Will Francis
French Horn - Orchestra at Temple Square

Day 1 of the 2013 Upper Midwest tour is almost ready for the history books.  As I write, we are rolling out of the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.  It's 10:00 PM and in three hours we will arrive at our hotel in Indianapolis.

The concert we just gave here was a special one.  We performers were really exhausted from our traveling, and in that situation all of us are prone to make personal musical mistakes that can be very detrimental.  (I write from sad prior experience.)  Relying upon our own strength, we should have had a very mediocre performance.  I'm pretty certain, however, that we avoided that outcome for a couple of reasons.

First, this Columbus audience was enthusiastic and genuine.  We love it when audiences greet us boisterously and by the end of the concert don't seem to want to sit down.  Columbus let us know throughout the evening that we were somehow connecting with them, and this supplied a great deal of energy to our weary minds.

Second, we were blessed tonight, and every time we sing and play, to bring with us a set of powerful messages.  Through our music we say to our audiences that there is beauty and truth in the world; that even though it may often seem dark and frightening, we are the children of a Heavenly Father who loves us and will give us strength.  The world will have us believe that good is bad and bad is good, but our message when we perform is exactly opposite of that.  Having something as important as this to say helps us get past bleary eyes and foggy minds.

Tomorrow we have a chance to rest.  I'm especially grateful to our logistics people for that because my day today started this morning at 3:00 AM when I began picking up my carpool in time to be at the airport by 5:00 AM.  Let it be known that there will be no alarm clocks allowed in my hotel room tonight!

Indianapolis, Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, and Minneapolis: I'm excited to meet you over the next 9 days.  It's going to make for great memories!