Day 13:: Tour 2025

Sunday was our last concert day wherein we found ourselves back in Lancaster County at Pequea Mennonite Church where our journey began 12 days ago. It is truly amazing how many people and places we've gotten to experience! I find myself suddenly spinning just a bit as I look over the changes that have occurred in my own heart in the past two weeks. The strangers of two weeks ago are actually a quite lovely group of people who have become wonderful friends! The music nearly sings itself at this point, and the lyrics have gone deeper with each concert.

As we journeyed on our tour, there were interactions with so many folks from different seasons of my life, and I'm left wondering and a bit awed at the ways that God orchestrates our lives and uses strategic interactions to impact us. It has been our prayer many times that God would be present as we lead in worship, and that He would speak into the lives of every person who experiences the music.

This was the only day on tour that we have two concerts... first at Pequea Mennonite Church, and the second at The Arches in Coatesville, PA.

As we gathered, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, at 8:45, someone mentioned their many encounters with buggies on the way to church that morning. It took some of us a second to realize that these encounters were with a HORSE and buggy, not creepy crawly bugs or shopping carts (yeah, shopping carts are the buggies we have in the south).

After a worshipful concert and delicious fellowship meal served by the folks at Pequea Mennonite, we parted ways for a few hours to catch some afternoon naps before heading to The Arches.

What a delight it was to sing in this stunning space! We just had to hear some of our favorite chords more than once in this place, so we jumped to the endings of songs, sang the final chords, and stood in awe as the reverb echoed for several seconds. Singing in this space was a wonderful grand finale to a stellar week.

But the night was far from over, and we traversed once again to Cliff and Trina's for a nacho party.

Finally free from the need to preserve vocal quality, we laughed til our abs ached and sang all manner

of rambunctious songs in a very undignified manner. (With many warnings that NO VIDEOS ARE ALLOWED. And to ENJOY THE PRESENT MOMENT.)

As the clock rolled toward midnight, folks reluctantly packed up to catch a few winks of sleep before our final day together.

• Marilyn Beachy