Monday, August 11, 2008

First Step Toward Becoming "That Guy"

First of all I want to give a blog "shout out" to someone who told me that she reads this blog. So I'd like to say "hello" to Penny.

Yesterday I went to church to take my first guitar lesson. A man named "Chip" who plays bass guitar for our Sunday morning worship service is giving lessons for a nominal fee. I'm fortunate enough to have my son's guitar sitting back in his room collecting dust for about 4 months. I'm adopting it as of yesterday.

Penny, who I just gave a shout out to, is the other student in the class. She knows a lot more about the guitar than I do. I'm a total beginner.

I learned some basic stuff like: how to tune my guitar, what the parts of the guitar are, where the cords are played and how to play them. Chip showed us 4 chords to practice. I have to get a strap and a new set of strings put on my guitar before I can practice. I'll do that tomorrow.

Even though I'm still trying to get better at ventriloquism I have decided to take advantage of the opportunity to learn guitar for a couple of reasons. The first reason comes out of a hypothetical situation. Let's say you're at party that's outside and there's a wood fire burning. Everyone is sitting around talking but there's not really anything happening. Someone in the crowd points out that one of the guys at the party brought his guitar with him. They encourage him to go get the guitar out of his car. He sits by the fire and plays whatever song he chooses or is requested to play and everyone sings along. The party just got 150% better. I've always wanted to be "THAT GUY!"

The other reason I want to learn to play the guitar (it's really the most important reason overall)is to be able to be more effective in children's ministry. I feel that as a guitar player I can lead the children to participate in worship a whole lot more effectively. I can lead them into a spirit where they will be more open to the listening to God's word and the gospel. That's the most important thing in any kind of ministry.

So anyway I have now taken my first guitar lesson after years of wanting to start. I also someday want to learn to play the ukulele. But that's further down the road. I guess for now I'm a guitar man...or I'll try to be. Please pray for me I need it.

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