| ANDY'S PAGE /SUMMER |
Most musicians are aware that we need non-musicians' support for perhaps a zillion reasons. Unfortunately these people do not tend to stand out as obviously as do we, since the music we produce gets attention. Sometimes we hear valuable people claim that they "have no talents" simply because they aren't gifted in music or the "attention-receiving" arts. But we know better. A particular friend of Elisha's Musicians, who does not perform music in any capacity (except to sing hymns in church to her devoted Lord) is one such person. Being a new business we don't yet have service awards per se, but several are already on our list. One of those such persons, is Cheryl. Cheryl is unique because of her quiet and amazing unselfish ability to serve. She is indeed a practicing Christian and in some sense, a leader, because of what Jesus (Yeshua) has taught us regarding leadership: the greater the leader, the greater the servant. I feel I spent very little time with her on our trip because of how our time came to be used and because of her gracious servitude. She was well aware of my having to turn down a pleasure trip offered us by other patrons, because of a music consultant I needed to reach in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, the direct contact information for this consultant was not available so other indirect methods were applied. If we had been successful, she was willing to make a two-hour drive and literally sit and wait as we did our work. Did she have better things to do? Of course she did! But she recognized that a small business from the mid-west in California, without transportation, needed help. As we toured the Internet combing for directions and addresses futilely, we discussed other options. Finally, as we gave up the attempt, Cheryl announced "I'd better get off then!" Why? She had limited Internet time! I had used up a good portion of her allowed time. She had not said a word. I had suggested to other patrons that Cheryl and I only had those few frustrating hours together. That's because her quiet unselfish involvement was so easy to temporarily forget. I finally located our consultant who was in another city. Cheryl exclaimed, "that's not far from here!!" Again she offered to help me out, where she successfully dropped me off and yes, waited approximately 2 hours for us to finish up. I later was reminded that she had had to skip a meal and did not finally leave to eat until she was certain that Elisha's Musicians was not only finished but completely transferred to other hands for the remainder of the day. So Elisha's Musicians is continued to be humbled by those who claim they "have no talents". In being a helping hand like Cheryl (and other patrons like her) one must be much like a musician, in that Service does not just take talent, but dedication, discipline, and willingness. THANKS, CHERYL. |
| We were on business in "sunny Southern California" to collect information and patronize our loving patrons! They are such blessings. Before Elisha's Musicians was even officially named, we received great support in helping to obtain the larger expenses. Our California patrons are equally as helpful in providing information, so when it was time to get some hard facts, we knew California was the place to go. |
| II Kings 3:15 |
Elisha's Musicians: Our Trip to California
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