When our plane arrived in South Africa, we were met by a man named Rudy who would be our chauffeur. We boarded two large vans and began a 4-hour drive to Nelspruit where we stopped and grabbed some groceries. Nelspruit was also where the sick and injured exited the vans to spend a week recuperating. The four of us packed all of our stuff into Sheila’s (our host for the week) small, early 90’s BMW and waved goodbye. It was about 75 seconds later that I realized that my ipod was still in the van. Crap! I didn’t want to ask our new acquaintance to turn around just to grab my ipod, so I swallowed my anxiety about a week with no music and kept my mouth shut. It seems as though I’ve developed a bit of a dependence on my electronic musical companion; so much so that I’ve been laughed at for having the “longest battery life ever” and accused of keeping my earbuds in to avoid conversation. I claim but the tiniest amount of truth to that.
A week later, when we met back up with some of the squad in Mozambique, I was relieved to find that Josh B. had my ipod safely in his possession.
“Sorry, it’s dead. Paul listened to it all night”
I didn’t know who Paul was, and I didn’t care that it was dead; I was just glad that it wasn’t still traveling around South Africa in Rudy’s van. But later that night I met Paul.
Paul is a 19-year old guy that was rescued a few years ago by another missions organization that works in Mozambique. He has since come to Christ and now serves as a translator for groups like ours who don’t speak Portuguese (the national language of Mozambique). Besides being gifted with the ability to speak two languages, Paul is also very talented musically. It didn’t take long before we were both outside jamming away on two guitars, playing some worship music. Though I taught him a few secular, American songs, Paul loved to play for God. He wanted to play to worship.
The next morning we were at it again. Solomon (another translator) joined us this time by plucking some bass notes while Paul and I alternated between rhythm and lead. Each time we played lead we would try and out-do what the other one had just played. Most of the time Paul got the better of me, though I did sneak a few good licks in there. We played until our forearm muscles cramped and refused to work anymore.
The amazing part of the story is that Paul doesn’t own a guitar. His enormous amount of talent has been completely refined through the intermittent use of other people’s instruments. A few days prior he shared with me that he’s been praying that God would provide him with a guitar. It was a statement that he just kind of threw out there, not in an expectant way, just letting me know that he longs to have one for himself. I didn’t respond, but I did store that away.
Later that day I knew what God was telling me, but I didn’t really want to listen. So He hit me over the head with it again, this time using one of the girls on the squad.
“Lazarus has been praying that God would send a guitar to his church. Isn’t that the same church that Paul goes to?”
Yep, it is.
Oh man, this is going to be hard. My guitar is my escape. It’s my release. When I’ve had enough, I can play it for awhile and all is well again. It gives me peace. It gives me comfort.
But wow, it’s also starting to sound like an idol. The bite on my finger (whether it was a spider bite or a spiritual bite) came while I was in the throws of my obsession in London. I woke up every day during our time off between Christmas and New Year’s just to play, to practice, to soothe the part of me that would rather be home than on the World Race.
So yesterday I did it, I gave my guitar to Paul. Before taking it from me, he threw his arms around me and buried his head in my shoulder. “Thank you so much, thank you. God bless you! Thank you!” Then he took it, and just like that he was gone.
I’m not writing this for congratulations or admiration, but as a testament to answered prayer and obedience to God. And not only that God will answer prayers in your life, but to the fact that He will use you, if you let him, to answers those of others. With some sustained practice, I’m sure Paul will play the guitar much like I imagine David used to play the harp. He’s going to glorify God and bless his congregation. And that’s way more than I could say for that old, beginner guitar that I bought during college.
So please pray for Paul. Pray that he will continue to pursue God through his new guitar. And please pray for me as well, that God will fill this void inside me where an idol once lived.
