My heart on the 24HRMusical #24HR2012

I've been meaning to write this for a while, but after some previous conversations in the past couple of days, I have finally mustered up the motivation to get it onto the metaphorical paper of the internet.

The "success" of last year's event wasn't because of me. It was because of the incredible people I was surrounded by and the name in which we gathered. The unity we achieved as members of the body of Christ led to the Lord using his people to achieve the impossible. I constantly use dollar amounts and numbers to explain how much the Lord took our simple aspirations and multiplied them. While we are thrilled to have achieved what we achieved last year, the success was so much more than the money we raised or people we brought it. I know that our team's heart was truly changed in ways we weren't expecting. I've been blessed to create with all of my team members before last year's event. However, I have never felt such fulfillment as what we felt as we spoke to our cast before the performance. We were all crying. We couldn't believe we "made it". Intermission brought a similar moment. But thinking back on it I know that we weren't feeling a sense of pride or achievement...
We were so honored.
We were honored to have been chosen to lead that cast and experience that process. It was crystal clear to us that the event wasn't about an awesome show, it was about the process of creating for a divine purpose.

That's what the 24 HR Musical is about. It's about the process of creating. It's about sacrificing every inch of yourself for your craft. It's about understanding that no matter how tired, or cranky, or frustrated, or flawed you are, you're art has a purpose. It's knowing that your time to create is so LIMITED that you can't afford but pour yourself into it. On top of that, this art that is so soaked in passion and love and sacrifice... it is going to be used to change the lives of other people. In our case, that is the gift of fresh drinking water, ultimately... the gift of life. I admire Living Water so much because they are giving people the chance at a future. They are giving people a chance to attend school all year so that they can pursue secondary education and go to college and get degrees and be considered professionals in their field and sacrifice every inch of themselves to do exactly what God has created them to do. Do you see this cycle we have the power to start?

The 24HRMusical isn't the only way to do this. If you don't feel called to join this process, that is okay. However, in discussing the event with people I get many people who say they would love to but "don't think they could do it." If you are in that boat, I just want to encourage you that you can't! (Crazy twist!) That's the beauty of this project. The 24 HR Musical is a show process done with a heart of worship. I truly believe that is what made it succeed last year and will make it succeed this year. If a little part of your heart feels a tug to join us on this, I urge you to take a leap of faith and trust that the Lord will sustain all of us and provide for all of us.

I want to leave all of you with a beautiful image from the Gospel of Matthew.  Jesus is walking back to Bethany with his disciples when he comes across a fig tree. Using only his words, he causes the tree to wither right before the disciples eyes. In Matthew 17:21-22 he says "Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

We'd love for you to join us. Auditions close on June 21 at 11:59pm! Please feel free to contact me or any member of my team if you have questions. We would love to talk to you about it.

Be blessed,
Matthew Silar

The month of April

I know it's been a while, shhhh. Like a year... SHHHHH!

It's funny being away from home for the month of April. April just keeps becoming a bigger month for me and being 1100 miles from home certainly makes it interesting.

While I'm not really a homesick person, part of me definitely wished home was closer this week. I imagine a week from now I will definitely be feeling that again. It's not that I'm dying to see people, (though I love them!) it just feels weird not seeing some of the people I always see on the big days of this month. This year, every single person I saw on my birthday I had NEVER seen on my birthday... Think about that. I'm a sophomore in college and all of a sudden I'm spending my birthday with ALL NEW people. Not one person I saw this year has spent my birthday with me. And while there is an excitement in that as I know a lot of these people will be spending many more birthdays with me, you can't help but feel a little funny without all those people you're used to making that day special. I'm very blessed by my friends in Texas and my close friends did make me feel loved but birthdays with new people are always weird. So many people don't know you well enough to remember your birthday let alone what you like to do on it or how to celebrate it with you. It's not bad. Just different.

Good Friday is another big day. I can't remember the last Good Friday in which I wasn't at some friends house watching The Passion of the Christ. Even though we all kind of dreaded the whole thing, there was something beautiful about sitting down and experiencing a glimpse of the true level of sacrifice Jesus made for us on "this day". This year was the first year I didn't do that. Now, I don't think it's completely necessary to watch The Passion on Good Friday and I am definitely sleeping a bit sounder tonight without that icky little visual of Satan fresh in my mind. (I hate that part of that movie!) The fact of the matter is that it's just different.

The whole Easter weekend was much later last year. I remember because it was a week after Christian had passed away and it was after his funeral. I think his passing has had a little umbrella over this first week of the month too. That anniversary is drawing so near and it is just crazy to think it has been a year without him. I'm anxious to see how April 15 will feel without any of my Illinois friends around....

And finally, the anxiousness of knowing that school is almost over. Part of me is overjoyed at the very thought of a break on the horizon. I've loved this year so much and am really proud of the work I've done and I'm beyond grateful for the plans God has made clear to me here and how he's loved me through all the adjustments and growth. Still, the other part is already mourning the fact that I'm most likely going 3 months without seeing my ACU friends. I hate the fact that summer is going to be like all of the Fall with missing people. Being far away from school makes going home a little sucky because when I'm home, I miss my life at school, and vis versa. I know next year we'll be great and we'll all stay in touch. I'm sure I'll see a few of them. It's just a bummer to know that right now, my friendships/families are ONE or the OTHER. It makes me want to savor these last 5 weeks of school for the simple fact that a third of my way into the summer, I'll be dying to get back to this tiny Texas town.

Blah, this whole post was much more organized and poetic in my head. But at least I got it out. I enjoy reading my blogs so I'm hoping I'll be looking to blogging a lot more. I always love writing, I just don't practice it nearly enough to feel like I can adequately express myself through words.

We'll see if this holds up.