The Thorn 2019

I went to a play this week.

Yesterday, actually. I went to a play yesterday.

Sweet letters of the alphabet, is it Monday already? When did that happen?

If it is indeed Monday and my brain is not pulling tricks on me, I went to a play yesterday. The annual production of the The Thorn, sponsored by Compassion International.

I cried most of the way through, which is always a good sign.

The Thorn is a two-hour live rendition of the Passion of the Christ, complete with aerobatics, pyrotechnics, and a narrator that will alternately have you laughing until your sides ache and crying—sometimes within several minutes. It details the life and death of Jesus in such an intimate, real way that—no matter how many times I see it—it leaves me weeping and shows me something new about the character and love of my savior. This amazing production was started twenty-two years ago by John and Sarah Bolin, and is now a nationwide production, spending several months of the year touring the United States.

My father was in it this year. As were four of my younger siblings. I’m not going to lie, it was a little weird to see my father get ‘killed’ onstage. Still not sure how I feel about that. He was quite wonderful and very convincing, so I’m very proud of him, but . . . yeah, it was weird.

I was involved with The Thorn as well, once upon a time, working as part of the cast for six years running. You may not have guessed this, my being so introverted and all, but I am quite the drama queen.

Hence the acting.

And my books.

And my entire life.

Ahem.

As strange as it was for me to be sitting in the audience instead of waiting backstage or indulging my inner actress onstage, I very much enjoyed the experience yesterday. The Thorn has made a lot of changes over the last five years, becoming smaller and more mobile as they have moved from a single venue to traveling countrywide to tell the story of Jesus’s death and resurrection. They’ve gotten smaller, the cast has changed—thus my lack of involvement—and the time they spend rehearsing has become so minimal that they can now get the show up and running in a week.

I kid you not.

They’re amazing.

Yesterday was a huge treat for me, and a proverbial stroll down memory lane as I got to see members of the cast I’d worked with for years, hugged people, and caught up on lives. The production is on their way to Denver today, ready for a new city and a new venue, but I’m happy that I managed to catch them while they were here. The work they’re doing is incredibly impacting, and I was blessed to be a part of it for as long as I was.

Sometimes, you really can’t tell about people. Meeting me, I’m fairly sure no one would guess I had been in a theater production. What’s something about you that no one would guess just by looking and would find completely out of character?