PARTICIPATE IN GOD’S CYCLE OF MUSIC

Philippians 1:20-21 

I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

May Eng was an amazing pianist and a wonderful piano teacher. I met her on the second day after I moved to New Jersey. I was playing an arrangement of a hymn at Montclair State University when she knocked on my practice studio to introduce herself. She invited me to a bible study that she was starting in her home. I only attended her bible study two or three times. Over the next twenty seven years, May never mentioned this bible study to me ever again. However, she always told her piano students and just about everyone else that she met about Jesus. She attended several different bible studies every week for her own spiritual development. Occasionally she would even go to other countries for a few weeks at a time in order to volunteer as a short term missionary. One day May told me that she had done everything in her life that she needed to accomplish. She just wanted to go to Heaven to be with God. Two weeks later, she passed away.

May's funeral was held in a large Chinese church, where they hold three services each Sunday, in order to accommodate everyone. There was enough room for hundreds of people to be seated but yet many people still had to stand when they attended her funeral. There was an unusual spirit of celebration in the room; such as I have never experienced at a funeral in my entire life. One by one, people began to tell stories of the ways in which their lives had been changed because of May's love for God. May could play any kind of music on the piano that has ever been written but everyone who knew her would confirm that there was only one special Composer in her life. May always shared her love for the Composer with everyone that she would meet. When the pastor finally spoke, he said that the church that we were in began as a little bible study that was originally held in May's home; twenty seven years ago. Most of the original congregation was made up of May's piano students, their families, and people who had heard about the Composer by knowing May. May taught her students how to play the piano but she knew that it was much more important to tell her students about the Composer.

After the people had shared their stories, and after I had time to reflect on the impact that May had on so many individuals, I realized that I needed to become a better participant in God’s Cycle of Music. When I left May's funeral, I knew that May had been a faithful servant for the Lord and that I needed to work harder for the Composer. I wrote this book because I realized that I needed to find new and better ways to share my faith with others; just as May did each and every day of her life.

When we participate in God's Cycle of Music, we need to be motivated by our love for the Composer and by our love for people. I knew May for twenty-seven years. She never mentioned her degrees in music that she received from Eastman and Julliard. She never bragged about her piano skills or her accomplishments as a piano teacher. She never mentioned the church that was formed in her living room. She never told me about the spiritual impact that she had on the lives of hundreds of individuals. I do not recall her ever taking credit for anything that she ever accomplished for the Composer. She served Him with love and devotion. May was a humble individual who always strived to know the Composer better. She met with her Agent several times a day and she faithfully practiced all of the spiritual disciplines. May also kept her eyes focused on the Conductor's baton.

May had a sincere desire to spend eternity with the Composer. At the end of her life, she was ready to go to be with Him. May knew that she had fulfilled her purpose and her meaning in this world because she had made sure that other people would be able to continue to serve the Composer after she was gone. The only thing left for her to do was to leave this world so that she could live forever with the Composer in Heaven. Today May's purpose and meaning in God’s Cycle of Music is still at work because she shared her life with so many of us.

There is nothing in this world that can ever provide a greater purpose and meaning for our lives than the opportunity to participate in God's Cycle of Music. God created every individual so that they could be part of this Cycle for His honor and glory. We are here to love Him and to share His love with the people that we meet each and every day. This is the purpose and the meaning in life that God has intended for us all.