Music, momories and milestones

Well, it’s fall so I feel like I should write another blog, for the few readers I have out there in the blogosphere (you know who you are).

I went to a Waterdeep concert last Friday. Earlier that day I had visited my alma matter to interview Miss Rodeo Kansas, who happens to be a MidAmerica Nazarene University nursing student. The trip to MNU quickly turned into a venture down memory lane.

Needless to say, I felt nostalgic when I arrived at the Waterdeep show. I started listening to Waterdeep when I was 16-years-old.
16-year-old Arley and 27-year-old Arley are so different that it’s hard for me to even comprehend what’s going through teenagers minds when I talk to them these days. Although, having three teenage sisters, I certainly try my best.

In college I started going to as many Waterdeep concerts as I could. During high school my first two years of college I went through what I now call my assuredly-obnoxious-right-wing phase.

That phase concluded when spent a year in Philadelphia. During that time I listened to my Waterdeep CD’s whenever I got homeless. (I also listened to Garth Brooks to curb my homelessness.)

Waterdeep has been a part of my life for almost 12 years. During every phase of life Don and Lori’s music provides encouragement and support. The songs are like a friend who simply listens, without judgment or advice sprinkled with false hope.
The same Waterdeep songs I listened to at 16 still strike a cord. While the lyrics meanings continue to adapt and reach different levels, they provide consistency that I appreciate.

The Waterdeep concert reminded me of my belief in a God who doesn’t change, despite how frequently I do. There’s something profoundly comforting about a deity who finds delight in me- in all my quirks, moments of anxiety, times of joy and periods of utter confusion.

In this newest phase of life I’m entering, marriage, I realize that Logan will never know me completely or understand all the underlying issues that make me tick. Just as I will never fully understand him. The idea that there is a God who does, is a faith to which I still cling.