U2

For your afternoon jog, create a playlist on your iPod (or other mp3 player) of, say, Jamie Cullum's "I Could Have Danced All Night," "La Vie Boheme" from Rent, Chopin's Etude #5 ("Revolution"), and U2's "Elevation." Human nature demands you incorporate dance steps into your jog.

Sure, you may incur odd looks from parents walking their children home from school (the children will understand, of course), but your heart-rate will double, you'll extend your run for the fun of it, and you'll actually look forward to your next jog.

Last night, I attended the latest U2 concert. Attended is the wrong word. Participated in fits better. A U2 concert is more than a group of talented men standing on a stage singing. It is about how they invite the audience to participate in something greater than themselves--in the music and in the work of bringing blessing to a hurting world.

Chris, two friends, and I were on the floor. And though my feet and knees punish me today for that decision, I'm glad we did that. We were closer to the stage than I expected we would be, and it disallowed any opportunity to sit and let the moment pass by.

An interesting observation, though: So many people around us were more intent on getting pics and capturing bits with their cell phones than participating in the moment. I'll have to think more about this later.

I want to give you a thoughtful review, but I leave for Israel tomorrow, and my brain is too jumbled to process things like the two lines from A Mighty Fortress Is Our God I'm sure I heard The Edge quote somewhere in one of the songs (I can't even remember which one) or how they led into Where the Streets With No Name with Amazing Grace or how Bono invited us to pray with him at the Moment of Surrender as he knelt on stage not noticing the passers-by. U2 offered praise in Magnificent, and they remind us that the blessings are not just for those who kneel (which went along nicely with the retreat I taught this past weekend--we are God's instruments of blessing to the world).

They skipped many songs from the new album, but I expected this. In this album, I felt, the band played with sounds in a studio-experimental way. Songs like Fez: Being Born (my favorite off the album) aren't concert friendly. Still, I would've liked to have heard White As Snow or Cedars of Lebanon. So they had time to sing numerous old favorites. My one real disappointment was that they didn't sing Pride. Why, this is the song that they sang to my husband and me in my dream a year ago! How dare they skip out on it here!

But I have no more time for reflection. I have to pack! Capernaum, here I come!

Bear with me one moment. Patronize me, if you will. I must slip into faux-pas with capitalization and punctuation.

BECAUSE I'M GOING TO SEE U2 IN CONCERT!!

As long as I've been a fan, this is a first. I told Chris I had to see them before I (or they) died. (Of course, when I told him I could now die on October 13th, he offered to help.)