Improvisation

I was watching the Ken Burn's documentary called Jazz the other day. In the first segment, Wynton Marsalis talked about musical improvisation. He said, "The whole conception of improvisation is a part of all of American life. If you were a slave, you had to learn how to improvise. You came on the land, you couldn't speak the language, you had all kind of foods and stuff you weren't used to eatin', you have another whole system to deal with. If you can't improvise, you're gonna be in the world of trouble. You're not gonna be able to survive."

I believe that each of us are forced to improvise in this life to one extent or another. Two friends of mine, both physicians, with whom I have the pleasure of meeting for lunch on Tuesday's, are amazed at how I can play a guitar solo. But I am in awe at the fact that they can diagnose an ailment and heal the body of disease. The fact is we are both working from the same place. When you play a guitar solo you are playing notes that are in a certain key. Just as long as you hit the right notes, and play them with some pizazz, you'll be okay. It's based on faith, really. My physician buddies are trained to follow certain paths of inquiry and diagnosis to find what they think is the patient's problem. They improvise by choosing the course that they think will help. There are no guarantees. They are making an educated guess, turning up the volume and strutting to the edge of the stage, medically speaking.

There are times, though, we are called to improvise and we have no idea what to do, where to go or how to even make the first move. This is called walking in faith. I remember a time when I was traveling to a gig with a band and it was mid-winter, in the heart of Illinois. The van decided to die on the side of the road. But as they say in rock and roll, "the show must go on!" I sent the others ahead in the equipment van while I stayed behind to seek help. It only got darker and colder as the hours dragged on. It was below freezing inside the van by then and I knew that if something didn't happen quick, I could become a human Popsicle. The only riff I could pull out of my bag of experience was to pray. I sat there, pleading to God as my breath forced clouds of condensation out toward the frosted rear-view mirror. Just as I was giving up hope, several hours into my snow-filled nightmare, I saw two headlights growing larger and brighter, finally stopping just behind the van. It was a tow truck. Within an hour I had the van first in line inside the bay of an auto repair shop. And I was tucked tightly away in a warm hotel bed. The van would be fixed in the morning and we would be on our way again.

Many times we can do a task with our eyes closed because we have done it so many times before. But then, God hands us an opportunity to trust Him- to completely look to Him for a miracle to appear right before our astonished eyes. Like Wynton Marsalis said in Jazz, I am reminded that, "If you can't improvise, you're gonna be in the world of trouble. You're not gonna be able to survive." So, trust God, do the next thing that you know to do and He will do the rest!