Resonance

When I was in college and playing piano 4-5 hours a day, I learned something about ’sympathetic vibrations” in the strings. When a piano is in tune and you play a low note, all the rest of the strings begin responding to the tone by vibrating. That’s what makes a piano sound so much like a piano. I used to experiment with it, holding down keys without letting the hammers hit the strings in the upper notes, then striking a lower string. The effect was interesting.

And then the curious thing is that if you play a low C for instance, many other notes will vibrate as well. There are overtones in the “C” that aren’t what you would expect. Notes that aren’t direct harmonic relatives can sound and echo the pitch.

But all this doesn’t work unless the piano is in perfect tune.

1500ft deeper

Last fall at the GCC men’s retreat, Mark Beeson taught from Ezekiel chapters 1, 10, 37, and 47. I was challenged in my walk with Christ, no doubt. But I had no idea just how deep that challenge would go.

From the Outside

Poem

Have you ever known the longing

a kite knows when the weather is wind-still?

Or that of a photographer with an empty camera?

Or a singer sullenly song-silent?

Or a violin without strings?

Have you felt the repercussions

of a drummer with no hands?

A thunder with no clap?

Or a cannon with no blast?

Have you shouted silently from a shadow

Expecting someone to listen?

But never whispering a wail.

Hoping there is beauty

Just beyond the veil?

Choose.

Act.

The kite is only grounded because it’s not given to a runner.

The camera can’t capture what it sees until it’s filled.

The singer must take breath in and give it out again, like we all do, yet different.

And the violin must be mended by a master.

A drummer’s heart beats louder than any instrument ever can, or will.

And lightening pierces your soul before you hear the thunder’s roll.

The cannon needs the power of powder and ammunition to fulfill its mission.

So leave your shadow.

Someone is waiting to listen.

Start with a whisper that will turn to a wail.

You are the beauty.

Take off your veil.

Parachute

My dad was a paratrooper in WW2. He did test jumps for the Normandy Invasion. While I was growing up I knew he served in the war, but the older I get the more I appreciate his risk and sacrifice.