Trying to sleep last night was a little rough, but Father I am grateful for You getting me safely through everything this morning. I am eager to see what You lay on my heart this morning!
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So, Saturday at the Columbus Symphony Orchestra was impacting enough that I want to share a few more thoughts.
I have mentioned before that in high school and for a year in college that I played the French Horn. It is a beautiful instrument both physically and in the music that can be coerced out of it in the skilled hands of a musician. Well, when I went to college my goal was to become a Minister of Music and I felt that in order to do so, I need to be a fairly decent pianist. So that is what I pursued. Now part of the problem was, I had had very little formal training and really, I wasn’t even at a collegiate level when I started my degree.
Long story short, I diligently pursued an applied area of piano for my degree but in the end, I was unable to pull off the required piano recital of memorized classical music. So, even after four years of effort and study – completing all other academic requirements – I have just a 2-year Associates Degree to show for it.
So, what would have happened if I had stuck with the French Horn? At least in my mind, I was pretty decent at playing it. What if I had just taken enough piano lessons to become a bit more proficient? How would my life be different? Those are things I will never know.
I would have gotten my Bachelors for sure. I believe I would still have fallen in love with Karen (who by the way is a wonderful pianist and continues to be a great asset to my ministry!) And we would have still gotten married, but would a different degree had changed anything? Maybe. Instead of completing an Adult Course of Study program to become an ordained elder in the Church of the Nazarene, would I have pursued grad school or seminary? One thing for sure that would probably have changed was how I completed the requirements to serve in the United Methodist Church. Again, I went the way of an Adult Course of Study Program but otherwise, I would have taken seminary level courses.
My time listening to the orchestra stirred those thoughts up once more. But the Lord works in mysterious ways, as they say. Here is the closing passage of Scripture from my sermon this past Sunday.
Not that I have already obtained it [this goal of being Christlike] or have already been made perfect, but I actively press on so that I may take hold of that [perfection] for which Christ Jesus took hold of me and made me His own. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider that I have made it my own yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the [heavenly] prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:12-14 AMP (emphasis mine)
Lord Jesus, only You know what might have been. I cannot live my life in the midst of what-ifs but must live in the here and now where we are journeying together. I am blessed beyond measure and do not wish to be anywhere but in the center of Your will. May my heart’s desire be to reach forward to what lies ahead. Amen.
Apr 29th, 2019, Mon, 9:23 am
