Leading up to launch, the thought of me bringing my guitar on the race crossed my mind, but I truly never thought about it. I think I instinctively knew I was going to bring it, just because I am so used to bringing it wherever I go. My intentions of bringing it was to just play around with it a little bit throughout the race, but God quickly showed me one fruitful reason (of many!) why I was to bring my guitar.
But first let’s look at how I got the guitar in the first place.
Growing up, I played a few instruments in band but quickly decided that music class wasn’t my jam. I gravitated more toward sports and choose to leave my “trombone” talents behind. But when I started college, I began to have a strong desire to learn how to play the guitar.
So I made an impulsive decision and went out to buy a guitar. I was determined that I could teach myself and learn from various YouTube videos. I got a beginner Yamaha and was super excited to start learning how to play. But soon after I bought it, my interest level started to decrease.
The guitar started to become something that just sat in the corner of my dorm room. I would pick it up here and there but had lost the passion to actually learn how to play. And this continued on for years, well after college.
As I took various jobs after college, I ended up taking the guitar everywhere I went. There would be seasons of life where I would pick it up a couple times a week, but there would also be times where it just sat in the corner like a piece of furniture. But the odd thing is, I never had the feeling of needing to get rid of it. For some reason, it always travelled with me, even if I had no desire to play it.
And so when I launched on the World Race, I packed it up, threw it on my back and thought nothing of it. And it wasn’t until the start of month 2 that God opened my eyes to one of many reasons why I brought my guitar on this trip.
When we arrived at our location in Guatemala where we would be staying, our host Logan met us there and helped us unload all our bags from on top of the van. Myself and another squad mate, Julia, began talking with him and the topic of music came up. He asked if any of us played any instruments and Julia instantly said, “Will plays the guitar!”.
And so I responded with a calm “Yes”, not knowing what Logan was going to ask me next. Then Logan proceeded to ask me if I was willing to teach guitar lessons for the whole month at Grace English School. Grace provides before and after school programs and one of the programs is teaching kids how to play certain instruments.
When Logan was asking me this, I was thinking in my head that “no way” can I teach guitar lessons. I barely knew how to play myself let alone know how to teach others.
But in my heart, I knew God was encouraging me to take the risk. And coming into this month, I challenged myself to take some risks. To attempt things, knowing that there could be a possibility I could fail.
“Sure, I can teach guitar lessons,” I responded.
“Great, you can teach a few hours every morning at Grace,” Logan said.
And so for the past 3 weeks, I have been teaching kids how to play the guitar. Some days are hard and some days are easy, but it’s been such a great opportunity to make relationships. Even though I sometimes have no idea what I’m doing, I can still be influential in these kids lives by just introducing them to guitar playing.
And that’s the beauty of how God is working throughout this journey I’m on. I would have never thought I would be using my guitar for ministry, but God had other plans. And all He asks us to do is to say “Yes”, even if it’s a risk we’re taking.
But what’s really cool is this is just the beginning. The beginning of a journey where God will continue to show up in mysterious ways. And I can’t wait to see what God has in store for me in the coming months.
WORLD RACE UPDATE:
We’re currently in Guatemala and in the last week of month 2 on the World Race. We’ll be traveling to Honduras at the beginning of October and then to Nicaragua in November. Our team will be working with a ministry called “Heart of Christ” in Honduras. Continue to keep all of us in your prayers as we transition into our next country and ministry next month!
With much love,
Will
