Speaking of gifts,
When I use to go to that really small Missions Church I had a friend who was Lutheran from MN. His dad was a Lutheran minister. My friend went to Lutheran school his whole life. Even Lutheran college.
We didn't have much as far as music goes at that church. A Mennonite friend of mine played the piano. She never took lessons and could play from ear. She played really well. Then we got this way older man who had been retired for many years who got saved. He played piano bars for a living when he was young. He volunteered to play the piano for us. My Mennonite friend was really happy she didn't have to play the piano and or organ anymore.
Ruben who had been a wild type of person his whole life, and who had made his living in bars, was more than willing to play for us on Sun. mornings. The only thing was that he never heard any of the hymns before. He would jazz them up really lively. I would look over at my Mennonite friend and we would be laughing really hard.
I will never forget how he played the piano. It was more like honky tonk than church. lol
Anyway my Lutheran friend decided he was going to bless? us with some special music he was going to sing. He had a terrible singing voice. He put the tape in and started to sing with the music. As usual my Mennonite friend and I were laughing. My Lutheran friend got up there and was singing with his hands all stretched out mimicking Frank Sonatra (sp) with his moves. It was so funny. Like he was on stage at a concert. LOL
I then wondered if music was a gift. Later when I moved away I heard my new preacher say that we have gifts and talents. Gifts were from the Lord. Talents were different. Talents were not gifts per say. For instance he said, musical abilities were talents. I agree. (A non believer could jam with a Christian band really easy if it was their type of music and that's what they felt like doing for a living)
Anyway my Mennonite friend is now with the Lord. When ever we would get in trouble for laughing or anything she would always get in far worse trouble than I from the preachers because she knew better and was older and it was up to her to instruct me because I was younger. (In age and faith)
Every time we would get a new Missionary/Preacher it would be the same same. Then we would laugh even more because we knew what was coming next with her getting in most ALL of the trouble. The preachers didn't care who instigated it. The preachers would say something like, Frieda I need to speak with you. LOL! She didn't care. Neither did I. We both knew we would be there long after the preachers transfered off or quit, or entered into some other type of full time ministry.
You can use your gifts, time, and talents as we mentioned before on this board to serve the Lord. IMHO Music is a talent.
AI
