Find the One

1-2-3-4
1-and-2-and-3-and-4-and
1-e-and-ah-2-e-and-ah-3-e-and-ah-4-e-and-ah

Basically, each song has a different time signature, a different pace, and when I play, I am hitting one or more pieces of the drum kit at these different times throughout the entire song. It could be on the hi-hat, rack tom, kick drum, floor toms or cymbals. Each song has different combinations throughout: the verse, different from the chorus, different from the bridge. Then you must end the song at the same time as other band members.  Other times I may drop out and the piano still plays, or it's just the singers who continue. Then occasionally, I, or we, must stop in the middle of a chorus or bridge or interlude and all come back in at the same time or different times depending on the song.

Wow!

That's complicated and crazy and hard to keep straight.
You know that's how our lives are also. I believe in a church the size of ours, we have people whose lifestyles are totally different from even the person they sit behind during service. MPBC on any given week will see construction workers, retired people, newlyweds, cat owners, cat haters, people with a long commute, New England Patriots fans and everything in between. Each individual person has their own family and friends, health issues and debt. 

So, the parallels between the drums and the lives of the people are that they are both crazy and each one is different from another.

I have only been playing with the band for about 15 months and in that time I have gotten off beat "uh plenty". When I first started, it was very hard for me to get back on track with the rest of the band.  But as time has gone on and I continued to mess up I found that if I could only find the 1 (which if you look at the example in the beginning, you can see it just repeats itself, so the 1 will come back around), I could get back on track. The trick is being able to recover quickly and don't let that short time of being off beat ruin the rest of the song or set list.

Now comes the encouraging part of the blog.

HARD and REAL as it may be, it is simple.

All the people with different cars and job titles, get off beat in life. Whether it be your tongue that just won't stop moving behind your teeth, a temper that shows itself in the ugliest of ways, that credit card limit, or you may just be feeling burnt out and tired of everyday life. Find hope in knowing that God is always in the restoration business, just as He did with David and Peter when they got "off beat". As we go through this life, our faith and joy often depend on what's happening in that moment in time. Coincidentally, in the measure or two that I'm off beat, I feel the same way, with my mind racing to find the 1 and get back on track.

The "off" moments in our lives will last longer than one song or set list, but as we get "off beat" and try to find the One, know that Jesus will never evade a heart that searches for Him.

Just as God is in the restoration business, Satan is in the guilt business. He will tempt you with many of your weaknesses after you have been humbled before God and gotten back on "track". Satan's goal for the Christian is to make them a rusty tool, dusty and sitting on a shelf. Since he cannot have your soul, he wants you to be unusable for anything that will point to Christ. 

Similar to the drums, if I held on to those times I messed up and kept my focus on that, I would not be able to play ever again because I  would feel like such a failure.  And believe me, that's where Satan wants to keep me.

However, the Holy Spirit being a comforter will ease our minds about the mistakes we make and remind us that God is not a condemner, He will not kick us while we're down and He will not leave us in our affliction. Those things come from the evil one. If we get hung up on our past mistakes and constantly condemn ourselves, then we will never be able to serve Christ to the fullness of his will. What would have happened if Peter didn't forgive himself for denying Christ three times? If he would've said "I'm too much of a failure because of my past transgressions?" As Peter was restored by Christ on the shoreline, we also can be restored through Christ.

I hope you can find encouragement in knowing that no matter how off beat you are, you may even have stopped playing altogether, if you can find the ONE, then there is hope for serving God through the rest of your set list.

I say go for it.

Derek