Meeting in the clouds

Stress

After rushing out of my workshop this morning, the huge workload I left behind keeps nagging at me. It keeps on pursuing me and tormenting my brain (which is already preoccupied with all that awaits me tomorrow) with improbable solutions. The truth is that I’m going to do my one-man-show in Paris and I’m not sure that I measure up to the expectations of the audience in the capital, accustomed as they are to la crème de la crème!

As my train takes me at top speed to the airport, it dawns on me that I didn’t take the time to stop in the forest to spend a moment with God, as I do every day.

Oops, Lord! I didn’t have time to come and see you this morning... 

In a flash, a thought pops up in my mind: Meet me in the plane!

Earthly ties

I somehow manage to shake off the feeling of melancholy that’s just setting in (it began even before my departure: I’m already missing my dear family - even though I’m only away for one week...) to recall the attack the previous night of a terrifying evil spirit which had come to threaten me in my sleep... Thankfully, Jesus drove it away with some huge blows in the... (you know... the place where the lower back loses its name)! 

It really seems as if a thousand ties, sewn by worry, are trying to prevent me from taking off... At the airport, barely have I handed over my suitcase that I have to run after it in a maze of conveyer belts (I’d left something I needed inside!). Then a guard at customs gets it into his head that the crutches* wedged into my guitar case are actually weapons of mass destruction! Single-mindedly, he starts searching me from top to bottom, even if it means I’ll miss the plane. If a lady working for security (or a stewardess or… an angel?) hadn’t ordered him authoritatively to leave me alone, my plane might have left without me… but at last I take off!

* a prop for my show

The fields in the sky

In the aeroplane I decide to talk to the Lord in a low voice, and too bad if the other passengers find this odd (well, after all, what does it matter? I don’t know these guys!)... From my seat the view is so stunning you can’t take it in (at any rate, there isn’t room for it in my pockets)! I fly over an incredible landscape made up of majestic clouds: all is calm, no traffic, no billboards, no red lights, nothing!... Just Dad and I, as I imagine holding tightly on to His hand! I can feel his energy downloading into me: perfect timing, I’ll have a lot to give! I now only have one desire: to be that light-bearer who will enable those who see me to see Him, Him through me!

The mission

There are about a hundred people in the room... but, as the show is being filmed by the cameras of France 2, there are another 400,000 at their screens!

We have our fill of laughs, emotions and reflections: everything has gone superbly well! I have one meeting after another with the media (TV, radio, press, etc.) for the remainder of my time there. So according to my calculations, I must have reached close to one million people through my various contributions over the course of that week! At several key moments I felt strength and love coming out of me far beyond my own capacity (thank you Dad for the ‘download’ in the plane!)… 

Beggars on the métro

The fuller the metro is, the more I love it. So many people, from different universes, rubbing shoulders together so closely, with no separation (created by the bodywork of cars or by concrete) between them. It’s magical!

Lovingly, I observe the travellers lost in their thoughts and picture their lives. I would like to be a friend to all of them and take them in my arms, but I content myself with smiling and talking. With just enough time to poke through the indifference of their hearts, they respond to me with a surprised smile. However, they are quick to put it back deep down inside. Well, who knows?! That unexpected little glimpse of sunshine may return to them when they look back over their day...

It’s a bit like filling your pockets with money to give to the beggars that you come across everywhere.

Happy but exhausted

Right now, the only thing keeping me upright is the joy of the work accomplished. All this euphoria, followed by huge surges of stage fright, has totally wiped me out. On the way to the airport, I remind myself to get something for my wife and my children. Unfortunately, I am pushed for time and only have a few moments to go in and out of a shop. I come out with a ridiculous fluorescent washing-up brush decorated with plastic flowers, which, as it doesn’t exactly embody a present anyone would choose, will for a long time be the subject of many a joke at the family table. Then, after getting repeatedly lost in that maze of underground tunnels (local railway, métro, submarine, etc.) with those French transport companies having mastered the art of going on strike... I missed the plane!!

Ah well, there’s probably someone lined up for me to meet in the next one... Anyhow, whether it’s up there or down here, I always have my head a little bit in the clouds!