"GOBSMACKED! 2025 Sequel"

October/2025

“GOBSMACKED! 2025 Sequel”

  The meaning of GOBSMACKED is to be overwhelmed with wonder, surprise or shock: astounded.

(https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gobsmacked)

The events of the original “GOBSMACKED!” narrative took place in 2017, but I didn’t write about it until 2023.  I guess it was just too personal, and I didn’t know how to go about it.  However, it had become evident that it was time to share.  Within a few months of discovering the cover design for Chris Tomlin’s “Hello Love” and his recording “Jesus Messiah”, I saw he was coming to Tucson for a September 8, 2023, concert.  It was a wonderful worship concert!  As we knew so many of his songs, the worship center resounded as if we had had choir practice before the concert started!  Matter of fact, it seemed to have surprised and pleased Mr. Tomlin.  I don’t know what more I expected at that time, but if you read the original “GOBSMACKED!” you may remember that I had had an extraordinary God filled experience.  It was from the drawing on the “Hello Love” cover design, that it would seem Mr. Tomlin had had a similar encounter.  I was hoping for an opportunity to ask him if that was possible… but the only extraordinary thing that happened that night was an amazing worship evening!

It was early this 2025 Summer when I heard that there would be an “Evening of Worship with Chris Tomlin” on October 30, 2025, in a venue just down the road from my house. Oh yes! I have tickets and of course, I am hoping & praying for that opportunity to ask Mr. Tomlin if he had had that similar experience and is it yes or no? This summer as I was immersed in writing that the thought came to me to make a printed copy of “GOBSMACKED!”; attach a "These Golden Threads” contact card and drive it down to the worship center office.  And that I should go…now!  Which I did and ended up meeting a delightful young lady behind the desk.  I started to tell her what I wanted to accomplish, but it kind of tumbled out.  Finally, I asked if she had a moment for me to read her the story.  It’s only about a page and a half.  She said she wasn’t regularly there but was helping out that day.  After I ended the story, she was quite intrigued but said the worship center was only the venue and it was the touring group that handled programing.  However, she would do what she could to see that “GOBSMACKED!” made it into the right hands.

I am so excited! Today’s date is October 28, 2025.  I haven’t heard anything more, but I’m looking forward to another wonderful “Evening of Worship with Chris Tomlin”!