Day 5 was long but amazing!!  It included sharks, music, and sea shells.  It was packed with fun, rhythm, and meeting others in the body of Christ.  I would say the day was well worth the blisters on my feet.  Note to self, do not wear new sandals, no matter how comfortable they seem, to walk around the aquarium.

The Aquarium of  The Pacific in Long Beach is much larger then the Living Planet Aquarium in Salt Lake, which we frequent quite often.  Bryan was most fascinated by the fact that he was able to touch sharks!  They had sharks in the smaller species, such as bamboo sharks.  He also loved seeing the sea turtle, the guitar fish, and the seals and sea lions.  He told me the seeing the divers in the really large tanks was pretty cool too.  He met a volunteer who was instantly fascinated by his knowledge and understanding of whales when he asked Bryan a question, which of course didn’t surprise me since I said to his aunt “Bryan is about to shock this guy”.

After the aquarium Melissa dropped me off at the Venue, where I waited in line for Sylvia to arrive. Bryan went with his Aunt Melissa to the beach, collected sea shells, and went to Chik-Fil-A for dinner.  While waiting I met one of the guys from Remedy Drive as he went down the line saying hello to people.  When Sylvia arrived she went and spun the Sidewalk Prophets prize wheel and won a really cool little Sidewalk Prophets Van which I will give to Bryan.

When we got into the venue we got seats right of the stage right on the railing, so we were sitting at stage level.  As far as I am concerned this is as good as front row.  A bit before the show we spotted KyleRay and Brody behind the stage on the side where we were sitting.  KyleRay walked by a few minutes later and I called his name, of course he had no idea who I was when he looked!  He realized when he saw “@race_12_1” on my shirt, and I told him.  He said his 5 days off were great!

Just before the show started I asked the few people sitting by us to pray with us for the ministry that night.  They said they would be glad too, so we did.  As they night went on I found out the woman sitting on the other side of me had just returned from the mission field a few months earlier, and wanted to go back.  I told her at the end of the night I wanted to pray with her before she left, and we did.  So I did what I went to do, I took what I did in chat every night out on the road with me, I did what God wanted me to do, I accomplished what he set out before me.  So tonight I will repeat that task, with the hope to expand it even more, for I know God’s intention is greater than what I can even see.

When the show was over we found out JanetPlanet5 was in the building.  We tried to find her, but finally gave up, and waited in line to see Sidewalk Prophets.  While we were waiting, I jumped over to see Francesca Battistelli, and was able to thank her for saying “yes” to God when He asked of her.  Back over to the Sidewalk Prophets line where Sylvia had waited, surprise surprise, there was Janet, 3 feet form us!  So I got to meet her after all.  It was good to finally meet her.  When the guys saw me, they apparently recognized my shirt, because they saw it outside, and a picture of it had been taken.  Cool I suppose.  Told all of them thank you for saying “yes” to God as well, for the impact the ministry they are doing is enormous.

That is really what it all comes down to.  The impact it is all having.  Not numbers, not dollars, but changed lives for the sake of the gospel and growth in it.  The fact that they each said “Yes” when God said “do this for me” means they are doing what God needs them to be doing to have that impact.  He will ensure the work accomplishes it’s intended goal, He just needs us to say “Yes” and remain faithful in the doing of it.