Sunday evening turned out to be quite a night, even before I drove through the most blinding lightening and torrential rains I’ve ever seen. Our kids had deserted us for friends earlier in the day, so Bob (my hubby) and I decided to enjoy the annual Praise in the Park event at the bandshell in Aylmer. One of our favourite local musicians, Chris Bray, was going to be performing (great guy, loves God, awesome musician – gotta go see him). Envisioning a pleasant & relaxing evening on the lawn at the park, we grabbed a large regular to share. Except when we arrived, we were redirected by the ever-enthusiastic and friendly Peter Ungar (another one of my favourite locals) to Aylmer Full Gospel’s awesome new facilities. Uh oh… fresh, delicious coffee in hand, faced with yards of beautiful, spotless, brand-new carpeting throughout = dilemna. Thankfully we were welcomed at the door by Helene Barbour, the gracious wife of Pastor Peter who took quick stock of our maturity level and turned a blind eye to our Timmie’s cup.
Wow! The crowd that showed up was pumped before the music even started. This was the tenth annual event of Praise in the Park in Aylmer, and it’s always been about bringing the local Body of Christ together (which, incidently, is what LivingStones is about, too!) and I met people there from lot’s of churches: Aylmer CRC, New Sarum Baptist, Dorchester Family Christian Centre, Aylmer Evangelical Missionary Church, Aylmer EMMC, St. Paul’s United, Aylmer Baptist, Mt. Salem EMC, and more. Great to see these folks forgetting about the names on their churches for the evening and simply coming together to worship as believers of Jesus Christ. Into His Light, singer/songwriter duo Tracey Tiersma & Lisa Helder and Derrick Drover almost rocked the brand-new roof off the building. The only disappointment was that Chris Bray was fighting a case of strep throat & wasn’t able to sing a whole lot. But…
This Saturday will be another opportunity to catch Chris in concert. He’s performing at Christian Community Celebration of Faith
at the Pinafore Park Bandshell in St. Thomas. This event is being put on by the Salvation Army in hopes that support will be raised in the fight against human trafficking. There will actually be four concerts starting at 4 pm and going steady until 9 pm, and these folks are catering to everyone’s taste in music. If you like Country & Old Time Gospel, On Eagles Wings will be kicking it all off. Contemporary Christian worship leader, Cindy Baker & friends, GMA Covenat Award Winner, Chris Bray, and high energy contemporary Christian band, U Turn will be following. A freewill offering will be taken at each concert to help the Salvation Army in their cause. In the event of rain, concerts will be held at the Salvation Army Church on Elm St, St. Thomas.
Enjoy! Hopefully there’ll be room for us & our Timmie’s in the front row, and here’s hoping for more blind eyes if the concert turns out to be moved indoors!
