February 2010

Since Justin and Emma had gotten engaged and prayed together, Justin had been opening up more and more to Emma about spirituality, faith, and religion.  And Emma loved every moment of it.

So now they were on their way to Springfield, Missouri for a TobyMac concert.  Emma had picked that particular artist because she thought that Justin would enjoy his music and his message.  She had met Toby a few times since her and Bryan had picked up Gotee Records, which was Toby’s label, as an account in 2007, and knew that Justin and he had very similar personalities.

Emma had asked Toby if he would meet with them after his concert, and he had agreed and sent her a couple of passes so they could stick around.  She was excited about introducing Justin to Toby.

Justin was a little nervous about going to this show because Emma had said that this concert would have a much larger crowd than the shows she generally took him too and that there was a possibility that they could have more of a reaction to his being there.  But he had a hat and was going to take the chance for Emma.  Justin had heard her excitement over the phone from the moment she bought the tickets and had set up this meeting for the three of them. 

So he was going to go for her and see what all of her hype was about.  Emma had played a few songs for him and he had liked what he had heard.  And despite his nervousness, Emma’s excitement had rubbed off on him.

“Let’s grab something quick to eat before the show,” Emma suggested.  She knew she wouldn’t make it through the show without something in her stomach. 

“Sure,” Justin replied.  Emma had let him take the wheel for the two-hour drive, and now he was breaking at the light at the end of the ramp he had excited on.  “What do you feel like eating?”

“Hmm …” Emma looked out the windows to see what restaurants were around.  They had an hour and a half to kill before the concert started, and she wasn’t sure how far down the road the venue was.  “Let’s just go through the drive-thru at Chick-fil-A.”

“Okay,” Justin replied.  He didn’t really care where they had dinner.  Justin drove into the parking lot and up to the menu.  After they got their food, Justin followed Emma’s directions to the venue where they sat in the parking lot and ate their dinner.

Justin put his baseball cap on as they made their way to the doors of the venue.  Emma wrapped her arm around his waist and leaned into him when he put his arm around her shoulder.  When they got to the door, Emma handed their tickets to one of the ushers, who scanned them and handed them back to her. 

Justin dropped his arm from around her shoulder and grabbed her hand instead.  Emma and he made their way to their seats, which were in the second row in the middle of the arena, just past the small pit.  They sat down.

“Aren’t you excited?”  Emma asked with a big smile on her face.  She could feel something special in the air and was so happy that Justin had agreed to come with her.  Emma couldn’t wait to see what was going to happen.

“Only because you are,” Justin replied.  He leaned back in the chair he was sitting on put his arm on the back of her chair.  Justin looked around the arena that was filling up quickly and then back over at her.  Emma couldn’t help but kiss his cheek quickly, and he smiled.

They chatted until the show started.  Justin breathed a sigh of relief when the lights went down.  So far he had managed to keep a low profile.  The things he would do for Emma, but he was happy to do them for her.

They sat through the first two bands, both of which Emma knew some songs from.  Justin always enjoyed watching Emma at the concerts they would go to.  She was always way into the music, and she always introduced him to good music.

When TobyMac got on the stage, the crowd got louder and the energy in the space increased tenfold.  Justin and Emma stood up along with the rest of the audience.

Five songs into the show Toby spoke.

“How you feelin’ tonight Springfield, Missouri?”  The crowd cheered.

“Listen, here’s my promise to you.  I know you paid your hard earned money for those tickets tonight, so here’s my promise and Diverse City’s promise to you.  We’re gonna give you everything we got tonight.  We’re trying to drop the joy bomb on Springfield tonight.

“And to all the single Godly ladies from Springfield … I want you to listen close.  Don’t even let that boy step to you unless you know he loves God with all his heart.”

Justin looked down at Emma when Toby said this, and she just looked up at him with a smile.  Justin knew that wasn’t quite the case with him, but Emma didn’t seem to mind.  He knew that Emma was like that because on more than one occasion, Emma had reminded him that she loved God more than him.

Toby sang his song “Gone.”  Emma kind of got a kick out of the lyrics to this song when she heard it.  Justin certainly hadn’t come crawling back when he had kissed that other girl, and she had taken him back with only seven months of hesitation.

Emma wrapped her arms around him in a sideways hug, and he put his arm across her shoulders.  Two songs later, the crowd went crazy when Toby had picked up a Bible and walked back to his microphone with it.  Sometimes Emma thought that at shows like this the artist was just preaching to the choir, but tonight was different because her heart was open, and she could tell Justin’s was too – and he definitely was not the choir.

“First John, chapter one starting at verse five: ‘This is the message, which we have heard from him and declared to you that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.  If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness we lie and do not practice the truth, but if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship with one another.’ 

“No matter what color our skin, no matter what denomination, no matter what cultural background, no matter what socioeconomic level we live in.  We have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin.”

“I want to be in the light as you are in the light … I want to shine like the stars in the heavens ... Oh, Lord be my light and be my salvation … ‘Cause all I want to be is in the light … all I want is to be in the light.”

“I want my life to come down to two words;  I promised God that too many times, but you see I keep fighting, I keep taking it back.  I wrote this song in my prayer closet.  I told God right here, right now I want my life to come down to two words:  ‘I’m Yours’.”

The hardcore rap song started and after it was over he introduced his next song, which was “The Slam”.  The energy level on the stage and in the crowd did not waver once as the concert continued on.

“Man ya’ll so hype, you get it hot up in here to get it this hype …” Toby smiled at the crowd’s reaction.  Justin could relate to what he was feeling up there.  He knew from his own career that Toby, his band and back-up singers/dancers were having a blast and leaving it all out there for those who had come to the show.

“I’ve had the privilege or touring around the world, but I will tell you this tonight, I have learned a few things, I have, and I ain’t no preacher, but I’m about to get my preach on for a minute Springfield.

“You see it’s not our words, our words aren’t going to be what stops the world in the tracks.  Our words will not change the world, they’ve heard it all.  It’s not normally our music, normally we make our music for us, for the body, so we can sharpen each other, edify the body, glorify our God …

“Once in a while one crosses over, but its not typically the music that’s going to stop the world in the tracks, our music is not going to change the world more than likely.

“It’s not our buildings, as grand and beautiful as some of our church buildings are.  It’s not the architecture that will change the world.

“But I believe that what will change the world is when we begin to love each other, and when we begin to love the world, and we begin to reach out to the orphans and widows, the lower income families in our communities.  When the world sees that kind of love, I’m talking about undeniable love, I believe they’ll stop in their tracks and say: ‘Yo whatever you people have over there, I want some of that baby, I want some of that for me.’

“When our houses are packed so full of love that we gotta open up the back door to let it ooze out into the valleys, the suburbs, into the city streets.  When the world sees that kind of love, real love, they’re gonna stop in their tracks baby, they’re going to say: ‘Whatever homey … , whatever, yo homey, whatever you people have other there, you Jesus freaks, I want some of that man, I want some of that Jesus for me if its doing that’.” 

“I said love is in the house … and the house is packed …”

Emma poked Justin so he would look at her.  He turned his attention away from the stage and looked down at her.  Emma stood up on her toes and brought her mouth up to his ear.  He leaned down a little.

“That song you did … uh, … ‘Where is the Love’ … when I heard that, like once, it made me think of this song,” Emma said.

“Really?”  Justin asked.  Emma nodded and returned to her normal height.  They both returned their attention to the stage.  Justin liked the lyrics and could hear how Emma would relate those songs together.

“When I was just a young boy, on the back of my daddy’s business card were the words: ‘What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?’ I can’t say I knew what it meant then, but I sure do now.”

At that point in the song, Justin subconsciously reached for Emma’s hand and squeezed it.  The lyrics were hitting home, and Justin was kind of in shock.

When Justin grabbed Emma’s hand, she looked up at him and watched his face.  He was definitely moved by the music and the words more importantly.  She wrapped her other hand around the one that was holding hers and leaned against him.

Emma said a silent prayer for him.  It’s not that he had no soul or needed to be “saved” because he was very much a believer, but it was a wake-up call.  And sometimes a person needed that.  Even she needed that. 

Emma listened along with him; resting her head against his arm.

“Lord forgive us when we get consumed by the things of this world that fight for our love and our passion.  As our eyes are opened wide and on You, may You grant us the privilege of Your world view and may Your kingdom be what wakes us up and lays us down.”

Emma moved her hand that was holding his and wiped at the tears that were gathering in her eyes.  She always liked that song.  And it looked like Justin did too.  Emma made a mental note to remember that little prayer Toby had said before they finished the song.

The music on stage picked up, and they did the song “Diverse City” before Toby said “Good night” and “God bless” to the crowd.  As soon as he walked off of the stage with the rest of the Diverse City crew, the crowd began cheering and yelling for “one more song.”

Emma and Justin joined them.  TobyMac and his band came back out after a minute.  They went right into the song “Made to Love.”  And near the end of it Toby began to make another speech.

“Listen, if you forget everything else that is said tonight, take this home with you.  No matter what you’re going through, no matter how deep your problem is, no matter how deep that cut is that hurt you, no matter how deep a hole you got your life into this very night: God made you and God made me, so that he could love us.

“See sometimes, sometimes when life is coming at us, we get a little cloudy, we get a little cloudy, and we forget that simple thought that God loves us.

“And sometimes maybe we’ve turned our back on God and walked away, and maybe it was a bunch of little things, or it maybe it was one big leap into something really foolish, but nonetheless, you look up and you find yourself way over here, and in your mind you’re as far away from God’s love tonight as you’ve ever been.

“But these are the lies that start filling our head.  Lies like: ‘I’ve done too much’, ‘I don’t want to trudge back through all that junk back to God’, ‘I’m just going to live over here’, ‘I’m too embarrassed’.  These are the lies that fill our minds.

“But let me tell you about the truth tonight.  This is the truth: no matter how many times you’ve been over here, no matter how far over here you are, no matter what you’re addicted to, tonight you don’t have to trudge back through all that junk to get back to God.

“If you just turn around God will meet you right where you are.  That’s the truth.  That’s the truth.  You are one turn, one second from God’s perfect love as soon as you turn around.  As soon as you turn around and ask his forgiveness, his love will shower over you, his arms will wrap around you because you are God’s child.  And God loves his children.

“God loves you, and the reason we can do all that, the reason we can turn around is because there’s a bridge between us and God, and that’s God’s son and his name is Jesus Christ.  He makes up the difference.

“God also created you and me so that we could adore him, so that we could call him ‘Abba’, so that we could worship him together and raise our voices together.  Let’s just adore God for a minute tonight.

“We we’re made to adore you, made just for you … Oh how we love you Father … We we’re made to adore you, made just for you … Tonight is yours … We we’re made to adore you, made just for you …”

“You okay?”  Emma asked Justin loudly as the next song started.  She broke him out of his thoughts, and he looked over at her and nodded with a smile.  Justin had taken everything that had been said to heart, and she could see it in his eyes even with the brim of his hat casting a dark shadow across his face.

Everything that was said moved Justin, and it was a new, very powerful feeling.  He wanted to hold onto that feeling for a long time.

He didn’t even really pay attention to the song that was being performed at that moment.

“Father God I pray for Springfield tonight.  I pray for the people that are in this concert.  I pray that You would refresh them, that You would renew them, that You would revive them, and that they would leave this concert in passionate pursuit of You, and take that passion to their workplaces, to their schools, to the streets of Springfield, Missouri.”

“This is the sound of the Jesus freaks.”

“This is the sound of the Jesus freaks.”

“We got any Jesus freaks in Missouri?” 

The crowd went absolutely crazy when Toby and his band did the dcTalk favorite “Jesus Freak.”  Toby was the founder of dcTalk, which was the group that paved the way for pretty much every Christian band after it. 

At the end of “Jesus Freak”, Toby jumped on a small trampoline and dived into the crowd that was in front of the stage.  The crowd got him back to the stage, and Shonlock and GabeReal, two of his back-ups, pulled him back onto the stage.

They immediately went into the final song “Extreme Days”, which was Toby’s first single as a solo artist.  Both songs were high energy and ended the show on a high note.

“God bless you Springfield, Missouri … woooo … Springfield you rock!”  Toby yelled before he and his band disappeared backstage for the final time. 

When the lights came on, Emma and Justin sat down in their seats to wait for the crowd to clear out.  They didn’t say anything, which was fine with Justin as he was deep in thought.  And he kept his focus on the concrete floor below his feet, to avoid being recognized. 

Emma leaned back against the chair and against him a little.  She put her hand on his knee as he put his arm around the back of her chair again. 

“Em …” Justin turned his head to look at her several minutes later.  Emma turned her head away from where she was watching the stage hands start to tear down the set.  “Thanks.”  He smiled.

“No problem.”  Emma grinned.  She could see the smile and light in his eyes, and she knew exactly what he was thanking her for.  “Toby puts on a good show.”

“Definitely.”  Justin nodded in agreement.

“Excuse me.”  A security guard approached them.  “I’m going to have to ask you to clear out.”  The arena had already emptied out a lot.

“Oh.”  Emma looked up and then reached for her bag, which was on the floor by her feet.  “We have passes.”  She pulled them out of her purse and showed them to the guard.  He nodded and went on his way. 

“Where are we supposed to meet him?”  Justin asked.

“He said he’d meet us out here 30 minutes or so after the show,”  Emma replied.  “Hey you survived the crowd.”  She just realized that no one had cast him a second glance.

“I know.  That’s weird,” Justin stated, sounding slightly puzzled.  “Even at The Music Hall someone usually stops me.”  Emma made a sound of agreement.

“There he is.”  Emma nodded toward Toby when she saw him walk through some doors that led out onto the floor.  She waved as he walked over toward the short steps that led to where Emma and Justin where still sitting. 

“Hey Emma.”  Toby smiled as he walked down the row in front of them.

“Hi Toby,” Emma replied.  “Thanks so much for meeting up with us.”  She said as he stopped in front of them.

“It’s not a problem.”  He shrugged and looked at Justin.  “Toby McKeehan.”  Toby held out his hand for Justin to shake.

“Justin Timberlake.”  Justin shook his hand and then pulled the hat he was wearing off of his head.  “You’re show, man, it was … wow.”

“Thanks.”  Toby replied and leaned against the railing.  He looked a little surprised to be getting that compliment from Justin.

“Just about everything you said, it really just seemed to hit me in the right place,” Justin said honestly.  Emma looked at him, her eyes shining when he said that. 

“And then the crowd, they were really into it.  I know that my fans enjoy my shows and all that, but this was just in a different way.”  He was about to start rambling but stopped himself.

“It’s all God,” Toby stated.  Justin nodded.  It was quiet for a few moments.

“So what’s it like working with Timbaland?”  Toby sounded excited to ask him that.

“Oh man, …” Justin paused and asked, “you like him?”

“Yeah.  I’m all about clean rap CDs from Wal-Mart.”  Toby grinned.  Justin and Emma laughed at his comment.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Justin said and started to talk about it.  He and Toby got into a conversation about song writing and recording.

Emma sat back in her seat and listened to what they were saying.  Even though it wasn’t her profession, she was so used to hearing about it between Trevor and Justin that she didn’t mind.  She let them talk because she had brought Justin here for him.

By the end of their conversation, Toby had asked Justin if he wanted to get together in the studio sometime, and Justin had agreed.

“You ready to go Emma?”  Justin asked her when there was a lull in the conversation.  

“Sure.”  Emma yawned in response.  She was getting tired, and they still had to drive the two hours back to Springdale.

“It was really nice to meet you,” Justin said.  He stood up from the chair he was sitting on and stretched.

“You too.” Toby nodded in agreement.  “It was nice to see you again Emma.”

“Yeah.”  Emma smiled as she stood up and put her bag over her shoulder.  “Thanks for hanging out with us.”

“No prob.”

The three walked toward the aisle where they said goodbye and went their separate ways.  Justin held Emma’s hand as the made their way out of the venue and to her car.

“I had a really great time tonight Emmy,” Justin said once they were in the car and on the highway.

“I’m glad you did.”  Emma smiled.  “I figured you guys would hit it off.”

“I think it would be a lot of fun to work with him,” Justin said.  “It seems like he’s been around the block a few times, ya know?”  Emma nodded in agreement.  “And I just, everything he said really made me think, and the lyrics seemed like they were just for me.  It’s been a while since I’ve had that kind of … movement, I guess, with songs.”

“You know, like he said ‘It’s all God’,” Emma said.  She reached up and rubbed his shoulder affectionately.

Justin nodded.  “I really believe that.  Em for the first time, in a long time, I really do.”