For those of you who don’t know me, community theater has played a huge roll in my life. It was something I was even planning on going to school for until I felt God calling me to something else. My theater bug started when I was eight years old. There I was, cheesy costume and all, an owl in our local community theater’s children production of Charlotte’s Web. I was hooked. As I grew up I continued to go from audition to audition and show to show.
I loved it. I loved putting myself in someone else’s shoes. I loved putting on ridiculous costumes and wearing way too much makeup. I loved getting to sing and dance on a stage in front of crowds of people. But above all these things, I loved the family that came with it. Some of my deepest and longest friendships have started all because of theater.
The other day I felt a longing I hadn’t felt in awhile. I quickly turned the music on my iPhone up loud and felt a calming in my soul. I sat there on the ground pulling weeds out while ironically listening to the Original Cast of the Secret Garden sing their hearts out. I felt a familiar thing stirring within me again.
But besides that stirring, I felt homesick. I felt homesick for a family I haven’t seen or sung with in years. I’ve heard a lot of people who have come on the race say that this is the first time they’ve had community like this, and honestly, you’re not going to find community like you find it on the World Race. It’s the most intense lifestyle I’ve ever lived with the most intense living conditions. But I’ve had this sense of family before.
I often wonder if God will put me in a place where I am able to worship Him through theater again and if He’ll give me a community like that again. I am always reminded that He knows the desires of my heart and He will give them to me if I continue to belong to Him.
