So I went to The Wild Goose Festival last week. I wanted to share with you a few experiences and impressions.
First of all, it was hot! I mean… WOW! I was very uncomfortable most of the time. I was a guest in an RV that had air, and that saved me. Me being a Canadian boy found 100ºF with high humidity unbearable.
Secondly, I was very nervous about going. The leadership of the festival worked hard to get me there. As things started out, I felt very anxious. But very quickly that fear dissipated and I found myself feeling happy to be there.
At the end of the festival, a journalist asked me for a quote about the event. I said, “It wasn’t what I feared!” He loved it and left.
Here’s what I mean: I feared it being too religiousy and Christiany. You know? I feared some might try to pull me back in to a more conservative and less radical posture, and I didn’t want that.
Instead, I felt very relaxed, very loved and appreciated, and very free to be who I am. There was never any pressure to be something or believe something other than who I am and what I think. I enjoyed it.
But, finally, the biggest impression that happened to me was that I was loved there. I had no idea!
You have to understand something about me-- I live in a very remote part of the world. I pretty much live the life of a hermit. Lisa is a full-time nurse who works 48 hours a week. I work alone all day. We have few friends. I live, by choice, in a relative vacuum, isolation, a social and cultural desert. And all I hear about me is online… usually through negative comments and messages that sometimes outweigh the good ones.
Then, when I got down there at the festival in North Carolina, I was overwhelmed with love and affirmation and praise and support. I was swarmed with people all day every day who knew about me and my work, and who expressed their gratitude to me in waves of love. I was on the brink of tears almost always. Tears of appreciation and gratitude.
Wow! It was amazing!
Finally… one last thing. Even though my NakedPastor Facebook page had almost 100,000 followers, I was almost ready to give up getting it back from being stolen. But EVERYONE who spoke to me expressed their sadness that I lost the page and begged me to try to get it back. So… yes… I will try.
