Following the Family Tradition
© 2002 Don Rogers
I serve this church as their organist from early influences.
My grandmother had been an organist in the church when they had a pump organ. Then my mother came along to that task and played the piano because they didn't have an organ then.
I admired how her fingers could find all those keys. Eventually, when I was in high school, I took piano lessons myself. People would ask my mother if she had to make me practice and she would say, "Oh no. There are days when I pray that he would stop practicing for just thirty minutes so my ears could have a rest."
So I became an organist and I do it first because God gave me the talent and I have to give back, and secondly I do it for my mother.
I do get tickled at times and find that sitting on the organ bench is a hard place to get tickled and not be noticed. At one wedding the groom was very nervous and every time the minister stopped to get a breath the groom said "I do." This went on. Well finally they did get to that part of the service and the minister took a deep breath to try to get all the way to that moment without any interruption and did so and the groom almost howled out in a voice of agony "I do, I do!"