This year for Christmas I recieved a rather unexpected gift from my sister. I've been playing the same guitar for around 10 years, and realized around three years ago that it was time to invest in a quality instrument. The guitar the I was so proud to have hand selected when I was 18 years old is now a little tired, and has lost alot of it's tone. When I was looking for a guitar, it was like it found me. An Ovation Celebrity. Yep, me and my plastic guitar. It had a very bright rich sound, and was so easy to play. I put my fishman pickups in this guitar and was ready to go! Looking back, I realize that I learned to worship with this old toad. It is the only guitar that I own that has only been used to lead worship, which is kinda cool in it's own right. I've logged like a million hours playing this thing. My Ovation has kinda become a symbol for my walk as a worship leader. It's not the nicest instrument, and has many times played in the company of Martins, Taylors, Gibsons, and the like. But, never the less the offering given is still the same. My Ovation reminds me of worship services at the church in Weott. A small sanctuary, built in the style of a log cabin, a fire burning in the hearth of the grey sandstone fireplace, surrounded by the redwoods and turning colors of the maples. Just voices and this guitar lifting up the Name of the Lord. Weott church is the place where I first realized the importance of waiting on the Lord. Years as a worship leader, then all of a sudden I got it. Am I way too attached to a material object? probably... Or maybe this guitar is my pile of rocks. When Jacob wrestled with the Lord, he heaped up a mound of rocks in that spot the very next morning. Every time he would pass by, the sight of stone upon stone, and the pain in his hip would instill in him that he is truly blessed by the Lord. Or I'm too sentamental.
Back to Christmas. Very unexpectidly, my sister gave me as a gift one of her guitars. Not just a guitar that was taking up space. She has four guitars in her aresonal, and each one is very significent to her. This guitar was given to my sis by our mom when she graduated high school. It was an interesting time in her life. Alot was going on internally and externally for her that she dosen't discuss readilly with people. When she got this guitar, it became a pile of rocks in her life. Now she has passed it to me. My sister is a very accomplished worship leader, very skilled at playing guitar, and furthermore my sister! The significance of the gift from her is insane! It is not the $1,500 Martin, or Taylor, but very simple; well made from choice wood. What was important to me when I was 18 was the brilliance and brightness I found in my Ovation. Now I have found myself drawn to the dark tones of the mahogany, and resonance from the big open box.
It's hard putting away the Ovation in the hall closet, but very much an honor to be playing the new Blueridge that I recieved. Thanks, Manda, for lending me your pile of rocks!
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