Suddenly

Suddenly Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Buds for life

At eleven years old Reece had self taught himself to play the piano and electric keyboard which started to pave the way for him to play music at Church and I had quickly fashioned the art of playing the drums which would leave my mum's ears ringing with the sound of beautiful noise that came from our room.

Joel was always over, he was the Preacher's son but he was more than just that, he was a close friend of ours and we had taken to him like the fourth, Jesse our little brother was just a few years old at the time so he couldn't really accompany us in our orchestra of activities for the July holiday, but he was a visual student that picked up skills like pebbles on the sea shore at the beach.

Before long we were writing our own songs. Dad had bought us a keyboard the Christmas before, Reece learned to play on it and it didn't take him long to hook it up to our stereo system. A microphone cable and aux input, there it was, our first recording studio. It allowed Reece to make high base songs on tape which we used as demos when friends would come over, the high decibel output of the songs rattled the cupboards in our neighbors kitchen.

The love for music and good lyrics soon became second nature to us. We'd listen to various songs and dissect the lyrics and music. Of course we were only allowed to listen to Christian music growing up because other music was seen as worldly and sinful. Christian music was devotional and love story like, the lyrics were heartfelt and the music arrangements were designed to make you feel emotional and repentant, well that's how they'd made me feel anyway.

I loved playing music in Church and dedicated my time getting better at it during my free time or at practice sessions at Church on Thursday nights. After some time Joel drifted away from us and became a distant friend and who hardly spoke to us. He had adopted a new circle of friends and a different outlook on fashion and persona, so it was just Reece and I, surrounded by middle aged men who would groom us into the men we were to become.

They were rubbing off onto us and we were talking like them, eating with them at parties and hanging out with them, dad was always in the thick of it too, he somehow didn't need to play an instrument or be a part of the choir to attend music practices or barbecues at Anton's house.

Uncle Anton was the talent at the helm, leading us to different heights with new songs, songs that other Churches weren't daring to play or sing, songs to intricate and difficult for the average, but we were slicker than the average. The sounds coming out of the amplifiers and the fifteen inch house speakers were sounding too cool to be spiritual to say the least.

Reece and I loved it, we embraced the musical transformation and went with the flow, soon the Church began to increase in membership numbers, but that wasn't the reason we were there, we wanted to genuinely make a difference and change lives with our heartfelt songs during the praise and worship segments of the services, numbers meant nothing to Reece and I.

We played with our hearts and we did it with passion and we thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it, the feeling and rush of emotions of giving God glory and leading others to His heart was incomparable to anything I've felt before. Watching people break down into tears and tell God how much they loved Him was satisfaction to my soul, there was nothing better.

Now at fifteen and Reece thirteen we were experiencing something most kids our age hadn't known existed. We'd see grown men weeping on their knees, asking God to forgive them for being bad dads or failed husbands. Boxes of cigarettes and drugs were being left behind at the Church after people had given their hearts to God and chose to stop their vices. Whatever it was, we were in the centre of everything and it made us grow up faster than the other boys around us.

Angels and demons were becoming a non-fiction genre to us, but most of all we took pleasure in seeing teenagers like ourselves praying and lifting up their hands in surrender to God. Some would relate to us and speak to us after Church was over, some would rededicate themselves to God whilst the music played. There was an authenticity that we saw in their eyes and in their flowing tears. We were changing lives, one song at a time and it felt good to do good. Even after school and on weekends we'd get involved with the feeding program and we'd visit the poorest parts of our community to give out food hampers and groceries to strangers.

Reece and I would return home after Church and not speak of our God people encounters, because it was ours to tell. It was something only we had experienced and we wanted to keep it that way. He was my bud and I was his, it was us against the world, buddies for life.

In the organized chaos of Church life I hadn't forgotten about BE, I'd always have my thoughts rendered to her and what she'd be doing whilst I was at practice sessions or at youth programs at Church. From the Church yard I could get a view of BE's home and I'd stand outside Church any chance I got just so I could maybe get to see her.

My extra-curricular life kept my mind occupied most parts, it was my coping mechanism, my way of handling what I was feeling, I didn't want to face my feelings but they were there, subdued and under medication. Thursday nights was band practice which kept me happy and inclined with God, I wasn't there to meet the girls in the choir or mingle with anyone, it was business for me, I was there to give off my best, even at practice with no one watching, I knew God was in the audience though, He would see everything, and I played for Him.

My state of mind gave me reason to be positive and when I was positive I played my best, whether it was music or football, I was invincible when I was happy. I had filled up my days with a program specified to keep me thinking about everything else aside from her, but she lingered and loomed at the base of my thoughts, like an under-current that pulls me under subtly.

I began to find myself wishing for her to be where I was, in the crowd at Church or at the football games, it made no sense to me as to why I'd want her there, she didn't fit the criteria firstly, I didn't know if she liked soccer or appreciated good Christian music.