Piano and Prayer

Happy Sabbath,

Keeping this short. I'm with my mother who is recovering from knee replacement surgery. I had a good week and saw my son off for his first day of 5th grade. I have a 5th grader, I can't believe it. Church was good today and a testimony that was shared was interesting as well. I think it serves more as a warning for someone else than it is for me. The person who gave their testimony said they came to the US and was hoping to become an citizen. They married someone to get that green card but the family objected and she ended up siding with her family and he was abandoned. He talked about his journey to becoming a Christian and joining the adventist church. His main point was that we need to go to church for God, not for other people. People will fail you, abandon and let you down but God is faithful and is always there to pick you up when you are down. I am helping a Haitian guy learn piano and although he seems cool, i will keep my guard up. I notice he hangs out in the hallway instead of being in the sanctuary to listen to the sermon. He bee lines to me to discuss piano and today was trying to play a song that was secular and I had to refocus him. I don't really see him talking to other people in the congregation.  He lives nearby and walks to church. I know he lives with his sister and only knows limited English. I hope that more people befriend him and the men of the church take him under their wing. I have offered to help him with piano and I want to leave it at that. I imagine that if he has a good ear, he could play during the service and be a back up or even replace me. We need people who can play the piano and since I'm the only one I have to be there every single Sabbath.  It would be wonderful if there was a back up. I am going to find some hymns and break them down so he can work on them and who knows, we could both play the same day (he on the keyboard) and other people who have skill with instruments could get involved during praise and worship as well. Everyone has to start somewhere and for me it was dude having me try for the whole service and dipping out for a few weeks assuring me that I had it. This guy knows the Cmajor scale and played it with perfect fingering. He needs to know other keys, how to read music and general chord progressions. I can get some info together for him and see if he can play during service all depending on his skill level. Piano is all I'll give to this person. They better not expect anything beyond that and prayer.

I'm signing off and hope you have a wonderful Sabbath and weekend.