the lower level.  So the crew pulled back the tarps, dried things off and the concert was back on...only now it was pumped up!  Well first Stephen played "I Will Be Here" for his wife.  And then we needed to make some Noise and "Live Out Loud!"  But Darly was waiting for "Dive" and she didn't have to wait long.  The only bummer was that the sound got a bit messed up and the vocals were drounded out by the music on that song.  But Darly still enjoyed it.

We didn't leave the ball park until almost 8pm and didn't get back to our car until almost 9pm.  So we're all very tired...including my dog who got to sleep all day!