Recently pianos have been part of four special answers to our prayers. This situation started with our church piano and developed over many years. The grand piano that our church had was donated by a former member of our church in memory of her daughter. It was nice for a home but was not really adequate for our new large church auditorium. It was often hard to keep in tune and it often bounced when played. But only the pianists realized its shortcomings. Nobody else did or cared. The organ also had problems and some of our organists stopped playing it because of that.
When we realized that a new piano was not and would not be a priority for our church leadership, we approached our pastor and asked him what would happen if the church received money for a new one. He felt that replacing it, and maybe the organ as well, would be accepted if the funds became available. While we felt that this might be an impossible task without any promotion by the church, we agreed to pray and think about it.
And, very quietly, over a period of about three years $14,000 was made available for the church for a purchase. During that time the two of us began to investigate the possibilities and the costs involved. We visited a few stores and watched the internet. And then, a few months ago, we came upon the new Kawai CP1 digital grand piano. My wife who does not care for the touch and sound of keyboards was astonished with the touch and sound of this particular piano. My wife fell in love with it and wished that she had one of her own. It has 1,000 different sounds, uses the latest technology and has the touch of an acoustic grand piano. The piano and organ sounds are actually much better than the instruments our church had. And when we inquired about the cost, listed at over $20,000, we were amazed when they told us that for the church they could deliver it for just under $14,000. That was a God thing!
When we shared that information with our pastor, he decided to take some of the church musicians to see it and play it. They loved it. We purchased it. They removed the old piano and organ and this beautiful black grand piano was delivered and set up. Since my wife is now only needed to play about once a month, she is looking forward to her first chance to finally play it in church next Sunday. The purchase of the piano was prayer answer number one. Actually there were even a few more answers to prayer because the Lord also took care of the removal of the old piano and organ.
Now I knew my wife had fallen in love with this instrument so I proposed that we consider buying the Kawai CP2. It has the very same internal parts of the CP1 but comes in a standard home style case. And because of this it is much less expensive than the baby grand. But there were three more challenges to take to the Lord in prayer before we could go ahead with the purchase. First, how to find the money. Second, how to get rid of our Korg M1 keyboard. Third, how to get rid of our good piano. All three challenges needed answers quickly if we were to purchase and save delivery costs by combining it with the church order.
For over 40 years my wife has played for many weddings and funerals. For some of these she was given a financial honorarium. After giving a tithe of these gifts to the Lord, I had always placed the remainder in the bank expecting some day to use this to take a big trip. But with our developing physical challenges it has become apparent that this big trip probably will never happen. So over the years the Lord provided the funds for the purchase even before we ever thought about such an expenditure. Another God thing!
Next was the concern about getting rid of our expensive keyboard. I had reservations about trying to sell it, especially after some of the stories I've heard about Craig's List sales problems. I mentioned this concern in passing to the piano salesman. Now they advertise that they do not take trade ins. So I was shocked when he offered to take ours at a very fair price. Another concern answered.
One evening we were headed to York for a meeting and my wife was talking to her friend on our cell phone. This friend had recently moved to a retirement home and had given her piano away because she felt that she didn't have room for it. She also had been a church pianist. While they were talking I think the Lord nudged me to have my wife ask her if she would like our piano. We offered to give it to her if she paid to have it delivered to her house. She was very surprised and said she'd think about it and measure to see if she had any room for it. We also found out that when the piano movers delivered ours they would also be willing to take our old one to her for a very reasonable charge. When we talked to her again a few days later, she was excited and readily accepted our offer. In fact she told us that she had just been asked to begin playing again in her church but had to travel to practice since she no longer had a piano. She was thrilled. We were excited. Transaction was agreed upon. The deliveries are now complete. Our old piano now has a good new home. Definitely God things.
So now three of us have new pianos and I am enjoying listening and helping my wife plan and develop new arrangements using a vast number of instruments. In fact she just completed one for "Be Still My Soul" that actually has the sound of ocean waves in the background. It is exciting to use this new ministry tool. And it is even more amazing to see how the Lord provided and answered in His time. God is so good.
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