road miracle

This bulletin was posted from Francisco the Man's myspace. Click on the post title to hear them. They sound better than ever now! Thank you for this, God:

Hello everyone.

As of right now, we are in a city called Willow, just past Sacramento and 30 minutes from Chico. We are sitting in a hospital, Nestor and Angelo in line to get checked on by the Doctor. Abdeel is in there right now.

Last night as we were walking to our van, we noticed that someone broke into it and stole a couple things. It was the first show of the tour, and we got robbed because SF is full of crackheads that walk around like Zombies talking an unknown language. The front passenger window was fully knocked out as well. We should have realized that the worst was yet to come, but hey, we're optimistic!

Our next show was supposed to be in Portland, which is about a 12 hour drive. So we decided to leave right after the gig. We left at about 2 o' clock. Everyone was pretty much sleeping the whole night. Abdeel was sitting in the passenger seat, covered in a blanket because it was so cold. We made a little bed in the back where all our equipment was that was positioned on top of Ange's bass cab. That's where I was sleeping.

About 3 hours into the drive, we lost control of the van, swerved a couple times, did a 180 and flipped 2 or 3 times.

We ended up landing on all 4 wheels.

With me sleeping in the back, Abdeel sleeping with no window, and everyone except the driver not wearing a seatbelt, we probably all should have died.

It was pretty much a life changing experience for all of us. In only the second day, our tour is over.

But the most important thing out of all of this is that everyone of us came out literally with no injuries. A couple brusies and sore backs, but that's it. God was seriously watching over us tonight. Words really can't express how grateful we all are that we are still alive. Jessica said that it might be God saving us from something worse that was gonna happen later on. We got robbed, but we didn't leave. Maybe it took an accident like this to make us go home. I also think it really showed us that we might have been taking things for granted (music, talent, family, friends, life) and that this was our wake up call.

After the hospital, we will be checking into a hotel and getting some rest. We will also be renting a van so that we can leave as soon as possible.

So we are in the process of canceling all our dates, except the Plush gig in Fullerton. And rest assured, with all that has happened to us this weekend, both bands will come through with things you have not seen.

Please pray that we can make it home safely. We are all shaken and changed by this experience, but we are holding on to the comfort that we will be with all of you soon.

God is love, and rock & roll is loving one another.

Blessings,
Aren, Scotty, Simon, Joel, Christian, Nestor, Angelo & Abdeel

JEPROCKET & FRANCISCO THE MAN