A FIRST ENCOUNTER
by Terri Kotta
Over four years ago a friend asked me to join the BMG music club. (Basically he wanted his 7 more free CD's... each time he made a referral... ever had a friend like that?) So the sucker that I am, I agreed to join. As a result, one of the CD's I received was the feature of the month, "Jars of Clay." I bet I left that CD still in the wrapper for 2 months before I opened it. To kill time on the way to a family reunion, I put it in the CD player and was totally blown away by the sound. It hit me like nothing had in years. And almost instantly I knew the lyrics were special, but I didn't know how much they would soon influence my life.
Jars of Clay's self-titled
could really be considered a Bible study in itself. For me it truely encompassed all the Biblical truths that I knew about, but never really had totally embraced. I had considered myself a Christian for years, but soon learned I'd really been kidding myself. It didn't happen overnight, but with lots of prayers, self-examination, and God's enduring grace, I started on my true journey with Christ as my Savior. And Jars' music was the "light" I guess I needed at the time.
I didn't even have the Internet, but I wanted to know more about this band that had been such a blessing for me. I found the website and began reading some of the letters Jars had written to fans in the beginning. From reading, I saw clearly these guys had a love, a peace, and a friend in Jesus! I realized how much I needed all these things. And I know it's going to be a long process of growing with Christ, but it's the best thing I've ever found.
From all that I read, I became really curious to see Jars in concert. I never really doubted them, but I guess I needed some physical live proof. :) A friend of mine and I were planning a trip to Charleston, SC so I suggested we take it for the Jars and The Samples concert. It was supposed to be at a large auditorium in the middle of the city. Well, the Samples had left the tour the day before due to some "presentational" discrepancies, if you remember, so the concert response and their booking contract kind of split in two. Jars could have easily canceled the day of show, but they didn't. But instead of the *plush* auditorium, they graciously opted for the smokey, cramped bar across the street.
At the last minute, they hooked up with the Gufs, and Matchbox 20 (ever heard of them? :) I can still remember the bartender was kept very busy, and the cigarette smoke was so thick, the smell never came out of my clothes. :( And it was before I received a lecture about earplugs, so I could feel this music clear down to my toes.
I remember when Jars came out I was shocked to see Dan had very short hair. All the pictures I'd seen included those flowing locks (that got in his mouth when he sang on stage!) I remember thinking they looked tired and pale. Really... I think they'd been on the road constantly for almost a month. They all were sick with colds and sinus infections. But they gave it their all! I remember many people in the crowd were into their own conversations and tended to get almost as loud as the music... really a mixed bunch of people.
But as the show progressed, I could honestly see a change. They listened and they heard! It was truely awesome! I had read that Jars often came out to talk after their
shows, so I waited around. The smoke in the air wasn't lifting, but after about 10 minutes I saw Dan heading toward me. I was just standing there with my outstretched pen and he walked right by me. He didn't see me. I guess I looked kind of dismayed, cause Steve walked right up to me and said "Come over here with me, we're supposed to go over to the merch table." Wow! It was a Jar, and he was talking to me. I remember Charlie looked at my ball point pen and said, "Let me go get a Sharpie for you, they work a lot better."
In the big crowd, I remember running slap into Matt, about chest level and slowly looking up to see how tall that guy really is. I remember saying, "You're Matt?, and he said, I AM Matt, it's nice to meet you."
I guess I may not be the typical Jars fan, but they instantly made me feel comfortable and they spoke openly about their ministry and how much it meant to them... what they were trying to do for Christ. Well from then and there, I wanted to make their ministry one of my ministries, too! And I still feel as strongly about that now as I did then.