Personal story - A tale of two pianos
Roslyn Langlois with the damaged, but still beautiful, piano. Photo John Langlois
Have piano, will travel ... the LORD being our Helper!!
When in September, 2006, Roslyn and John Langlois put their grand piano onto the removalist's van in Indiana, USA on the beginning of its journey back to Tasmania, they did so very prayerfully, in keeping with their approach to every other aspect of their missionary journey.
Ten years earlier the couple had begun working amongst young, up-and-coming musicians/actors/dancers from the USA and far beyond, in an interdenominational ministry called Christian Performing Artists' Fellowship, (CPAF), then located on the outskirts of Washington DC.
God's call to the 'observers' of the first Masterworks Festival organized by CPAF, in 1997, to actually join that ministry and live in the USA was a very big surprise, but for 10 wonderful years they worked with hundreds of young people, as part of the discipling team encouraging excellence in their art and in their life in Christ Jesus, Roslyn as head of the piano section of the Festival, and John as Director of Pastoral Care.
Then the Holy Spirit indicated it was time to return home, to be in another aspect of ministry, and since enquiries indicated selling the piano in the USA would have meant considerable loss, it needed to do the long journey to Tasmania as well.
Many months later (Why? That's another story!) the piano finally arrived in its impressively huge packing box, at St George's Rectory, Battery Point...
Hang on, what are those irregularly shaped gashes in the side? Oh no, they are matched by gashes in the piano itself.
And there is other less obvious damage, which thankfully John is able to fix.
Then when the 'official' piano technician comes to check on it all for insurance purposes, the last straw - he spots the fact that there is a hairline crack in the soundboard of the piano.
John takes photos of every aspect of the damage, resulting from the piano having been dropped at some point of the journey by the forklift moving equipment!
Roslyn and John are given insurance coverage without argument - the photos and the technician's word tell it all.
So in their home is the loveliest grand piano they have personally owned, the purchase of which (prayerfully, needless to say!) is a story in itself!
And if you go into St George's you will notice a grand piano, and as you listen, you will probably agree with the comments of many others, that it has lovely tone.Despite the fact that there is a crack in the sound board, drastically reducing the value of the instrument, there is (crucially!) NO BUZZ!
Because of the crack this much journeyed piano is for the Langlois to do with as they will, according to the insurance firm.
So it is serving both the congregational worship and the frequent community arts events which happen at St George's as part of this congregation's outreach.
Praise the Lord that a piano with a crack in the sounding board can still sound beautiful and be a blessing to others.
Likewise no matter what we feel about damage we have sustained along the way, we too can be a source of His music of love in the lives of others, through His Spirit.
Roslyn and John Langlois