Atlanta 2k25: Ben Rector, Braves Game, and Passion City Church

Hey all! This week’s post is a little different since we have a lot of travelling and vacation going on. In fact, I’m writing this as we drive to Myrtle Beach (and a little while we’re here!) This post is also quite late since I’m really distracted by this much needed vacation.
I’m thinking a lot about rest while were here. And, in the spirit of rest, I’m planning on resting with a recap post of a mini-getway my husband and I took the weekend before we left.
This mini-getaway has been planned for many months,  from the moment we found out that Ben Rector was going on tour and was coming to Atlanta.

We got up incredibly excited. We’ve been saving all of our PTO for the beach trip that we’re currently on, so we left early on Saturday. A new adventure full of fun events that we never get to do. A concert and a MLB game. Zac has been pumped about this concert, and when it was moved to a matinee after Ben Rector found out about his high school reunion, we were so exited to have the rest of the day to explore Atlanta like we never get to.
Anytime we’re in Atlanta we’re always there for a night event and its the only day that we get to sleep in, so we take advantage and leave later in the day. Atlanta is honestly an equally enjoyable and disturbing trip for us. We’re not big city people, nor traffic people for that matter. Atlanta is both of those things. Last time we went on a trip we almost ended up in a serious accident because someone took the wrong exit and swerved back into main traffic and almost hit us hard and fast. Oddly enough, we had more of an issue in Tennessee traffic that Atlanta, not terribly far from home, either. As we were driving down the interstate, a big box truck almost smushed us between other vehicles. We were shaken up for at least 30 miniutes afterwards. We never thought we wouldn’t make it out of our hometown before Atlanta. But thankfully God allowed us to get through the traffic and safely arrive to Atlanta.

We did get a lot of talking done. I find that while travelling you can talk about any sort of deep topic you want since you have nothing but time. It’s a great opportunity to get to know your spouse a little better and even get some planning done, if needed. While we drove we were marvelling about God’s creation.

Job 12:7-10 “But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.”
Here Job was making a retort to his “friends”, but it highlights an important revalation for me during this trip and my current one. Evidence for God is everywhere, and evidence of His will is everywhere, too. Late September is when the leaves start to change from bright greens to falling down in lovely shades of yellow, orange, and red. This part of fall is so beautiful and we were thankful that we were blessed with equally beautiful weather. God has a great eye.

After we got to Atlanta, we made our way directly to the line for the Ben Rector concert. We were about an hour and a half early, just enough time to wait a little and spend the rest of that time fighting for our lives for a good standing room spot. My husband is very thoughtful and found a spot for us on the side so I could see since I’m so short and my husband could stand to the side since he is so tall.  We were able to make it really close to the front. Even in visible spot for his Instagram post!

When I tell you we had the best time, I mean it. The last time I was at a concert, it was Corbin Bleu when I was about 9…
The opener was The National Parks. They are a new find for us, but we greatly enjoyed them. They’re a group that we really liked live. We thought they were a duo, but it seems like we only got half of the group. We listened to them quite a bit on the drive home, and we decided that we like them a lot more live then in recordings. We will definetly try and see them live the next time we get the chance.
Ben Rector was fantastic. I was  at a little bit more of a disadvantage since I am much newer to Ben Rector than my husband. I really only know the new album. Most of the concert was his older songs. I could at least hum along, but everyone around us was definitely more in-the-know. I still had a really great time. Ben is almost the same live and in recordings. I would also love to see him again.

Afterward we had enough time to walk around the battery and eat lunch before our next stop. We stopped at a place called EATaliano. I enjoyed the vibe in there, but they were incredibly busy with the game. In fact, I was just in awe with how much the foot traffic increased between the concert and the game. It went from basically empty to packed to the brim with people. People that I’m pretty sure didn’t even end up at the game. We felt bad for our server. He was doing double duty, but we didn’t enjoy being mislead about some of the food though. Our plan was to split a pizza but our waiter told us they were personal sized. They definitely were full 12 inch pizzas… good pizzas, but way too much for the two of us.

After that we headed into the Braves game. I was really excited to see the inside of the new stadium. I was lucky enough to go to a game at the old one right before they finally closed it. I don’t remember a whole lot about it, but I know that this one is an upgrade for sure. I sound like a broken record, but we had a lot of fun. We didn’t really eat since we were so full from our pizzas. However the people around us had some amazing looking food and made me consider eating again on a very full stomach. I was a little jealous, not gonna lie. We saw a pretty heated exchange during the game that ended up getting one of the coaches ejected. Very fun game. We didn’t stay for the whole game to avoid traffic.

We woke up the next morning bright eyed and bushy tailed. We have a tradition of going to Passon City Church when we go to Atlanta.
It started as curiosity since my husband enjoyed the pastor’s, Louie Giglio, published works. Our last trip to Atlanta we knew we would be around the main campus, so we decided to visit out of curiosity. I’ve only had experiences with local hometown churches, so I was skeptical of a mega church with multiple locations. I enjoyed the message last time around, but those speakers rattled me to my core. I was almost nauseous from it. After the concert I knew I was prepared for the experience.

We thought about going back to the main campus, but the Cumberland campus was acutally right around the corner from our hotel. It had a different feel from the other campus. Maybe it’s because we were visitors to a church full of regular attendors. I felt a little more removed. Slightly like a stranger. But the worship music is so great and we really enjoy the production. We have some churches similar to that around us, but I don’t see us making change since that feeling of knowing everyone and being friends is more important to us.

We had a pretty uneventful drive home (I slept the whole time basically). We ended the weekend at our local church for evening service. We had so much fun that weekend and it was good for our souls. Next week  I should have a post all about our vacation that we’re currently on. I’ve gotten some great reading and relaxing done, so I’m excited to share all about it!