Back a number of years ago, when my kids were young, I lived in a little, bitty trailer because I had little money. My husband was a seasonal worker and I was at home with my kids. But Jeff and Pat made my life very rich. It meant so much to me to have two people so loving and in love with each other in my life. No, Jeff and Pat didn't have much either except a house full of kids and alot of love. But no matter because Jeff was very generous. I think he really practiced the kind of giving the NT teaches - ungrudgingly. But I once heard Chuck Swindoll teach that the passage meant to be a "hilarious" giver - and I think that suited Jeff to a T.
You see, I witnessed this giving when Jeff asked me if I wanted a piano. Oh, did I! I had been a serious student of the piano growing up. But I had had to give up the piano that I had earlier. Jeff knew this and one day, when he asked me if I wanted a piano, I didn't know that he had one - in his garage! He told me that one of his clients had an old piano in their basement that they didn't want anymore. Jeff did not play nor did anyone in his family.
Boy, it was in terrible condition! When he brought it to our place, I quickly learned that a number of the keys didn't play, the strings were rusty, some pads would need to be replaced, the sheet music holder was broken, and a knob from the key cover was missing. Besides all this, it was pretty awful sounding - so very out of tune! But you know, all that didn't matter one bit to me. I was so moved by this gesture.
I might find out someday, but right now, I don't know if Jeff had planned to hopefully use the piano for his family. But for whatever reason he had it, he was willing to just give it to me - without hesitation or second thought! I had never seen that kind of giving before! And because I had wanted one so badly, I didn't care one bit about all the things that were wrong with it! I was like a little girl getting the toy she had wished for most from Santa!
I didn't know people could do things like that! I can still see his face when I thanked him - a big grin and his hearty, "You're welcome!" booming in my ears! Thanks to Jeff, I was able to get back into practice again and later perform specials for my church. That is why I chose this music for this site - I want to share how he made that difference in my life.
