Have you ever woken up to a fire alarm in the middle of the night and had to evacuate the place you were sleeping?  I have.

-phil

I am flying. Seat 28D feels painfully small. To my right there is a not so small middle-aged man napping in a flowery luau shirt. His glasses are slipping down his nose. To my left is an aisle. I must remember to keep my left elbow tucked closely against my body, for the flight attendants are moving quickly and are much too busy to be cautious about the occasional overhanging elbow. By the feel of them, their mobile drink stations seem to be made of reinforced titanium. The drink station is getting closer now. I am thirsty but the thought of managing a beverage in these close quarters always sounds like more work than it’s worth. I wonder if they serve yahoo. I decide to order a cup of cran-apple juice from Liz the stewardess, excuse me, the flight attendant. The only time I drink cran-apple juice is when I’m on a plane. When I am safe on the ground the juice never enters my thoughts. But here, in the sky, I crave it. I don’t know why. Maybe the sharp sweet and sourness of the drink is a refreshing change to the bland musk that fills my mouth from the recycled air of the overstuffed cabin. My juice is gone.

I have recently noticed that I am an ice-chewer. I love to feel it crunch between my teeth then swallow the cold slushy leftovers. I remember hearing once that ice chewing can become a real addiction. I don’t know if this is true, but I feel as though I have been told that there is something we get from chewing ice that we don’t get when simply drinking water. Research anyone? A young boy just grabbed my arm with both hands to steady himself from a small air jolt. I am bored.

The last two days I played at two different festivals. One was in Pennsylvania called Creation East. The other was in Dallas called Celebrate Freedom. I don’t know how many of you have gone to any Christian music festivals, they are, if anything, an interesting place to be. Let me begin by saying I am honored to have been asked to be apart of Creation and CF (Celebrate Freedom) along with the handful of others I am playing at this season, and I must say that they are a great way to get in front of a lot of people at one time. Summer Festivals are almost always outside. There is only one I have been to that wasn’t, which was in Scotland. As you probably deduced, summer festivals occur in the summer, which means summer festivals are hot and sweaty sort of things. Many times it rains as well, which turns them into hot and muddy sorts of things. For hours upon hours and sometimes days upon days a great slew of bands will mount any number of stages and offer their best slice of rock to a mass of eager hand-clappers and “whoop-whoopers”. But what I find more interesting than the music is what’s happening offstage. It’s the people themselves that seem to grab most of my attention. I am amazed by them.

For one, the sheer number can be staggering. But beyond that I think it’s the spirit of the crowd that is so intriguing, maybe even inspiring. The fact that so many would come together and brave the heat, muddy their clothes, sleep in tents, and still night by night fill the place with their voices is incredible to me. Though I would greatly prefer the smaller more intimate settings of an indoor venue, I have come to appreciate the festival for what it is in spite of the sweat. Viva La Festiva! By the way, have any of you heard the Coldplay record, “Viva La Vida or Death And All of His Friends” a lengthy title I know, but know with over ten solid listens under my belt I can safely say that I very much enjoy it. Thoughts?

So today I fly back to Southern California. I’m playing at the L.A. Convention Center with a band you may be familiar with called P.O.D. If I remember correctly, the letters stand for “Payable On Death”. If you have any other clever guesses at the mysterious meaning of the three letters please comment below. Phil Wickham and P.O.D., an interesting line up to be sure, but I am expecting a fun night. I’m thinking about writing a new bridge for Divine Romance so Sonny from P.O.D. can rap it during the show. Then we can close the song out with a scream off. I’ll try to get some pictures so I can share them with y’all here on the blog.

Lastly but not leastly, many of you have been asking about the live record that I recorded in May. For those of you who are not up to speed: I recorded a live show in Portland with me, my acoustic guitar, and about 2500 peeps singing out my songs and some hymns. It was a rad night of worship. We are currently editing it and making sure it’s ready to be listened to and soon…very soon, we will be making it available for free download here from this site. This week we’ll tell you all the exact date it’ll be available so stay tuned!!!!!! I am very excite!!! (said in high pitched middle eastern accent)

-phil