Funny What We Remember...

This is Phil Madeira. In my opinion, he is the quintessential "sideman" in popular music. Chances are if you've listened to country, pop or Christian music in the last ten years, you've heard Phil. If you listen to more folk-country/alt-country music (which you should,) you've heard even more than the rest of us.

I thought of Phil Madeira on Monday afternoon. Here's how the memory goes.

It's the summer before my senior year of high school and Rich Mullins is coming in concert. Naturally, I am pumped, because Rich Mullins was a dude worth seeing - sort of like seeing everything that's right about Christianity and wrong about human reality all rolled into one. This was a big deal because Rich was touring with the Ragamuffins. Rick Elias, Jimmy Abegg, Mark Robertson and Aaron Smith! I realize that these names mean nothing to other people - just go with me, okay? I was excited.

I, of course, knew that Phil Madeira had played on the "Liturgy, Legacy" record, but I wasn't expecting him to be there. He was. He was awesome, playing guitar, Hammond, steel and other assorted folk instruments that make me smile.

As Rich is taking a break to introduce the band, he introduces Phil, gives a little bio of Madiera's career and then something like this:

"A while back, I said some things about Phil that weren't really very nice and I regret it. And he's here tonight because he's a man who's shown grace to me and loved me in spite of what I've said."
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I don't have a clue what the backstory was at the time, but I remembered it this week and it made me pray for grace. It me made me hope that in the times when I'm wrong, I can be bold enough to say it in front of anybody. It made me hope that in the times when I've been wronged, I can still stand next to my attacker and support what he or she is doing.