twenty-two
The fear inside, the hills we've climbed / The tears this side of heaven, / All these dreams inside of me / I swear we're gonna get there/ Sooner or later / Sooner than later. There were so many times on the journey to this concert that discouragement overshadowed the cause, that the stress of planning weighed down the joy of what we were looking to celebrate. But then songs like the ones I just listed came on my shuffle. But then God stunned us with yet another providential moment of miraculous grace, of divine providence and provision. But then the lights dimmed at 8:55 PM on Saturday, April 2, 2016. That feeling that I experienced back on that muggy July night all came rushing back. But this time, I was in a place I’ve called home for the past four years. The road to this day, to this celebration of art and music and creativity, has been a long time in the making, which is perhaps the reason why tears kept filling my eyes on April 2, 2016. You see, when I first came to college, I found myself very insecure about the interests I had and the talents I possessed. I found myself liking things like movies, music, magazines, theatre, and art—creative things. Instead of viewing my interests as important and purposeful, I saw them as things that less pleasing to God, less important, less valuable, less than. At some point though, I stopped viewing my talents and interests as less. The insecurity and worries I had in my interests and talents faded, and in her place, a great hope and understanding that our human creativity is a great thing, that investment in the arts is just as important as investment in the sciences.“Human creativity is borne as a reflection of the infinite 72