I Almost Failed to Give Him the Key<\/b><\/p>\n
The early years of the 19th century were troubled times in the German confederation. Rumors of revolution and rioting had the federated government in panic. Klemens von Metternich, the chief statesman of the confederation, ordered thousands of young men drafted into the army to guard the borders and put down internal revolts. Across the countryside, young men in uniform tramped off to an unknown destiny.<\/p>\n
In one German village stood a grand old stone-walled church with and ornately carved facade, beautiful stained glass, and a stately pipe-organ. The organ was famed throughout the region for its beautiful, rich tone. One day the aged caretaker of the church was interrupted during his chores by a knock on the great oak door of the sanctuary. He opened the door to find a young man in uniform on the steps. <\/p>\n
\u201cSir, I have a favor to ask,\u201d the young soldier began. \u201cWould you please permit me to play the organ for one hour?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry, young man,\u201d the caretaker replied. \u201cNo one but our own organist is permitted to play the organ.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut sir, I\u2019ve heard so much about the organ of this church, and I\u2019ve walked so many miles just to see it, just to play it for a single hour!\u201d<\/p>\n
The aged man paused, then shook his head sadly. <\/p>\n
\u201cPlease,\u201d the soldier pleaded. \u201cMy commander gave me a 24-hour leave. In a few more days we move to another province where the fighting is expected to be heavy. This may be the last chance in my life to play the organ.\u201d<\/p>\n
The caretaker reluctantly nodded. He swung the door open and beckoned the soldier inside. Then he took a key from his pocket and held it out to the soldier. \u201cThe organ is locked,\u201d he said. \u201cHere is the key.\u201d<\/p>\n
The soldier took the key and unlocked the ornate cabinet of the organ. Then he began to play. A billow of majestic chords rolled from the great golden pipes of the organ. The caretaker stood transfixed as the glorious music washed over him, bringing tears to his eyes. He moved to one of the pews and sat down, as if entranced.<\/p>\n
Within minutes, people from the village gathered at the church doorway and peered in. Removing their hats, the villagers stepped into the sanctuary and sat down to listen. Streams of beautiful music filled the sanctuary for one hour. Then the gifted fingers of the organist struck a final chord and lifted from the keyboard.<\/p>\n
The young man closed and locked the keyboard cabinet. As he stood and turned, he was surprised to see that the church had nearly filled with parishioners who had laid aside their chores to listen to his music. Humbly receiving their compliments, the young soldier walked down the center aisle to return the key to the caretaker. \u201cThank you,\u201d the young man whispered.<\/p>\n
The old man rose to his feet and took the key. \u201cThank you,\u201d he answered, grasping the young soldier\u2019s gifted hands. \u201cYoung man, that was the most beautiful music these old ears have ever heard. What is your name?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy name is Felix,\u201d replied the solder. \u201cFelix Mendelssohn.\u201d<\/p>\n
The old caretaker\u2019s eyes widened as he realize whose hands he grasped\u2014the hands of the young man who, before he was 20 years old, had become one of the most celebrated composers on the European continent. The old man\u2019s gaze followed the young soldier as he left the church and disappeared into the village street.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo think,\u201d the old man wondered aloud, \u201cthe master was here and I almost failed to give him the key!\u201d<\/p>\n
So it is with us. The Master is here. God is with us. His grace envelops us. If you give him the key to your heart, he can make unimaginably beautiful music in your life\u2014music that will make the world stop, listen, and wonder. The Master is here and he is ready to transform us by his grace. He is ready to give us a new beginning. It is not only our duty but our joy to give him the key to all that we are and have.<\/p>\n
Ron Lee Davis, Courage to Begin Again, (Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, OR; 1978), pp. 184-186<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I Almost Failed to Give Him the Key The early years of the 19th century were troubled times in the German confederation. Rumors of revolution and rioting had the federated government in panic. Klemens von Metternich, the chief statesman of the confederation, ordered thousands of young men drafted into the army to guard the borders … Continue reading “Yielded”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1281\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}