By

John D. McArthur, Jr.

At my daughter's sixth grade band concert, one of the students was going to play a solo on his saxophone. But when the young boy got up, his worse nightmare came true: his instrument would not play! One of the pads had come loose or one of the keys had bent or something but instead of notes coming out, all he could get were awful sounding squeaks and squawks. The boy valiantly tried to finish his song but no matter what he did his instrument was not going to cooperate and play the music. Finally, he sat down, obviously embarrassed and ashamed.

The band director explained to the audience that the boy was having trouble with his instrument. But even though the room full of parents understood and felt sympathy for the student, it did not ease his pain. What he really needed was a chance to try again, to start over. The director then went back to where the boy was sitting and gave him another saxophone to play. With a little hesitation, the boy stood up and tried to play his solo piece again. He got the chance to start over and try again.

How many times have you wished you could start over? To start over in your marriage, or in raising your family, or at your work, or at school? How many times have you wished you could begin again with a clean slate? How many things in your life do you wish could just be forgotten and your life started over? When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we get the chance to start over.

©1998