“Plans Interrupted,” An Evening in December 2009, was suitably titled. From the audience’ perspective they witnessed a story unfold of a young couple with their lives all planned out. “Sarah,” witnessing the famous kickline of the Radio City Rockettes, planned to make her Broadway debut, but discovered instead an unexpected pregnancy. And thus “A Baby Changes Everything.”

But unknownst to the audience, our cast and crew experienced a parallel storyline, and with our show all planned out, discovered several unexpected surprises.

Weeks prior to the show, the cast was hit hard by the “AEID bug.” Flu symptoms, cold symptoms, and phantom lost voices were just the first inkling. One night, Steve Pearce, our soloist in the final numbers, went outside between the two songs and decorated the bushes with his lunch. Tina Converse became acquainted with our black-painted set–backstage in the dark, kneefirst–and was on crushes for the entire run.

During the show, the Tech Crew was hit hard by some bizarre technical bugs. Rebooting computers, unexpected human error, and phantom lost tracks were just the first inkling. In one scene, our accompaniement tracks cut out only 4 minutes into a 6-minute medley. Fortunately, it was in the middle of a graceful “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” whereupon the cast continued singing a capella while the dance partners kept flowing through their waltz section. To the audience, it seemed like it was planned that way.

The next day, John’s cast warmup included this set of notes, and here are my personal notes as I applied them to my role:

[R]eady for Anything – Now that I know my show, I can’t get comfortable. Be on my toes, ready for anything, whether it’s a person getting hurt or sick, or a machine thinking for itself. (Erik Kennedy: “actors, track failed! Come on stage now! John’s starting scene B! Now!”)

[E]nergy to the End - The seven-show run, with two days of back-to-back shows will tax health and energy. From a health side: rest, energize, take my meds and vitamins, wash hands, don’t share germs. From an energy side: I am to give 100% of what I can give every minute that I’m onstage.

[L]oving God and showing it – The music has great lyrics. I have internalized it, but I need to show it in my face and body to the audience members. This isn’t just a song and dance and some clever lines. This is a story that has depth, but our audience can only get it if I give it to them with my whole being. As if my life was on the line. Or their life was on the line.

[Y]ahweh will Provide - Tina’s knee, Steve’s stomach, the lighting unit with its own brain, the computer that sneezed, and other unexpected interruptions came at us from phantom sources. But my full confidence and faith in God meant I and the cast and crew were leaning on God. The Provider. Yahweh.

As you can see, John asked us to RELY on God. He had cast us, trained us, coached us, prepped us, cracked the whip on us, amd loved on us. Now all we had to do was lean on God and rely on Him throughout.

And not just during this show with its unexpected surprises. Plans Interrupted.

During my life with its unexpected surprises. Plans Interrupted.

~geeWhiz

by Jesse Smith – “…from the moment Thanksgiving ended I was able to celebrate everything that Christmas is about and I owe it all to my son, Styer.”
And so begins Jesse Smith’s blog entry. Its topic is so fitting to the Behind the Scenes blog, that I didn’t want his entry to become lost in the sea of links.
Jesse has graciously granted me permission to repost this blog in its entirety.

Christmas has been officially renewed!!! Now don’t get me wrong. I have always loved Christmas. I love everything about it. I love being with my family, the lights, the trees, the presents, Santa Claus, the music and, of course, taking time to really appreciate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

But during the last 10-15 years I haven’t really spent much time truly appreciating the season. I think what was really happening was that I had experienced it so many times that I allowed it to lose its youthful excitement. Growing into adulthood and the responsibilities of being a “grown up”, I lost the anticipation of this incredible day. This year from the moment Thanksgiving ended I was able to celebrate everything that Christmas is about and I owe it all to my son, Styer.

Having a three year old who really understood Christmas for the first time brought so much excitement, anticipation, and true celebration of the blessed day. He loved coming home to a house filled with lights. He loved listening to Christmas music in the car. He loved seeing the decorations all over town—pointing out every single display as if he were in Rockefeller Center. He loved seeing for the first time the Grinch, Rudolph, Frosty, and of course my favorite—A Charlie Brown Christmas (thank you DVR!). And he loved coming to church and joining in on the celebration of baby Jesus. He loved the Christmas Eve service. His eyes were as wide as they possibly could have been when Santa Claus entered the worship center. He just sat there staring in amazement when Pastor Ted (his grandpa) interviewed Santa Claus. Although I was really hoping that he would experience a life-changing moment when Santa Claus shared the gospel message, afterward in a very solemn moment he turned to his mom with a very concerned look and asked, “Why does Santa like the Forty-Niners and not the Raiders?” Holly and I just looked at each other and laughed.

He loved getting up early on Christmas morning and running downstairs to see that Santa had eaten the cookies he left out…and left him a light saber under the tree. He was actually jumping up and down screaming, “I can’t believe Santa got me a light saber!”

Ted and Jesse Smith

So for me, Christmas has been renewed. For the first time in a while, I was able to anticipate and celebrate Christmas through the precious eyes of a three year old. But honestly… I loved coming home to a house that had lights on it. I loved listening to Christmas music in the car. I loved seeing the decorations all over town, pointing out every single display as if I were at Rockefeller Center. I loved seeing for the 100th time the Grinch, Rudolph, Frosty, and of course my favorite—A Charlie Brown Christmas. And I absolutely loved coming to church and joining in on the celebration of baby Jesus. I loved the Christmas Eve service. I sat and cried while Steve Pearce sang a beautiful rendition of O Holy Night. I loved watching my son listen to the Good News of Jesus Christ from Santa Claus. I loved the fact that my son loves the Raiders so much that he was disappointed to hear that Santa likes the Niners. I loved for the first time in a long time getting up early on Christmas morning to see what Santa brought. I loved jumping up and down screaming, “I can’t believe Santa got me a sky caddie GPS unit for golf!”

I believe that it is good to take some time—even though Christmas is over—to praise and worship God specifically for the gift of his son Jesus Christ. I also believe that, although New Year’s Resolutions often are for such things as losing weight or saving money, it is a great opportunity to look at how you lived this last year for Jesus and make some commitments for spiritual growth in the New Year. I hope that Christmas was a wonderful celebration of Jesus with your family and I wish you a very happy new year!

by Jesse Smith, Associate Pastor

originally posted on FirstCov.org/Devotions