Cornerstone Festival

The next group of guildies, I had the pleasure of meeting, required a road trip... a 13 hour road trip! I jumped in my little red eclipse Thursday evening, July 2nd, and headed north... and then north east. I arrived in the tiny town of Bushnell, Illinois the next day around 2pm. Bushnell is home to the yearly Cornerstone Festival, an all-week campout and multi-stage concert event featuring Christian artists from all over. And these guildies of mine had decided to make the trek south from Canada, so I trekked north to meet them.

I pulled into the campgrounds and texted Tegan. Standing near the entrance, I then spotted this handsome young man bounding across the dirt road in my direction. It was Praeclarus (known in real life as Matt "famous President last name" K.) He gave me a big hug, and introduced me to the stragglers who were walking up: Tegan (same character name in Wow: I love it!), Brett (Krogan), and Dave, who's only played Wow for like a day.

They were in between concerts and hungry, so they all piled into my car and I drove them to the nearby, only slightly bigger, town of Galesburg. They had been camping out all week, and had I known how nice the weather actually was this far north, I might have come earlier and camped out as well. Finding out Relient K and KJ-52 had performed on Wednesday night increased my realization that I should have been there.

Anyway, camping still has it's disadvantages, so I treated the boys to a hotel room, at my expense, where the 4 of them could get a nice hot shower (that didn't smell like water used to boil hotdogs) and a comfy bed for the night. I also bought them pizza for dinner. We sat around eating and talking. They told me about the festival adventures. Then I hit my own room for a nap and let them take one as well. I wondered how they would manage sharing double beds that looked too short for these tall Canadians. I would hear funny stories about it later.

We headed back to the festival in the evening, and despite being coaxed to hit 120mph, we were slightly late for the band Matt & Tegan had wanted most to see: youwithoutme. They bolted for the stage off in the distance, when we pulled in, and I went to buy a ticket. The guy at the entrance was really nice and let me buy a one day ticket, which was totally against policy.

I wandered through the campground, amazed at how large this event turned out to be... hundreds of tents in all directions. People of every size, shape, and color. And best of all, a place where you could feel totally safe knowing that most everyone here loves Jesus... lots! It was like a tiny slice of heaven.

I listened to a couple of bands and checked out the merch tent, and finally caught up to the guys after some mosh pit / dance party craziness. Then Matt and I went to see Anberlin in concert. It was a beautiful nite sitting out on the hillside of the natural ampitheater. Afterwards there was a fireworks show to which Matt responded "you crazy Americans". Lol! More to that story, but not enough space here.

We walked back talking about how good God is, and what He might possibly be wanting to do in Matt's life. He's had his struggles, but you can read more about that by just clicking on his blog which I follow, right here on this blog site.

We headed back to the hotel around midnight for some much needed sleep. As I was getting ready for bed in my room, the phone rang. It was the guys next door thanking me over and over again for the luxury of showers and soft beds, and Tegan and Matt saying "I love you. I love you." over and over again. I let them know I loved them as well... like the little brothers in Christ that they are to me. And I fell asleep praying for them... and all the many others who God and I talk about on a regular basis.