I never know what's going to happen when my friend, Brian, gets me into something.  Brian had been the bad boy of Bridgton for decades, then he began coming to our church.  Slowly, he began to believe in Jesus and give up his old lifestyle.  He is sober and off drugs and in a committed relationship with Carrie, a woman who is disabled due to MS.  But even before his conversion, Brian was always more than his low life reputation.  The secret that very few of the Bridgtonites who would cross the street when they saw him coming ever knew is that Brian is a very gifted musician: guitarist, pianist, singer and composer. 

Brian has become a friend of mine over the past couple of years.  He is also getting back about the business of being a musician, and last weekend his band had a gig at a friend's birthday party.  He asked me to come and do some SCJ routines before the band started playing.  Initially, he said each musician would be paid $50, and so would I.  When he called mid week he told me the family couldn't pay, but they were having a lobster feed, and there'd be plenty of lobster for my whole family.  When I finally arrived at the party, there was a plate of burned hot dogs and some macaroni salad that had been sitting out for who knows how long.  Oh, Brian!

But there was so much more involved just getting to the gig.  Rose and I went to meet Brian at his house at 4:30.  He wasn't there, but Carrie was, as was their next door neighbor.  I spoke to Brian on the phone, and he said they were still rehearsing, and I should just drive over to the party.  After hanging up, Carrie said this was a dumb idea, as we didn't know the family who was having the party, and they probably never heard from Brian that he had invited a juggler.  Oh, Brian!

So Rose and I hung out with Carrie.  After a while, I realized that our rabbit, Jeremiah, was in the van, so I sent Rose out to get him.  For the next 45 minutes, Jeremiah sat in Carrie's lap, and we joked about Brian's disorganization.  At least, I think Carrie was joking.  Finally, we decided to go ahead to the party and Brian and Carrie would meet us there.  Carrie called to let the family know we were on our way.

When we got to the street Brian sent us to, there was nothing that looked like a party, but there was one couple sitting in their yard.  I introduced myself, and we were in the right place.  They wondered why Brian hadn't arrived yet, as they were expecting his band to arrive an hour and a half earlier.  Oh, Brian!

Once we were set up, Brian and the band finally arrived; still without Carrie.  After they unloaded their gear, he finally went back to his house to get her.  By now there was a whole seven people there, and they wanted us to start.  My I-pod's battery died unexpectedly, so we had to quickly switch back to CDs that, fortunately, we had in our van.  Our show was choppy, as I didn't remember where certain songs were on given CDs, but it was outdoors, which means Rose and I could juggle fire balls, fire torches, fire devil sticks and fire diabolos.  Any show with that much fire is a good show.

After our set, and Brian and Carrie were present, I learned that the woman whose birthday it was, and her husband are both believers.  Brian has befriended them and it helping them grow in their faith even as he is learning so much so quickly himself.

Good job Brian.  Invite us to your gigs any time