Testimony - Scott Orthey

Whispering in my ear.  Drums were shouting and coming home.

2 Corinthians 5:18-21 - All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Remember life before the internet?  I have the same feeling remembering life before drums in church... I am on the Music Team for Springton Lake PCA.  

Let me share with you my journey to this strange wonderful place.

Dad was in the army so we moved around a lot.

In the 1967 in San Antonio, Texas, my mother offered to give me music lessons, I dreamed of a red sparkle drum set.  The first song I played was Sitting on the Dock of the Bay.  I wanted to play the drum solo in Inna-Godda-Da-Vida.  On the radio we had: Hey Jude, Sugar Sugar, War (Huh! What is it good for), and coming in at number 12 in 1970: Everything is Beautiful.  I still remember the beach in Hawaii on a moonlit summer night when it was cool everything was beautiful and Jesus loved the little children.  It was so good to know that drums could be used in a song that had a positive message about Jesus.  

He was whispering in my ear.  This happened frequently and persistently throughout my young life.

Dad was making musical instruments so I was listening to all kinds of music like "The water is wide"

The water is wide, I cannot get oer
Neither have I wings to fly
Give me a boat that can carry two
And both shall row, my love and I

Even true love, the narrator admits, can "fade away like morning dew".  What better way to point to a love that lasts; love that endures all things?  The answer is obvious.  It is the love I see when I survey the wondrous cross.  Now I love to use the tune of "The Water Is Wide" for that beautiful lyric "When I Survey".

I heard the Gospel in popular music.  Remember Roberta Flack?  Who was she singing to?

The first time ever I saw your face,
I thought the sun rose in your eyes.
And the moon and stars were the gifts you gave,
To the dark and the endless sky, my love.

In my college years, Bob Dylan pointed out that you're gonna have to serve somebody.  More whispering.

But who could hear whispering, when drums were shouting!  I had my first Rock band in 1974-1979.  Azrael played schools, bars, garages; we were Kool and the Gang.  The Stones, Led Zeppelin, Kiss, Aerosmith, I loved playing that stuff.  My ticket to coolness.  

After college, getting a job, moving to philly, getting married to my Trudy, and four children later, I was in a couple of bands that played up and down the main line.

In around 2000, a friend invited me to check out his contemporary worship.
Blues harmonica, guitars, and drums were being used to worship God.  Could this be?  I entered the sanctuary made introductions, and my new friend Bob started
singing:  

My Jesus, My Savior,
Lord there is none like you,
All of my days, I want to praise
the wonders of Your mighty love.

That was it. Trudy and I found Springton Lake.  I met the team here. Amazing loving talented new friends! I was playing drums in church! Ha!  This felt like coming home.  To be used by the Maker of all creation in this way is an answer to prayer that I could not even conceive.

What a pleasure it is to serve the Almighty; the Maker of the universe and the
Maker of my faith in this way.   

2 Corinthians 6:1-2

As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. 2 For he says,

“In the time of my favor I heard you,
and in the day of salvation I helped you.”

I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.

Scott Orthey serves as a Ruling Elder and member of the Worship Team for SLPC.