Ben Factor

Ben Factor (1,248)

August 24th, 2011

I discovered a busted key on my electric piano which I play in my show. It was the lowest “B” on the register so I wasn’t that concerned since I never actually hit it. I certainly planned to fix it, but felt no particular hurry—until I arrived at the next date and found that I now had five keys that were jammed up. This was serious and certainly hindered some of my effort. So even though we were on the road and didn’t know anybody in the town where we were staying, it was necessary to find a repairman to fix the problem. After many calls and a plethora of inquiries, we discovered Ben.

Ben was one of those fellows who works at a music store and really wanted to be a rock star, but ended up selling guitar strings to other people who wanted to be rock stars, too. He is a musician and technician mingled, which may be the universal personification of “disgruntled.” So he made it very difficult for us to pin him down to a time when repair would be possible. He told us to call him Monday after eleven o’clock because he had a doctor’s appointment. My business “spider sense” went off—knowing from experience that when someone puts you off to another time slot, you are near to entering oblivion in his mind. So we tracked down another person to work on the piano, which ended up being very successful.

Therefore, when Ben called us late Monday afternoon, we had already satisfied our need. But it was then that we found out that when Ben had his doctor’s appointment, they found some nodules in his lungs that could very possibly be malignant. He was scared. Who wouldn’t be?

It is also at that point that I realized that the reason we had made contact with Ben was not to procure a piano repair or to secure quality workmanship. Our encounter with Ben was due to another factor—Ben needed someone to pray. And because of series of events mingling purpose and chance, we came across his path.

I believe this with all my heart. The more cynical members of our society would call me superstitious or foolish. The more supernaturally charged individuals would get starry-eyed, weepy and mumble something about “the will of God.” I wedge between the two.

I think we find the will of God when we believe that the next thing that happens to us has greater potential than what we originally relegated to it.

In other words, every time we meet someone, greet someone or stumble across his path, there could very likely be a reason beyond the obvious—IF we decide to believe it to be so. For I think the will of God is in three parts: (1) what happens; (2) what I do with it; and (3) how I follow it up.

Because quite honestly, I could hear about Ben’s appointment with the doctor and the findings of the test and simply say, “Poor Ben.” Then, even if God wanted me to pray, nothing would happen. But if we really do contend that what we feel, perform and think matters, then everything becomes significant.

Ben is going to get prayer because my piano was broken, we found him, he went to the doctor and he shared with us. But he mainly is going to get prayer because we decided to make our interaction with him purposeful instead of accidental.

I believe we find much more blessing and inspiration in our lives when we pursue the notion that nothing is insignificant.

Ben did NOT fix our keyboard—but Ben was sent our way because he needed something fixed in his life. If I didn’t believe that—if I chose to live a life of faith that was based upon ritual instead of reality—honestly, dear folks, I would prefer to be a well-intentioned atheist. But because I believe in the Ben factor—in the notion that our steps are ordered and anointed of the Lord—my life is much more exciting and much more charged with possibility.

· Ben did not repair our piano.

· We will never meet Ben.

· But by the grace and style of God, Ben may get repaired himself.