Right Under Your Nose

QUESTION TO ANSWER BEFORE YOU READ THIS:  do famous people draw such crowds because of their tallent or because they are famous? 

Every e-mail I get I check.  this even has a video of it that you can watch!  go here

A man sat at a Metro Station in Washington D.C. on a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approx 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 minutes later:

the violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the till and, without stopping, continued to walk.

6 minutes:

A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

10 minutes:

A3 year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly, as the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced them to move on.

45 minutes:

The musician played.  Only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace.

He collected $32.

1 hour:

He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities. The questions raised: in a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ....

How many other things are we missing?

Snopes says this is true:

http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/bell.asp

Currently Romance of the Violin By Claude Debussy, Fryderyk Chopin, Camille Saint-Saens, Franz Schubert, Vincenzo Bellini, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Alexander Borodin, Antonin Dvorak, Claudio Monteverdi, Jules Massenet, Robert Schumann, Michael Stern, Craig Ogden, Gregory Knowles, John Constable, Jacob Heringman, Stephen Orton see related

Monuments

“pilgrims with no vision of the promised land become proprietors of their own land.” 

Max Lucado

Memories Of Stone

“Granddad, let’s go fishing tonight!

My work is done on the land!”

So they strolled to the banks of the river

Where a pillar of stones in the water stands.

“Granddad, I’ve seen these stones before,

But I still don’t know what it means.

I heard they built it when you were a kid,

But it seems pointless to me, and it leans!”

“Son, I put one there myself one day

When I crossed the river’s flooded strand!

So today I can tell you about the way

God led us across on dry land…

Those stones are for me,

And they’re for you too

So you’ll never forget

Just what God can do!

So when you’re grown up;

And have kids of your own

You can tell them this story

Of these memories of stone.”

“Dad, what’s that book you’re writing in?

And Dad, please tell me why

When you read it, I see you smile,

And yet, there’s tears in your eyes.”

“Son, this here is my ‘pillar of stone’,

My journal, a map of my life!

Of how God worked through all my days

And carried me through joy and strife.

And son, one day, this book will be yours

And you can read it and know

That God is the same yesterday and today

And how His timing is never too slow.

Those stones are for me,

And they’re for you too

So you’ll never forget

Just what God can do!

So when you’re grown up;

And have kids of your own

You can tell them this story

Of these memories of stone.”

©Cowboy Christian  2006

Currently Proven...Time & Time Again By The Kingsmen Quartet see related

Memories Of Stone

“Pilgrims with no vision of the promised land become proprietors of their own land.” 

Max Lucado

My pastor preached a sermon one Sunday about the importance of remembering.  He was in a series called “thriving in an idolatrous land”  He said that all over Israel there were pillars of stone that were commemorative of a certain thing that God did for His Children.  There was even a pile of twelve riverbed stones right in the middle of the Jordan river that was put there when God piled up the waters during flood season as He did the red sea to allow the Israelites to cross.   I wandered what I do to make these pillars, and I thought of my journal.  In every entry, whether one of rejoicing, anger, or agony, I always end the entry with “thank you Lord, for…” and say something pertaining to the entry that I have not thanked Him for in any other entry.   I started thinking about this stuff and came up with a song…

Currently Fatherhood By Bill Cosby see related

Buckaroo or Belle?

Having kids is like living in a frat house.  nobody sleeps, everything's broken, and there's a lot of throwing up." 

Everybody Loves Raymond

All Right!  We're going in for an ultrasound today, and hopefully, it will tell us whether we're having a little Cowboy or a little Southern Belle!  So I want to know what y'all think!  is it gonna be a Cowboy or a belle?  I'll tally up the vote later tonight an let y'all know which won the vote, and whether the masses were right!

Orin Sackett's Song

“There are more snares in the eyes of a woman than in all the creek beds of Tennessee” 

Louis L’Amour

A Woman’s Eyes

The first time that I saw her,

That gal took my breath away

And as bright and gold as her hair was,

It cooled the blistering day.

Daylight glistened on her lips;

The promise of cool water

And I cursed Tye for a fool    

When he said “Son, you don’t want her!”

“She might be pretty in the eyes,

But look close at what’s between ‘em.

If there ain’t much there, boy, then she don’t care,

And those lips, you can’t believe ‘em!

I’ve rode that trail and I can tell;

Son, take it now from me:

There’s more snares in a woman’s eyes

Than all the hills of Tennessee!”

I took right in with Laura Pritts    

Of course, I didn’t listen!

And only God hears my heartaches and tears!

Her beauty, now, was missin’!

Finally I was shut of her,

And you’d better be believin’:

It may be hard to see the snares,

But that’s half as hard as leavin’.

She might be pretty in the eyes,

But look close at what’s between ‘em.

If there ain’t much there, boy, then she don’t care,

And those lips, you can’t believe ‘em!

I’ve rode that trail and I can tell;

Son, take it now from me:

There’s more snares in a woman’s eyes

Than all the hills of Tennessee!

©Cowboy Christian  2009

Currently The Daybreakers (The Sacketts, 3) see related