Hello All,
Wow what a summer so far. I've had a blast playing with King's Brass. The first time I played with them I remember thinking, "Wow now that was Loud!!!" I've never been able to play that loud in an ensemble. It's so exhilarating to be able to do that on a regular basis and not get the left hand telling me to back off. Being on the road has been a lot of fun too. We meet great people at churches and other venues. Which brings me to something shocking that happened indirectly to our group.
Our second Sunday on tour, we were at Immanuel Bible Church in Springfield, VA just outside of DC. We drove there the night before from Pennsylvania, and literally got 2-3 hours of sleep Sunday morning before we had to be at the church to setup and rehearse. We played in three services and for each service there was a church orchestra. It was kind of funny because some of us were in front of the string section. Naturally, they didn't like the loud noises so they either were covering their ears or invested in some earplugs. We played a few songs for each service, went back to the hotel for a little bit to rest, and then back to the church that night for a full concert. It was a busy and somewhat tiring day, but fortunately we had a day off on Monday and got to relax before heading out again.
As we headed out to our next location on Tuesday, Tim had told us that he received an email. We found out that early Monday morning a 15-year old girl who played violin in the church orchestra was murdered along with her mother by her father. And I will be honest, it hit me hard! I sat there in the Suburban thinking the performances we gave on Sunday was the last music that she ever heard in this life. Whew, it got me to thinking what kind of impact was the music on her. I remember specifically seeing her sit there and cover her ears; and being the typical brass player, it encouraged me to play louder.
All of this changed my thinking on how I perform. I remember someone in the group telling us at the beginning of the summer that they play every concert as if it were his last. It got me to think that I should play every concert as if it were the LISTENER'S last concert. Wow that kind of thing sure does change your focus on how you play. Every concert isn't going to be perfect, but it puts a different meaning on how you play. It causes you to really focus and really worship the Father with your music. It causes you to communicate the music in a different So I've decided for the rest of the summer, that I'm going to play every concert as if it were the listener's last concert. It gives me motivation for each concert to do my best. It is amazing how God can use one incident to indirectly change a life in a way that you would at least expect it.
If you think of it, please pray for the people at Immanuel Bible as they go through this very very difficult time in their church. Ironically, the 15-year old girl's name was Joy. Please pray for her father and the rest of her family as well.
From
J-man (Isaiah 40:28-31)
