The $3.5 Million Dollar Violin

Psalm 39:5 “You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand. My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best, each of us is but a breath.” 

What would happen if you put one of the worlds most talented violinists in a subway station during the morning rush hour and had him play classical music on his $3.5 million dollar violin? The New York Post did just that as an experiment to see people’s reactions. The musician’s name is Joshua Bell and that day he played some of the most beautiful and complicated classical music ever written, two pieces, one by Bach and one by Brahm. Bell plays for sold out audiences around the world, people pay hundreds of dollars to hear him play. 

On that January morning over 1000 people passed by while Bell played for 45 minutes. Seven people stopped for about a minute to listen, 27 people gave money, for a total of $32 and change. Most people passing by do not even turn to look at him. Bell said, “At a music hall, I'll get upset if someone coughs or if someone's cellphone goes off. But here, my expectations quickly diminished. I started to appreciate any acknowledgment, even a slight glance up. I was oddly grateful when someone threw in a dollar instead of change." To be noted bell makes over $1000 a minute when he plays for most audiences. One man stops and stays for three minutes, he said the music made him feel at peace and for the first time in his life he gave a street musician money. 

Bell watches the video a few weeks later and said he understands why he is not drawing a crowd but he is surprised at the number of people who pay no attention at all, “It is as if I’m invisible. Because you know what? I’m makin’ a lot of noise!” 

I recently spent an afternoon with a woman named Dorothy, she is 88 years old and is suffering from Dementia. I asked her if she thought she had lived a good life. Dorothy said, “A good life, well yes I had a good life.” She then stopped and after a few moments she said, “But it went so fast!” 

I have a friend who is retired and living on a lake, he loves to garden and work with his hands. For years he has been telling me how he just watches as all these young people are always so busy, he said, “They are always running, here and there, they don’t take time to enjoy the things around them.  They always have someplace else to be.”

Psalm 39:6 goes on to say, “We are merely moving shadows, and all our busy rushing ends in nothing. We heap up wealth, not knowing who will spend it.” If Dorothy had been in the subway station that day, I am sure she would have stopped and listened to the man and his $3.5 million violin. 

For Better or Worse

Malachi 2:16 “For I hate divorce!” says the Lord, the God of Israel. “To divorce your wife is to overwhelm her with cruelty,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “So guard your heart; do not be unfaithful to your wife.”

“I take you. To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness or in health, to love and to cherish 'till death do us part. And hereto I pledge you my faithfulness.” These are traditional marriage vows. 

I met a woman this past week who worked in a home housing people suffering with Alzheimer's. She told me a story of a woman she took care of. This woman could no longer preform daily functions. She no longer recognized the people she loved, including her husband. She told me how the husband came to the home everyday to be with his wife. He would sit with her and hold her hand and talk to her. He would feed her and tend to her needs. Everyday he came, “for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness or in health, to love and to cherish ‘till death do us part.” This man took his vows seriously he stood by his wife until the day she died. 

My parents were married for 56 years. In those 56 years they raised 4 children. My mom would tell you, at times it was great and at times it was extremely hard. “For better for worse, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish ‘till death do us part. When my dad was dying my mom was right there beside him walking with him through the final stage of his life. 

Twelve years ago my marriage ended in divorce. It seemed like the easy way out for both of us. It turned out to be anything but easy. There has been immeasurable pain for our two children and for both my ex-wife and myself. If you could have do-overs in life this would be mine. I have found the words of Malachi to be painfully true.

Billy Graham said this after his wife’s death. "I am so grateful to the Lord that He gave me Ruth, and especially for these last few years we've had in the mountains together. We've rekindled the romance of our youth, and my love for her continued to grow deeper every day. I will miss her terribly, and look forward even more to the day I can join her in Heaven."

February 14th Valentine’s Day, a day to celebrate love and marriage, a day to, “Rekindle the romance of your youth.” God said, “Let your wife be a fountain of blessing for you. Rejoice in the wife of your youth.” 

Green and Growing

2 Peter 1: 5-9 “In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.”

I heard this statement the other day.  “You are either green and growing or you are ripe and rotting.” A challenging way to look at our lives to push ourselves to grow. My daughter plays for her high school tennis team and I recently signed her up at a new tennis club for lessons. It was an eye opening experience for her, these kids played at a much higher level that any of the girls in her area. It was fun to watch as she started to raise the level of her game. My daughter has a desire to improve her game, a desire to grow to the next level. Now that she has seen a new level of play she is desiring more than ever to reach that goal. It will be fun to watch her progress over the winter. She has an instructor with a passion for the game and a love to teach. She has kids playing along side of her that also want to improve and to grow in their ability, knowledge and skill. Next fall when tennis season rolls around my daughters tennis game will be at a higher level and she will be more productive and useful to her team. I also know she will enjoy the game more knowing she is striving to be the best she can be.

Paul said in Philippians 3:12 “I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to be. No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this on thing: forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heaven.”  This is my goal, my resolution, for the New Year. To keep working and to keep growing to develop my faith and knowledge of our Lord. So that I will be more productive and useful in the lives of the people around me.

I will do this by studying God’s word, by listening to the instruction of Godly teachers and by working along side other Godly men and women. People that will raise the level of my game. Remember we are: “Either green and growing or ripe and rotting.”

I pray you will have a joyful New Year knowing you are striving to be the best you can be.

I Had To Save The Baby!

Proverbs 31:8 “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed. Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless, and see that they get justice.”

“I had to save the baby.” Sam said. A friend of mine was telling me a story involving her five year old son, Sam, and his one year old brother Avery. The boys were out in the yard playing and she heard screaming, she ran around the corner of the house and she sees their rooster attacking the boys. Avery fell to the ground and Sam laid on top of Avery to protect him from their crazy rooster. The rooster dug his talons into Sam, pecking at him. She kicked the rooster off of the boys but the rooster kept coming back and Sam just laid there protecting Avery. The rooster finally retreated after their mother hit him with a shovel. Afterwards she asked Sam. What made you just lay there on top of your brother, protecting him, Why didn’t you run away? “I had to save the baby,” Sam said.”

January is Sanctity of Human Life Month, this year marks the 39th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision that legalized abortion in all 50 states. The pastor of the church I attended last Sunday spoke of the “What if’s” of abortion. What if 50 million children had not been lost to abortion over the last 39 years. How many Steve Jobs, Bill Gate’s, Hellen Kellers, Henry Fords, Ruth and Billy Grahams would have been added to our world?

I know a woman who was pushed by her parents and boyfriend to have an abortion when she was a teenager. I asked her, What do you want to say to people?  This is her response. “When I got home that day (after the abortion) my boyfriend said to me, “Did you have fun killing our kid today?” I will never forget it. Abortion pretty much ruins your life. I am still looking for healing, but I don’t want to go there, I don’t want to remember. I would like to help young women who are in the same position I was in, but I know in doing so I would have to tell my story and I am not ready to do that. I need to talk to someone. I need to find healing and forgiveness.”

Mother Teresa said this, "Many people are concerned with children of India, with the children of Africa where quite a few die of hunger, and so on. Many people are also concerned about the violence in this great country of the United States. These concerns are very good. But often these same people are not concerned with the millions being killed by the deliberate decision of their own mothers. And this is the greatest destroyer of peace today- abortion which brings people to such blindness."

If Sam’s mother were to explain abortion to him and then to ask him what he thought. I see him looking up at her with his innocent eyes, responding without any hesitation, “Mom we have to save the babies!”

There Will Be A Day

Luke 2:30-32  “I have seen the Savior you have given to all people. He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel.”

It is with deep sadness I write this article. It is the Christmas season, a time of joy and a time of hope. Yet today there is one less student walking the halls of my daughters school. For the second time in 90 days a classmate of my daughter has taken his own life. What do you say to your sixteen year old daughter when she tells you another one of her classmates has killed himself. A boy she knows has decided life is too hard, a boy decides only death will take away the pain.

I was walking through the grocery store later that night and I was adding items to my cart I thought my daughter would like. I stopped and thought of this young man’s parents, will his mother find herself adding an item to her shopping cart for her son, suddenly remembering. Are there already presents under the tree with his name on them. Standing there in the grocery aisle I wanted to cry, my heart was breaking for this young man, for his family, for his friends and for my daughter.

A poem was given to me a few years ago by a high school student, this is what she wrote: Titled --Care “Nobody knows where she came from, Nobody knows her name. She sits quietly in class, as invisible as a ghost. Her hair is a long scraggly mess, Her cloths are dark from wear. She has a black string around her neck. On which she wears a broken heart. She never talks or says a word, Silent as a winters night. The bruises on her skin show clear, and no one really cares. Everyone seems to look, but no one actually sees. They walk on by her teary face, Without a second glance. O, what people go through for the want of a friend. She looks very thin, Her face so gaunt. Her pain is so great, It’s almost impossible to bear. She sits in the dark, Bathing in her misery. She hopes there will be a day that someone will bring her salvation. She waits in agony, Slowing sinking down. Why should she continue to fight, If no one even cares? The pain finally gets too great, And the love not great enough. She ends the pain in her own way, And no one even cared. O what people go through For the want of a friend.”

Almost everyday kids are leaving messages on the face book page of the young man who took his life back in October. They talk to him, they tell him how much he is missed.  They are looking for healing, for someone to hear their voice.

In her poem the young woman wrote, “She hopes there will be a day, That someone will bring her salvation.” Christmas celebrates that day, the verse from Luke are the words of an old man named Simeon who held the baby Jesus in his arms and said, “I have seen the Savior.” This Christmas let us share the love of the Savior Jesus with people around us who are hurting. Let us share His joy with people who are finding the pain too great.  This Christmas let them know that we do care.

Give Thanks

2 Chronicles 20: 3,4 “Jehoshaphat was terrified by this news and begged the Lord for guidance. He also ordered everyone in Judah to begin fasting. So people from all the towns of Judah came to Jerusalem to seek the Lords help. 18-21 Early the next morning the army of Judah went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. On the way Jehoshaphat stopped and said, “Listen to me, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem! Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be able to stand firm. Believe in his prophets, and you will succeed.” After consulting the people, the king appointed singers to walk ahead of the army, singing to the Lord and praising him for his holy splendor. This is what they sang: “Give thanks to the Lord; his faithful love endures forever!”

In the midst of war Judah fasted, prayed and gave thanks. God gave them the victory. On October 3rd 1863, our country was in the midst of a Civil War, Abraham Lincoln said these words.“I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens... And fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

Lincoln asked Americans to set aside a day of Thanksgiving. In March of that year President Lincoln also set aside a day of prayer and fasting. President Lincoln said this, “We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.
Now, therefore, in compliance with the request, and fully concurring in the views of the Senate, I do, by this my proclamation, designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th. day of April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting and prayer.

Thanksgiving was set aside as a day to thank and praise God. A day to ask God to heal our wounds and to restore us. In 1863 our leaders through their actions echoed the words of Jehoshaphat. “Believe in the Lord your God, and we will be able to stand firm. Give thanks to the Lord, his faithful love endures forever!”

Why Was I Ever Born?

1 Peter 5:8 “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.”

A classmate of my daughter took his life this past week.  He was a senor in High School, active in sports, popular, the American dream. The next day at school my daughter sent her mother a text saying, “It’s horrible here. I want to come home.”

The Centers for Disease control report that suicide is the third leading cause of death of people aged 15 to 24 and that suicide is the fourth leading cause of death for children between the ages of 10 and 14. Depression is the leading factor which causes teens to take their life, a feeling of hopelessness and feeling that suicide is the only way to solve their problems.” The National Institute of Mental Health believes that as many as 25 teen suicides are attempted for each one that is completed, and teen suicide numbers are increasing. Every 2 hours and 11 minutes, a person under the age of 25 completes suicide.

The prophet Jeremiah felt this despair this hopelessness and wrote, “Yet I curse the day I was born! May no one celebrate the day of my birth. I curse the messenger who told my father, “Good news—you have a son!” Let him be destroyed like the cities of old that
the Lord overthrew without mercy. Terrify him all day long with battle shouts, because he did not kill me at birth Oh, that I had died in my mother’s womb, that her body had been my grave! Why was I ever born? My entire life has been filled with trouble, sorrow, and shame.” Jeremiah 20:14-18.

Why was I ever born? All of us have asked this question? Satan whispers his lies in our ears, “Your no good, you’re situation is hopeless, everyone would be better off without you.” Hopelessness, powerless to change things. Where did Jeremiah find the courage to continue? In his God or Lord, “But the Lord stands beside me like a great warrior. Before him my persecutors will stumble. They cannot defeat me.” Jeremiah 20:11.

I cannot begin to feel the pain of this family. Yet I find hope in the response of the school , they brought in local pastors to talk to and pray with the students. The students prayed during classes, they prayed for his family and for each other.  The Lord was in the school, standing beside these students.

The school sent a letter to us, the parents of students, advising us to lend support at home and to be sensitive and aware of the reactions experience by grieving adolescents. The same advise applies to all of us, to lend support, to be sensitive to the people we love. Satan is lurking and prowling about, whispering lies to our family, our friends and to us. “Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your Christian brothers and sisters all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are.” 1 Peter 5:9