When I was in elementary school there were a few things I remember to be
true. The first being that I must've been small and adorable, because a
few people took me 'under their wing'. One such person was our school
secretary.
On a number of occasions I got into play yard fights. I never started
them, and I rarely won them.
I was also very vocal about Jesus Christ. I remember being the only
student in class who objected when I heard the teacher telling us about
certain things I knew the Bible to say were untrue.
Whatever the reason, I found myself from time to time, sent to the
principal's office.
As I sat there waiting to be scolded, the secretary would often talk to
me, offer me lollipops, even show me her forbidden secret wiener dog she
hid in her desk drawer. As time went on, the gifts she gave me got more
and more odd. Trinkets really, until the final gift I recall her giving
me was a trombone. She handed me a full size, in the hard case,
trombone. It was dented and tarnished and I accepted it with
curiosity. I wondered the whole way home, why this woman whom I hardly
know, gave me this very odd gift.
It was one of my life's mysteries. Why would someone give me such a
random thing? She obviously meant well, but I had no idea what I had
done to make an impression on her, and that impression would culminate
in a gifted beat up old trombone. I don't know what she was thinking,
nor what I said, nor could I find any logic to it. It was just plain ODD.
That trombone sat in our closet for years. I don't know why we kept it.
We never touched it. In fact my parents just told stories to visitors
about the time their son came home with a free trombone. We moved, and
instead of throwing it out, I guess my mom kept it.
Now I'm 43. As we went to drop my daughter off at college we stayed
with family, whom we had never stayed with and got the chance to get to
know them much better. In the course of telling stories we discover
that my mom had given that trombone to them for their grandson (my third
cousin). They had repaired it, and he was playing it in school.
I had forgotten all about that trombone. I am told if you live long
enough you see life come full circle. My cousin received that trombone
close to the age that I originally received it, only 35 years later.
Life is funny.
But why tell this story?
My life has been an adventure of following God's leading and going and
doing what He says to do. Very rarely do we ever get to see the
fruition of our work. We rarely get stories that show how it all links
together. We rarely get moments where we can see God's hand crafting the
events that lead to something happening. When we do get that glimpse,
boy oh boy our hearts get excited, we get pumped up!
God's masterful crafting of seemingly random events, to pull together
people to His glory. is a wonderful thing to witness. There's no real
great meaning to seeing the lifespan of a trombone switch hands from one
life to another, no one would make a movie out of it.
But there is significance in following the lifespan of a Bible. This
week, we see some Bible portions printed for the first time. They are
yet to be in anyone's hands. But they soon will be. Can you imagine
following that Bible for it's lifespan and seeing the lives it enters
and changes? Maybe it'll stay in one person's hands until it's read and
re-read and tattered and torn. Maybe it'll be passed down to their
children. Maybe it'll be handed to someone who needs comfort and guidance.
Whatever the case, God's ability to affect lives through His Word is
such a wonderful thing to be a part of.
