Guitar Fun

My 15 year-old son began hounding me about ten days ago for an electric guitar. It isn't unusual for him to be hounding us to buy him something, but it was different this time.

First, he is a talented musician. He plays the drums for our church praise band - and he can really play! I am constantly amazed at the sounds that come constantly from my basement. He listens to a song a few times, and then he is playing it. He is also learning the piano and bass guitar - all on his own initiative. I wish I had his talent in music, but my ability to play music never developed beyond playing the radio! The fact that he is a talented musician and desired to learn a new instrument gave his request some weight.

Second, he offered to pay for it himself. Wow, he was really serious about this! He hadn't picked out an expensive guitar, just a decent starter. He read the reviews and had the guitar player in the praise band check it out. He had about half the money, but was short the rest. He was going to have to earn it. We agreed to that arrangement.

He spent the night at a friends house last Friday night. So, while he was gone, I purchased the guitar online. We decided to hide it when it arrived and when he had the money, he would immediately get the guitar. The guitar arrived on Wednesday while he was away at band camp, so it was easy to hide without him seeing it.

This kid was a money-making demon this week! He mowed the grass. He begged for odd-jobs around the house that he could get paid for. He sold some video games. He had a shoe box in his bedroom where he kept the money and had a tally sheet showing how much he currently had - and how much he still needed to buy the guitar. Last night, he earned the last four dollars he needed. It was amazing to me how he could earn that much money in just a week! He was focused and motivated!

My wife suggested we have fun giving him the guitar. At about 9:00 last night, I hollered downstairs to him that I had ordered his guitar. I didn't tell him when, just that I had ordered it. About 5 minutes later, I carried the guitar outside and leaned it against the wall right outside the door. Then I rang the doorbell and ran upstairs. I yelled down to him and told him to get the door.

He came back into the house with this very large box, and a very confused look on his face. I asked him if it was something for the church and he replied that the box looked like a guitar box. As we opened the box, he kept muttering that he didn't understand this. He was ecstatic when he pulled away the last bits of packing paper to see the guitar he had been asking for! But he had no idea how Musician's Friend had delivered this guitar within a few minutes after receiving the order. I love playing with his mind like that!

God has promised us blessings when we walk in His ways. In Psalm 119:35, King David asks God to "Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight." Just as my son was delighted to find the guitar after completing the work assignments we had given him, King David found delight in discovering the blessings that come from walking in God's commands. What delights are we missing because we chase after our own desires instead of searching for, and following, God's desires?