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I feel very honored to receive many emails from fans all over the world.  Not too long ago, I was contacted by a budding musician from Argentina named Juan Goncebat, going by the name “Night Breeze”.  He shared with me a couple solo piano songs that he has written and asked for my opinion on his work.  After heading on over to his MySpace page, I listened to the two songs that he has posted there, and then I gave him my feedback.

That was a couple weeks ago… but tonight I read again the passage in 1 Corinthians 12 about how the body is made up of many parts.   Here is the part of the chapter that caught my eye (taken from the New International Version):

¹⁴Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. ¹⁵If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. ¹⁶And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. ¹⁷If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. ¹⁹If they were all one part, where would the body be? ²⁰As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

²¹The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” ²²On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, ²⁴while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, ²⁵so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. ²⁶If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

It’s so easy to forget that we all have our own special gifts, and each one of us is called to use that gift as part of a larger body.  It’s also all too easy to feel threatened if someone has a similar gift as you have.  This is especially true in the music industry, where every artist is fighting for a piece of the spotlight, a moment in the sun, an unfulfilling five minutes of fame.  How tempting it is, and sadly, how completely natural it is to push others down in order to rise to the top!  I, too, often get caught up worrying about the little part I play, and in my pride I neglect to take the time to honor the other parts of the body.

Who knows what little part I play in the body of music?  But I do know this: God made us to be interdependent, to work perfectly with the rest of the parts of the body.  And furthermore, some parts of the body have many look-a-likes.  Take the fingers for example: ten of them that all look very similar.  But, of course, they are all unique in their own way, and they all fit together like a glove… uhh… for a glove.   It doesn’t matter what part it is, like it says in verse 26, “if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.”  Which brings me to the purpose of this little post…

From one little finger of the musical body to another, I want to publicly congratulate Juan for playing his part so beautifully and for having the courage to share his music with me.  And to everyone reading this, why not head on over to Juan’s MySpace page, listen to the creativity that God has gifted him with, and give thanks both to him and to the one who created the body and all the parts?

And while you’re at it, examine your own life.  Are you ignoring anyone that instead you should be rejoicing with?  Lay your pride aside to build up the whole body.  As John Donne so elegantly put it, “no man is an island, entire of itself.”

• Check out Juan Goncebat’s MySpace page
• Listen to Night Breeze on Last.fm
• Read more of 1 Corinthians 12