A Visit from Murphy

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Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”                                                                                                                                                                       James 4: 13-15

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             “Man plans, God laughs.”     – Yiddish proverb

                                                                                                                            “Anything that can go wrong, will.” – “Murphy’s Law.”

 

So, this Sunday our worship leader will be camping. The drummer will be gone as well. The piano player is unavailable, as is the teacher who sang with me a year ago in a pinch. ( https://seekingdivineperspective.com/2019/11/01/when-i-am-weak/ ) The bass player will be there, but he’s needed in the sound booth to fill in for the drummer’s kids.

So, three guesses who’s left to lead worship this Sunday.

This must be “That Week,” because we have been in similar situations on more than one mid-August Sunday. The reason I know is because Facebook sent me a reminder of what I posted a few years back:

    “You’ve probably heard of Murphy’s Law. Well, I think Murphy was on our worship team this morning.

       We started with the worship leader on vacation, then the young man who was to lead worship this week got called in to work. Kelly was supposed to sing with me, but she was home with a migraine.

       When what was left of the worship team got to the church to practice, we were locked out and had to call for a key; consequently, we were 1/2 hour late getting started.

The song sheets were there (Murphy missed that detail.) but the songs were in keys we couldn’t sing – too high or too low. About the time I was finished transposing them to a key we could sing, it was decided that guitar would be better than keyboard. So during the Sunday school hour I made a run home to get my guitar.

       On the way back, I thought, “I am SO glad this isn’t about US!”

       I shared that little reminder with everyone, and we (worship team and congregation) had a good laugh at the thought that “Murphy” must be the name of an angel God sends occasionally to keep us humble. When the congregation began to worship with us, suddenly there was music – better than it sounded at any point in our fragmented practice.

           Later the visiting pastor commented that Murphy must have visited his study that morning, because his flash drive suddenly didn’t have the Power Point for his message. (He didn’t need it.)

            All that to say, we can take ourselves so seriously that sometimes we need a visit from Murphy to remind us that church is not about us, it’s about Jesus. And if it’s about Him, it’s all good.

                                                                (Thank you, Murphy.)”

                                                                                                                                                                                                      Will Murphy be there this Sunday? We’ll see …

                                                                                                                                                      Prayer: Lord, thank You for the privilege of worshiping You, and thank You for humbling us when we need humbling. Keep our focus on You, and keep us from taking ourselves too seriously. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Published by seekingdivineperspective

I am a forgiven sinner and adopted child of God, seeking to see life from His perspective - as opposed to the world's flawed perspective - and living my life accordingly.

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47 thoughts on “A Visit from Murphy”

  4. Great post !
    Brings back memories of when I was a music director.
    I can identify with what you said about songs being written in keys that are difficult for the singers (often too high).
    It seems that everyone has an opinion on church music, and what ‘style’ or songs are ‘best’.
    By the end of my music ministry, I had developed a great appreciation for Latin chant. 🤗🌷

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  13. I can’t wait for Sunday…worshipping God… so what if we have a few less musical instruments… like you said, it is all about Jesus not us.
    Thanks Ann for the reminder.

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  20. Pingback: Murphy Takes a Break – Seeking Divine Perspective

  21. This is something I have to remind myself whenever I am in the music team at church. Playing on some Sundays is more of a struggle than others, even when the songs are familiar, and we practice with plenty of time to spare. God knows, and is there reminding us what we are there for and how to do it right.

    The congregation always makes the music sound that much better doesn’t it?

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  22. :)))) I know Murphy all too well.

    You may be aware that Murphy’s Law is actually a shorthand version of the Second Law of Thermodynamics. See, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_law_of_thermodynamics and/or https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/thermo2.html for a better explanation of the Second Law of Thermodynamics than I can hope to provide (LOL). As I understand it, when energy in a closed system changes from one form to another, entropy (chaos) increases. However, God — having established all natural laws — remains in charge. There is some comfort in that.

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