Perfomer's Visit Produces Lasting Memories

A college baseball coach in the spring season is busy enough. But I mixed in some extracurricular activity early last week. And as always, I am entirely too willing to share the details of my personal life. Here goes. You may remember a few years back when I penned a couple columns pertaining to my favorite Christian contemporary band, FFH. I had the good fortune of attending several of their concerts and eventually met them in person at one of their performances. Unfortunately for us fans, FFH decided two years ago to take some time off to pursue individual ministries and to enjoy more family time. Understandable. As you may also remember, I have this “Things To Do Before I Die” list. It’s on my computer and each time I accomplish one of my goals, I highlight it in bold. One of my “To Dos” is to introduce my favorite band, FFH, to a crowd before a concert. When the band decided to take some time off, my dream seemed improbable. But alas, I recently got back in touch with Michael Boggs, my favorite FFH band member, and he actually remembered meeting me before. One thing led to another. And last Sunday night, I was afforded the awesome privilege of introducing Michael Boggs of FFH to an audience at my church. Not only was his performance outstanding, but he also proved himself to be an awesome guy who took time to get to know everyone who waited after to talk to him. Not only that, he accompanied some of the younger generation members of my church to an impromptu meeting at the coffee shop for some hangout time later that night. In case you’re wondering, I am not one of the younger generation. But I was thoroughly impressed with his openness and unpresumptuousness. (I know that’s not a word but hopefully it helps you understand how humble Michael is.) The following Tuesday I introduced him again- this time to the student body at Gardner-Webb before his performance there. And for icing on the proverbial cake, I drove him to the airport afterwards. As our journey began, I became a teenager in the 1960s seeing the Beatles for the first time. Only difference was that my Beatle was sitting beside me in my dirty truck carrying on a conversation with me while we ate Chick-Fil-A from a shared bag. One of my favorite moments of the ride occurred when I pressed the “Play” button on my CD player and it cranked up one of my favorite FFH songs, written of course, by Michael himself. “Recognize that?” I asked. After an adjustment of the volume button, Michael explained to me in detail what had inspired him to write the song and how he had sat down on a park bench with his guitar and composed it in fifteen minutes. Experiencing surreality, (again, not a real word) I mentally pinched myself a few times as he spoke- while the very song he described played softly in the background. Just before saying our goodbyes at the airport, I informed Michael that I would be crossing off an item on my personal “To Do Before I Die” list. He grinned and gave me that “Okay, whatever you say” look. If only the Beatles had been so humble.