A Concert of Hope with Mark Smeby

John Yoast

Every morning on my way to work I listen to 107.5 Alive FM.  During my drive I hear wonderful music that uplifts my spirit and Dr. James Dobson's Family Talk. I hear the smooth as butter voice of Max McLean read the scriptures, and my absolute favorite part, listening to John Yoast tell the Phillies baseball scores.  Because even if the Phillies lost, Mr. Yoast makes it sounds so positive - he is always looking for the "W".  Let's not even discuss the fact that listening to Mr. Yoast every morning caused me to purchase Everfresh Juice when I went to Shady Maples the other week, because nothing goes better with a hot dog that Everfresh Juice and baseball.

When I heard a few days ago that 107.5 Alive was bringing Mark Smeby-The Live Hope Tour to Phoebe Ministries, which is located next to my office, I was ecstatic.    The radio station is located in Boyertown and a lot of the free concerts are in Churches in their area.  Since I don't drive well at night I don't like to go to areas that I am not familiar with, but this was right next door!

I went home about two days before and told Parke that I planned on going to this concert and he said he would go to, which was a delightful surprise.  I didn't think Parke would be interested at all.

Mark Smeby coming down to the people

So yesterday was the day, I left work, got stuck in a ton of traffic, picked up Parke and headed back. The nice thing about going to Phoebe is that I have my own private parking space at my office.  We grabbed our chairs and headed over - to my surprise there wasn't a huge crowd like I anticipated.  I thought tons of people would grab this opportunity to hear some uplifting Christian music.

We put our chairs behind some of the residents that had been wheeled out to hear the concert.  The scene reminded me of church - no one was sitting in the front seats, just like no one sits in the front pews.

I was sitting, waiting for the concert to start when this handsome gentleman came over and said "Hi, I am Mark, what's your name?"  It took five seconds for me to realize that this was the man I was coming to hear, I was in awe, slightly shocked.  I mean who takes the time to say Hi to his audience.  Well, Mark Smeby did.  He went over to Parke and asked him his name.  Now  Parke does have an unusual name so I said Mark - Parke - Parke - Mark.  And onward he went - stopping to say hi and chatting with people.

Then it was showtime.  I cannot express to you in words how much I enjoyed his show.  His songs, the music, so uplifting.  He urged us to sing along with some of the hymns,  So I sang, I swayed, I even lit up my phone app and held it up during the last song "Pilgrim Man".   He made us laugh, he made us think, and he made me feel blessed.  The best part though, I think Parke felt it to.

After the show Parke wanted to go over to say how much he enjoyed the show. (Yes, my friends who read this "PARKE" wanted to go over to him)  I counted this as a small miracle. Thank you God.

Mark Smeby currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee, if you want to check him out, and where he will be his website is http://marksmeby.com

Mark and Me

I know this blog has nothing to do with Catasauqua this time,but that's where I ended up after the concert, back home, filled with hope.  And let's talk about a excellent night.  After the concert we went food shopping - boy, Giant is empty after 8:00 pm - shopped in record time. And then, we went to WAWA for supper and guess what!  THE GOBBLER is back.  Does life get any better?

Seriously though, if you ever get the opportunity to be blessed by seeing Mark Smeby, go!  He does not disappoint.

Thank you Mark Smeby, thank you John Yoast, and thank
you 107.5 Alive for making it all possible.

And, last but not least, thank you God, for Another day in Catasauqua.