Stadium Singing and All That Follows

Every Sunday night here BYU-I, singers and tone-deaf alike gather beneath the stadium across the street from my apartment and sing hymns for half an hour. I'm lucky enough to have friends who can do all of the complicated alto, descant, and soprano parts. Tonight we sang "A Child's Prayer" right when all of the lights went out. At first I thought they had done it on purpose for effect, but later I realized it was just one of those "coincidences" that make life beautiful. Of course I thought of Elder Livingston, who is now asleep in some room in Ohio with his companion, while the Spirit works on him so he can preach the truth. Once again at a fireside tonight I heard the phrase "It is not by accident that you are here on this campus right now." That's probably the fifth or sixth time I've heard those words uttered since I stepped foot on the campus. But lately it's been ringing in my ears... After we finished "A Child's Prayer" we went back to the Hymns, which tonight all had a melancholy tone to them, even the joyful ones like "Redeemer of Israel" and "Dearest Children God is Near You." The lights were still out until we sang the EFY Medley, which is a pairing of "As Sisters in Zion" and "We'll Bring the World His Truth." I have never heard or sang the song quite like I did tonight, with all of the different voices surrounding me and echoing up and out, hopefully loud enough for all of Rexburg to hear. As we got louder and louder, and the Spirit began to fill the atmosphere even more, slowly the lights began to turn back on. Coincidence? I think not.