Day Two: Learning to express myself…

It’s time to get right into the heart of how God has molded me over the years. Today is an epic (or legendary) tale of scandal, remorse, regret… That may be building it up a bit too much, but this is about how I learned to play the guitar!

No, we are not a black family...

When I was in the seventh grade my sister, who made a point of noting that she was not mentioned in yesterday’s post, and I began homeschooling. This was the logical thing to do since my mom wrote the book on homeschooling… literally, no really, buy it. There were many great aspects about homeschooling. More relaxed schedules, easier vacation planning, and curriculum that was still challenging showed why this was great for our family, but without adequate supervision that whole sin-nature thing can really kick in.

Over the course of many weeks I began to slack off on completing my work. I was still doing fine on my tests and quizzes, so little attention was paid to my daily lessons. It eventually got to the point where I was not doing any of my actual schoolwork throughout the day. As always happens, I got caught. As it turns out, the punishment that I received was one of the best things that could have happened to me. Not only was I provided AMPLE time to catch up on my schoolwork, but it provided me the time to learn to play the guitar, something God would use in my life for a long period of time.

Not long after I learned to play, and definitely before I was very good, I found myself playing guitar in the youth band at church. This not only forced me to develop my guitar skills more rapidly, but also thrust me into a position of leadership, another skill that God desired for me to develop. I went through band splits and three youth pastors during my time leading. Once the band all graduated, we headed to college and in different musical directions.

Since then God has placed me in the perfect situation. Leading the Simulcast service for the last several years has been amazing. It has challenged my leadership abilities, pushed me to play new music that I otherwise would not have, and taught me a new reliance upon him. I can see daily how God is continuing to make me into a better, more knowledgeable, and more passionate worshipper.

Question of the day: When has God used some sin that you were caught in to help you grow into a deeper relationship with Him?