She Did What She Could

April 18, 2019: Mark 14.

Maundy Thursday finally arrived. I made a hair appointment last September, hoping they would ask me to play. David took the afternoon off and they asked him to sing.

I worked out two elaborate transitions to cover awkward key changes. I played through the service twice on Wednesday. The guitar player was not impressed with the first transition I showed them on Tuesday. I started to second-guess myself.

Mark 14:8, “She did what she could when she could…” The Message

I played through the service one more time. The new worship leader liked the first transition. Maybe she would like the second.

After my haircut, David wanted a light supper. He took me to Kentucky Fried Chicken. 😀 Since I wasn’t singing, I ordered the chicken pot pie!

We finished eating and had over an hour to wait before our final practice. I called the church and they graciously let us wait in the hall.

The worship leader arrived 20 minutes later. I explained the 2nd transition to her. We played it a couple of times.

The guitar player also came early. We tried them with him. He thought one sounded “janky.” (That’s not a compliment.) I made sure to wait for a full measure between ending the song and starting the transition.

The lighting man asked me if the spotlight was in my eyes. Did I want him to move it?

“Yes, put it all on Barb. She’s leading!”

He did! I was a happy camper. I was wearing my favorite black top with lace, bell sleeves and black jeans. I was sitting in a dark area lit by blue lights and the light from my music stand.

David was leading the first song and Derek was on the drums. I knew exactly what to do and relaxed.

I had everyone turned down on my Aviom and the keyboard turned up. I wanted to wrestle to play the quiet parts softly. The guitar player picked up what I was doing and started playing softly, too. (We thought he unplugged! 🙂 )

I smiled as David started singing. The difficult transitions worked flawlessly. As we played the last song, I noticed another spot I could back down on.

We finished the song and I stopped. The pastor wasn’t on the platform yet! Barb whispered, “Chorus!” I tried to jump in and played the wrong chord. (I put “jazz notes,” aka wrong notes, in every service. Sigh.)

The “hard to please” drummer said I played pretty. The ~~“impossible~~ difficult to please” guitar player said the same.

After the service, the Senior Pastor shook my hand and thanked me. Okay, he shook the hands of all the musicians and thanked them. But, still, – the man can play circles around me!

I poured everything out for that service. Jesus filled me back up with His Spirit. That feeling lasts for days!

Do all that you can, while you can. Even when people think it’s a waste of time or money.