Being a Part of God's Plan

After having written my last blog, I’ve been waiting for renewed inspiration.  It came after this morning’s wonderful church service.  I realized that Ruby and I had been part of God’s plan though we hadn’t known it at the time.  I would love to tell you about it.

We chose to sit in a row to the side, near the front of the sanctuary and we moved over to enable anyone to sit beside us.  Before long, a couple we had not met before took those seats.  We listened to a well-delivered sermon on the nature of God, so magnificent yet so intimate and loving that He wants to have the kind of relationship with us that a brother would, who loves us.  The congregational singing was extraordinarily fine and soon we noted how beautifully well the man next to us sang and we agreed to introduce ourselves after the service and compliment him.

When the service concluded, we introduced ourselves and learned their names.  We were told this was their first Sunday, and that they recently moved from Toronto.  I said we loved hearing the gentleman sing and suggested that he might even want to come to the choir practice on Monday.  We learned that their furniture was still in storage and they were staying with their son until their condo was ready.  He said he’d been to Nicaragua, which interested me because I had been there on sight-testing missions.  However, that was the extent of our learning about them for the present time.

In the vestibule, we introduced them to several other couples, and then asked if they’d like to stay for a short while and enjoy the coffee fellowship, which they accepted.  Other couples were brought into our conversation and we let them know that this couple was new.  Before long, there was a group talking animatedly, causing them to feel welcome.  I learned from the gentleman that he had just been invited to attend the men’s dinner on Tuesday, and that someone had signed him up.  Then, he asked if we’d introduce them to the pastor.

It only took a moment.  I interrupted the pastor’s conversation with a friend, to ask him if he’d like to meet a new couple.  It was a happy time when he spoke with them.  Ruby and I were overjoyed that our pastor was there to welcome them and that so many people had done the same.

It was only after we were on our way home and were speaking to a lady friend, that I realized God had planned this very timely meeting by having us sit where we did.  Of all the places in the church where we could have sat, He had placed us where we could be next to this dear couple who were in need of new and genuine friends.  We reflected that any of us should be ready and available any time, to be an integral part of God’s plans.

Telling this experience is not to gain personal credit, for it should be natural to welcome newcomers.  God in His magnificence desires to draw individuals to Himself in a loving way, and He used us to fulfill His plans.  How blessed we were to be used by God!
    

A Piper With a Purpose

This week I had the pleasant surprise of receiving an Email letter from a piper, a pastor in New Zealand.  He had searched the web to find especially arranged music for the piper who expects to play in church.  He found that I had published thirteen volumes of suitable music for “The Church Piper,” and he wanted them all.  His special desire has been to specialize in hymns, much to the exclusion of secular music.  He had already begun to transpose and arrange hymns, and knew it would be helpful to find a resource where hymns had already been arranged and could be learned.  In addition, he expected to learn the techniques of transposition and arranging from them.

I explained to him that by moving from Manitoba to British Columbia, I had let Hendersons Ltd., in Michigan, have the whole inventory and that he could order his complete set of music books from them.

I expressed my hope that he would find the satisfaction he desired by specializing in church music and that he would pledge his musicianship towards the glorification of God by doing his finest for whatever occasion he would be invited to play.  It might be in church for call to worship, for a funeral, a wedding, a banquet in which a piper is invited to pipe-in the head table or in a pipe band, coordinating his abilities with other pipers.  Always, it would be with dignity and pride that he would not only be presenting Scotland's kind of music, but assuredly, when playing a hymn, it would be with awareness that God wants him to represent Him well in all he does.

The Scripture reminds us that in everything we do, to do it as for God and not for man.  That is the highest standard, not only for all the music we play, but also for our deportment and the Christian example we set for others to follow.

I explained that one should be proficient in both kinds of music, because each style helps the other in practicing certain finger-work.  One benefits from playing before an audience, from the confidence that it brings, and the ability to maintain good timing and perfection in playing.  Finger dexterity is learned from playing secular music as well as hymns.  The ability to count out time comes from playing more than hymns, and to play such pieces as "The Highland Wedding March" and "Trumpet Tune," is gained from hours of practicing music suitable for competitions.  Practice is always with the intention of improvement for the next occasion.  One becomes able to play well before any audience.

From my experience as a band piper, and through the need to prepare suitable music for church services, my entire repertoire grew.  My mother's urging was to share the church’s beautiful spiritual music with pipers in the world and to introduce them to Christ our Saviour, so their music would be made meaningful too.  In other words, she explained to me, that I should ask pipers how they could expound upon the love of Jesus if they didn't know Him personally.

The greatest essential in becoming proficient in playing church-related music is to have more than a book-knowledge of Christ.  That is, we must know Him, and know Him personally -to be able to talk to Him and have love and respect for Him, knowing He is God.  And yet, because Jesus lived on earth as a Man, we can relate to Him just as His own disciples did.  That’s when one’s piping becomes meaningful and qualifies a piper to do as Jesus instructed us; to go into all the world and teach about the love He has for everyone.

A little later, I received another letter from this piper and he agreed that he would be retaining his teacher and be associated with a pipe band where he could learn the techniques of piping which he could apply to his church piping.  He already knew Jesus Christ in a way that he could speak of Him as a Brother.  With such ambition as his, he will be an outstanding Christian piper in New Zealand.