March 28, 2008

Over Easter Weekend, we attended the Lads to Leaders Convention at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, TN. It was our first time to attend, and we had a fantastic time. We are already looking forward to participating again next year.

I had been to the Opryland Hotel before, but the last time was when the Opryland theme park was still open, and I think the hotel has expanded quite a bit since that last visit.

We spent lots of time wandering through the hotel, seeing everything there was to see there. It had several glass-covered atriums, so we never went outside the whole time we were there. One of the atriums even had an "island" with a boat ride around it. Our room even had a balcony that overlooked one of the atriums. So we could go "outside" on the balcony and not have to worry about the weather. It really was a nice hotel, one of the nicer ones that we have stayed at.

And the size of the place was almost overwhelming! It took us a while to get oriented, wandering past all the rooms to try to find our way around. On the first night, I went off in search of the ice machine, finally finding one. The next morning, I discovered that if I had gone the other direction, there was an ice machine very near our room. I told people that it reminded me of what Jesus said: "In my Father's house are many rooms. And I walked past all of them trying to find the ice machine!" Well, maybe he didn't say that last part.

They estimated that there were 10,000 people there for Lads to Leaders, and I believe it. And on top of that, there were a few thousand people there auditioning for Nashville Star. But it was pretty easy to tell which group was which. People with cowboy hats and guitars most likely weren't there for Lads to Leaders.

One of the pleasantly unexpected surprises was all the people we saw. We did enjoy walking around and seeing people that we hadn't seen in years. It seemed like every time we went walking anywhere, we ran into another old friend or two. Whether it was people we went to high school with, or people who used to go to our church and had moved off somewhere else. Sort of like a big family reunion.

And then different groups would put the guest name and congregation name on signs on their hotel room doors. So in addition to seeing people we knew, we saw names of congregations where we knew people, even if we didn't know those specific people from that church.

Just about everyone staying in the hotel was there for Lads to Leaders (the Nashville Star hopefuls were just in for the day, apparently). Church people everywhere!

By the end of the weekend, I started thinking that must be a glimpse of what heaven will be like. Church people everywhere. Seeing old friends from days gone by. Wondering if the person with a guitar who just passed you might one day make it big.

But seriously, it was a great feeling being there with so many other Christians, even if we did not know them all personally. We all shared that common bond. Not that heaven will be like a big hotel with a boat ride through the atrium, but I think I have an idea now.

In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. - John 14:2

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