The Big Game!

Sunday was an amazing day in so many ways. First of all, it was the Celebration Sunday for PCC's Beautiful Day weekend. All the people in our church gathered together in one worship celebration at 9:15am. We sang and praised God for all He did... the energy in that place was amazing! Check out Tony's Blog to read more about the whole weekend and see a great video he made.

I had to leave the gathering at 9:45 to head for San Francisco. Gary and the congregation prayed over me, and they all clapped as I walked up the center aisle. That was a sweet moment, feeling the support and encouragement of my church family... and even like I was being sent out on a mission, to use my gifts for the glory of God.

We arrived at 10:40 or so and walked through the Entertainment Gate into the stadium. We found the people from e2k Entertainment, and I went out to the field for the soundcheck. Then came the wait. Two hours till the anthem! We had field passes, so we just hung out on the sidelines. The kids got some autographs, we got to see both teams warming up... lots of stuff to look at and explore. The atmosphere got more and more charged up with excitement.

Finally the big moment came and I walked out onto the field, right down the 25 yard line. I didn't forget the words! And they even shot off explosives as I sang "and the rockets' red glare." It was really thrilling and surreal all at the same time. Remarkably, I wasn't nervous at all. There was a great peace about the whole thing. I am grateful to all who prayed for me. I really did feel the presence of God out there on the field!

After I sang, as I was walking off the field, Bryant Young ran over and shook my hand. It was awesome! We even captured the moment on video, which you can see on Youtube or Google Video.

Then it was up the super-secret-special-passes-only elevator to the press box, where we enjoyed the game in luxury! All-you-can-eat free food and drink, TVs tuned in to network coverage and a killer view of the game.

And what a game! Everyone was calling it the most important game the 49ers had played in years, and they played it really well. I'm not a big sports fan, but I was absolutely riveted to the field and completely tuned in to what was happening! The halftime tribute to Jerry Rice was awesome as well... there was a real sense of history about it, with Steve Young, Joe Montana, Bill Walsh and even Eddie D. (whom my Uncle Alan used to fly for back in the glory days of the Niners) were all there.

Oh yeah, and the Niners won! It was a Beautiful Day.