Oh, Give Thanks!

I love Eugene Peterson's The Message, especially the Psalms. I'd like to share a small portion of Psalm 105 with everyone during this season, this is my "Thanksgiving" Psalm...

Hallelujah! Thank God! Pray to him by name! 

      Tell everyone you meet what he has done! 

   Sing him songs, belt out hymns, 

      translate his wonders into music! 

      Honor his holy name with Hallelujahs, 

 you who seek God. Live a happy life!

In keeping with the spirit of the holiday I would like to express gratitude to the many people who have influenced the musical aspects of my life and have literally made me what I am today...

I'd like to thank my parents who encouraged our musical interests as kids, even attending the fifth grade band concert which I am sure was excruciatingly painful on the ears. Thanks for piano lessons and for making me play in church even when I felt I was in way over my head. Thanks for patience and understanding through the "tortured artist" phases and for sacrificing monetary resources more than once so I could be a part of varied musical adventures. 

Thanks to the people who at pivotal points in life spoke wise words to a young man floundering with life direction and purpose. I can now see the hand of God in what seemed like a chance conversation with Gayle Myers in her living room. A few years later it was Kevin in the San Francisco airport in a similar situation. Thank you both for being sensitive at crucial moments along the journey. 

Thanks to my teachers with patience beyond understanding. Thank you, Dr. Bogard, for being blunt, for giving me weak knees at piano juries, and for unexpected encouragement when I most needed it. Thank you, Alla, for Shostakovitch. Thank you, Laura, for shaping my attitude towards church music and for teaching me how to play it. I owe much to you.

Finally, thanks be to God who gave us all the gift of music which we've known since the beginning, are enraptured by it in the present, and will carry it with us when we pass from mortality into immortality. You are the Master Musician.