Divine Timing - The story of my life (Part 3)

Filed in Thoughts on January 21, 2009



Here are links to Part 1 and Part 2.

In 1999, as I was considering whether to get out of software engineering, a friend of mine mentioned to me that I should consider selling a particular health product we were both using on the Internet.  Of course, in those days, the Internet was new and uncrowded.  I like to say that in those days, a monkey could have made money on the Internet, and that is not far from the truth.

So, I started a website and it was profitable from the beginning.  Over the next two years, I built an online business while still working in software.  I was finally comfortable online to a point where I quit my full time job in 2001.  Of course, that was a few months before 9/11, which incidently brought my business to a halt.  I could tell stories about how God worked through that, but will save that for another time.

Even with the initial setbacks, my business prospered over the next years and grew to the point where it is today.  I have been blessed in many ways, but one of the major ways is that my business created a way for me to get back to music by providing time flexibility and funding.

Around 2000, the church we were attending volunteered to fund a piano recording project.  I met with Jason Prisk for the first time and we went to Nashville to record.  I was horribly naive about the process.  The resulting project was so poor that I never felt comfortable finishing production.  I may have a copy somewhere but hope no one ever gets their hands on it.

While that project was a failure, I had obtained an itch to record and in 2003, decided to try again.  By that time, I had purchased a great piano, and we actually recorded Timeless Reflections on that piano in my house.  While it was a low budget project, I was more comfortable at the time with the music and we started selling it that year.

Looking back, I consider Timeless Reflections to be a very mediocre project.  In fact, I am almost embarrassed to sell it, and in fact, would not sell it except so many people have mentioned that they like it.  I suppose that is how it should be.  Musicians should be improving and learning;  but, the natural result of that process is seeing all the problems in the work you did in the past.  Most musicians hate listening to their past work, and I am no exception. 

Regardless, Timeless Reflections sold very well, and in 2006, I was ready to try again.  This time, I got talked into a bigger project and brought in Steve Mauldin to orchestrate and hired the Nashville String machine.  The investment was substantial, and at the time, I really was only looking on that project as an expensive learning experience.  I had no expectation that I would ever sell enough copies to pay for the project and never dreamed that I would start doing concerts.  That project was Reflections on a Journey.

After Reflections on a Journey came out, I remember a conversation I had with a concert pianist who told me that I needed to get ready to start doing concerts because I was going to start getting invitations.  That was the first time I had ever entertained the thought.  However, it turned out that he was right.  Within a few months, I began doing concerts.

And that is story of how I have arrived at this point in my life.  I am excited about the opportunties that seem to be coming faster and faster.  But it goes without saying that I can't take credit for what has happened.  That brings me back to the issue of Divine timing.

Certainly, if I had been planning a career as a concert pianist back in my college days, I would have had a different plan.  For one thing, my plan would have had me starting professional music a lot sooner in my life.  But, God's timing was different and it was much better.  I can see how it was better in numerous ways.

For those of you that aspire to have larger opportunties as a musician, I have this advice.  Be a good steward of your talent.  That means you should never stop learning and never stop working.  I am saddened to see so many talented musicians leave college with degrees in music and stop the learning process.  In today's world, even if you do not live near a good teacher, there are still numerous ways to learn.

If there is one very clear advantage that I have had, it is that I have been privileged to learn from some of the finest musicians around.  You can too if you seek them out.  Take your education very seriously and never stop learning.

There is one other thing I should mention.  I am not practicing false modesty when I say that there are numerous other Christian pianists who are better pianists than me and could do what I do much better.  I know many of them.  If you are one of them, put yourself in a position where your talent can be used.

Anyway, that is my story of how God has brought opportunities into my life that I never expected.

 



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