The Guitar I Didn’t Want to Give Away

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I didn’t want to give away my first electric guitar.

Even though it was an Ibanez “shredder,” designed for a style I don’t really play anymore, it was sentimental to me. I had owned it since I was a teenager, and it had been with me through the many changes in my life. It moved with me to different parts of Texas at least four times. I assumed I’d always keep it, even if it never more than a nostalgic conversation piece in the closet.

So, when I sensed God leading me to dust it off, get it fixed up, and give it away, I was immediately resistant. Aw man, God. It was my first guitar! I whined a little to him and bristled against the conviction, but I knew it was what he wanted me to do. Another guitar in my house wouldn’t mean much. But to give that guitar away could mean something to someone else, even if it caused me a little pain to do so.

All right.

Okay.  

OKAY God!

I’ll do it!

I planned to give it to the Hope 4 Honduras youth pastor, a wonderful guitar player and worship leader, I’d met on a previous mission trip to Honduras. But right before leaving Houston, I found out he’d gotten a job elsewhere and was no longer at the mission.

Well, who can I give it to now, God? 

I debated even bringing the guitar at all but decided to follow through on God’s prompting. I didn’t know who I would give it to, but I stayed alert for an opportunity.

Shortly after arriving in Honduras, I ran into Leo. I had forgotten about this guitarist. Leo works at the mission in IT and security (and he happens to be a killer metal guitar player).

Leo was raised in an environment where Satanic activity, black magic, and witchcraft were the norm. Before Christ, he was surrounded by all sorts of darkness and even played in a band called Blasphemy. But when he came to the Lord, he emerged from his shrouded past and stepped into the light.

The Lord led him to put down his guitar for a long time as he healed from his former life. God showed him that his motivation had been for his own glory and recognition rather than God’s.

But, after years of soul-searching and transformation, Leo pondered on if he should pick up a guitar again. Someone had even given him an acoustic guitar. This time, he promised himself, his relationship with music would be different. He loved metal and performing live, but he wanted to make sure that his motives were pure — that it was for God’s glory alone.

My husband, Billy, and I sat on the Hope 4 Honduras patio, listening to Leo’s story, and a fire shone in his eyes as he told us that he finally felt God telling him he was ready. He had scheduled some time in a recording studio, only a few weeks away. His goal was to form a Christian metal band, bringing Christ to the dark places of the metal scene. He wanted to minister to those musicians as well, sharing his testimony and the glory of God in his redeemed life.

All he needed was an electric guitar.

He didn’t have much money, but he was hoping to be able to find something that worked and sounded good. I asked him the brand and type of guitar he would get if he had more money. When he said “Ibanez” and started describing the exact characteristics of the guitar I had, I knew it was time.

When I told him the story of how the guitar got there, the two of us were in awe.

I will never get over how specific God’s love is for us. His touch is so personal! He provides us with more than we can ask or imagine, at exactly the right time. This was Leo’s affirmation from God: telling him beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was, indeed, ready.

And Leo is running with it. He’s been practicing and recording, and has decided to call his project “Memra,” which loosely means “Word of the Lord.” It is an Aramaic word used in the Bible to describe God’s power coming alive in the physical world — as it will with Leo’s music.

To God be the glory for what he will do with Leo and his gift! We are so excited to see what God does next.

164: Can Being Thankful Really Make Me Happy?

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Our culture, and the church, talk a lot about an attitude of gratitude, but this is easier said than done.

Is there a real scientific connection between gratitude and mental health?

What does the Bible say about thanksgiving?

In this episode, Rachel Chester talks with Lindsey Lehtinen about the scientific evidence and biblical foundations of the real and central role of gratitude in a flourishing life.

163: How Can I Become Generous?

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We know we should be generous, we want to be generous, but how can we actually become a generous people?

In this episode, Rachel talks with Patrick Johnson, the founder of Generous Church, and Mark Carden, Clear Creek’s Executive Pastor, about practical ways to cultivate generosity in our hearts, our family, and churches so that we can be on mission as the body of Christ.

162: What Does Generosity Have to Do with My Faith?

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We live with a scarcity mindset of comparison and fear, but the Bible calls us to a completely different way of life.

In this episode, Rachel Chester sits down with Patrick Johnson, visionary and founder of Generous Church, a ministry with the hope of spreading generosity as a way of life throughout the entire globe.

Why do we struggle with generosity, how it is central to our faith, and how can we can cultivate generosity in our hearts? Patrick discusses these questions and more.

160: What is the Point of Prayer if God Already Knows Everything?

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God knows all things, so why ask for what we want, or confess what we have done? God knows what will happen, so why spend time in prayer about the future? In this episode, Rachel Chester talks with Yancey Arrington about God’s all-knowing, all-powerful, all-present nature, and how this actually invites us into real relationship with him and true purpose in the gospel story.

Do I Have to be Baptized?

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Do I have to be baptized?

The answer is no and yes, but if that’s frustrating to you, check out this video to learn the loaded answer.

 

155: Legacy Before Kids

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Our current series, The Blessing, is about passing the goodness of God onto the next generation. But what about those who don’t have kids of their own?

What is it like to experience a series about family legacy when it doesn’t apply to you? How can people without kids find comfort in their season of life and also find ways to make a difference in the next generation?

In today’s episode, Lance Lawson sits down with Sherry Royce and Brianna Bolling to discuss this and more.

149: Retired — What’s Next?

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We are all created for work, but what happens when it is time to retire?

How does this affect our identity? How can we still make a difference?

In today’s episode, Aaron Lutz sits down with Greg Murphy and Glenn Lutz to discuss our need for work, rest, and how we can all participate in God’s work no matter where we are.

148: I Don’t Want to Join a Small Group

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If you’ve been around Clear Creek for any time at all, you know we talk about small group often.

But what if you’re too busy, or too shy?

What if you’ve tried group but had a bad experience?

In this episode, Aaron Lutz sits down with Rachel Fisher, Small Groups Associate, to talk about the legitimate obstacles people face when it comes to joining and leading small groups, and why, at the end of the day, they are still worth it.

Art, Antibiotics, and Astronauts: God’s Gifts of Common Grace

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What do Van Gogh paintings, antibiotics, the International Space Station, and microwave ovens have in common?

In a very real way, they are all gifts from God. How so? Let’s listen to Philippians 4:8, a well-known passage from Paul the apostle:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

For years, Paul’s words to the church at Philippi have fascinated me because I used to think the apostle was calling believers to discern and embrace the good from Christianity.

But upon further reflection, that makes no sense.

The faith is entirely good and needs no discernment. Therefore, it’s more likely Paul is calling believers to discern and utilize the good, wise, and true things they find in society.

Indeed, biblical scholars note the list Paul gives is representative of the virtues celebrated in the Greek Hellenistic society of that day. For example, the famous philosopher Cicero, who was a contemporary of the apostle, said, “But what is there in man better than a mind that is wise and good?… all that is lovely, honorable, commendable.” Wow! It’s almost a mirror of Paul’s list.

Furthermore, commentator Dr. Gordon Fee concludes,

“Paul is telling [the Philippian church] not so much to ‘think high thoughts’ [but] to ‘take into account’ the good they have long known from their own past, as long as it is conformable to Christ … to encourage the Philippians that even though they are ‘citizens of heaven,’ … they do not altogether abandon the world in which they used to, and still do, live.”¹

This call for Christians to discern and utilize the goodness and wisdom of the world may surprise some, but it’s not astonishing for those who know about the biblical doctrine of common grace.

Common grace, also referred to as general grace, concerns God’s goodness which extends to all his creation — things that are ‘common’ or ‘general’ to all humanity like order, art, science, creativity, etc. Scripture refers to God’s common grace in places like Matt. 5:45, “For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust”; Psalm 145:9, “The LORD is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made”; and Luke 6:35, “… for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.”

Consider the following human activities: 

  • Going to MD Anderson for cancer surgery or picking up cold medicine at your local CVS;
  • Touring The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston or laying on your couch listening to Spotify;
  • Meeting with a local financial coach for retirement planning or reading a well-respected psychologist’s book on personality patterns.

These are all examples of engaging the truth, goodness, and wisdom of God’s common grace in a society. We do this every day without knowing it. Yet, Philippians 4:8 reminds us to do so discerningly (“whatever is…”), because not everything in culture is good, true, or beautiful.

Culture and society are broken by sin, and thus are mixed bags of good and bad, beauty and ugliness, truth and lies. That’s why the apostle says followers of Jesus should neither outright reject all its products nor swallow it whole but parse out and engage the commendable, excellent, and true within it.

For example, maturing Christians will be those who increasingly aren’t fearful of the common graces of science, technology, or medicine. They recognize how unbelieving culture can, with discernment, produce great things of worth that are good, true, and beautiful gifts.

Gifts like Van Gogh paintings, antibiotics, the International Space Station, and microwave ovens.

 

Footnotes

  1.  Gordon Fee, Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, NICNT (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1995), 415.