A Keyboard Calamity A technological glitch turns into a priceless learning experience. By Trina Paulsen

My mind raced. Every bride wants her wedding day to be perfect, and what's a wedding without music? It would seem very strange to have a bridal party and even the bride herself walk down a long church aisle to silence. It just wouldn't do. Without music, there can be no wedding . . . a marriage, yes, but no wedding!

These were my thoughts as I sat behind an electronic synthesizer—basically a piano/computer combination—in panic (you know how computers can be). The guests were scheduled to be ushered into the sanctuary within ten minutes and my instrument had gone haywire! It seemed every button I pushed did something other than what it was supposed to do. When I tried to play soft strings, I got a clanging bell sound. I imagined playing the fanfare at the beginning of Wagner's Bridal Chorus expecting a full organ sound but hearing the gunshot sound effect or alien noises instead!

The music I had spent hours pre-recording to accompany myself with was not working correctly either. I began pushing buttons like crazy, but I was so beside myself, I could hardly think. At one point, the keyboard would not even make any sound!

Tech Support

I called for the sound technician, and we ruled out anything connected to the amplification system—the problem had to be the keyboard itself. Although I had been praying already, it seems we pray all the harder when we have exhausted our own ideas and options. At that moment, I just told the Lord I needed help in a big way.

Somehow, in the midst of all that confusion and chaos, God laid out in my mind the sequence of actions to take. Due to lack of time and several technical reasons, I could not try out the solution ahead of time. But God put it firmly in my mind that if I just followed step-by-step, everything would work correctly. It was a leap of faith, but at least I knew I was trusting the outcome to the Lord and not just to the seeming randomness of a glorified computer!

I did a complete reset on the keyboard while the piano player began the prelude music, and I prayed that I would stay focused. The solution God had provided worked! Everything turned out beautifully. There was keyboard music for the entrance of the family, the wedding party, and the bride herself. The sounds performed properly and the pre-recorded soundtracks played as they should.

After Mendelssohn's Wedding March— the final song of the ceremony—the keyboard jammed just as it had before and had to be reset again. I realized then that the problem was a glitch with that last song, and I have since figured out how to avoid that problem in the future. Resetting the keyboard and following the step-by-step instructions that the Lord put in my mind left the glitch until the end of the ceremony and kept the instrument working properly for all the music preceding the final piece. As you can imagine, I breathed a sigh of relief at the end of that ceremony!

Life Support

More than a sigh of relief and an education in a technical aspect of my instrument, though, the Lord used that experience as an object lesson. There are many times in life when emotions run high, stress is abundant, or the future is highly uncertain. However, if we desire His will, God can break through all of that and give us clear direction for our journey.

Unlike my keyboard scenario, it seems God often gives us only one step at a time; but in the unusual times when He gives us a series of instructions, we must be sure to follow them in the correct order—that order is essential to His plan. Paul encouraged the Corinthians to “Let all things be done decently and in order” (1 Corinthians 14:40). His admonition was in regard to public assembly, but God will bless order and carefulness in our individual lives as well.

Following God's instructions often requires day-by-day, moment-by-moment trust. Rarely, if ever, is there a situation where we can “try out” God's plan before actually putting it into practice. We simply must listen for His direction and trust in His solution even when it goes beyond our understanding. We must take a “leap of faith” that His plan will be best and then follow it one step at a time.

Proverbs 3:5-6 encourages us to, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Whether it is one step at a time or a series of steps, whether it is consistent or inconsistent with our logic, God's way will always be the best way. If we follow His plan, our lives are sure to turn out like beautiful music with each technological glitch being only a wonderful learning
experience!

Trina Paulsen is on the editorial staff at the Apostolic Faith headquarters office in Portland, Oregon.