Just a quick post today about my ole buddy Karen Peck Gooch.
This past Saturday, Karen Peck & New River, Brian Free & Assurance, the Dove Brothers, the McKameys, Jeff & Sheri Easter and Aaron Wilburn were in Seminole, OK, for the final night of the annual Seminole Sing.
The host group, the Arnolds, went on first and sang for about 20 minutes. Then the McKameys came on and during their fourth song, the cloudy skies opened up and a massive storm set in. Heavy rain, powerful wind, dangerous lightning were all ingredients of this storm and for the better part of an hour, they wrecked havoc on the singing grounds.
Most people headed for their cars, but many gathered under the product shelter - which really didn't do any good because of the wind-blown rain. Anyway, the rain kept falling and sensing that the people were getting antsy, Karen decided to have everyone join in a sing along. So.....
Karen started off with "Amazing Grace," "I'll Fly Away" and a couple more. After a few minutes of non-singing, she launched into another song.
Yep. You've probably already guessed it.
"There Shall Be Showers Of Blessing."
At that exact point in time, the rain got heavier and the wind got stronger.
Needless to say, Karen got some strange looks. Remember, we're talking about a bunch of soaking wet people crammed into a small space with incredible bolts of lightning striking nearby. At that particular moment, they were not the happiest people in the world.
She leaned over to me and whispered "Hmmm...tough audience."
That's when I leaned back over to her and whispered, "Think about which song you just sang."
She thought for a moment - and she then got a huge case of the giggles. Massive giggles. The-kind-of-giggles-that-make-you-hurt-giggles.
The wind suddenly shifted direction and all of our backs were hit with driving rain, soaking us to the bone.
I eased over to Karen again and whispered, "And if you sing that song again, I will pull the hair right out of your head."
We've always had a brother-sister type of relationship. By this time, she was laughing so hard that the people around her started forgiving her for singing that song. Well, they were thinking about it. Kinda.
Well, at least I think they were.
Anyway, in all fairness to Karen, it wasn't as bad as it could have been.
Just imagine what would have happened if McCray Dove had come over from his table and started singing "Didn't Rain...." Or what if Aaron Wilburn had stood on his product table (which he would have had to do so he could be seen) and started singing the great song he wrote? The one called "It's Beginning To Rain."
I'm not sure if there's ever been a riot at a Southern Gospel concert, but the Seminole Sing & Swim Meet of 2005 could have been the site of the first one!
(Because of the extreme storms, the rest of the concert had to be cancelled. Everyone escaped with no injuries. Even Karen.)
