Page 18 of Sing with Me

“Safe?”

“You might know Brin’s brother, but he’s still a stranger to us,” Avery said. “He doesn’t attend our church—or any church—so frankly I don’t know how someone like that could help us minister to our congregation.”

“You brought up an important point,” Brinley said. “He’s my brother, so I’m leaning toward letting him help us. He said that he accepted Jesus in college, though I have no recollection of it.”

“You know the tree by its fruit,” Avery said.

Another good verse, Skye thought. She wondered if Matthew 7:17-18 was something she had to bear in mind every time she came to Diehl’s house.

Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.

“That too,” Brinley agreed. “As far as I know, he has attended Seaside Chapel all of three times—two weddings and one funeral.”

“And now he wants to play hymns. Maybe God is calling the prodigal son home.” Skye doused the salmon with the mix of butter and basil. She ground some pepper over it. Sprinkled the salmon with Himalayan sea salt.

As she heated up the next frying pan to sauté the brussels sprouts and carrots, she wondered if it was wise of them to have this discussion on speaker phone and FaceTime, live in the kitchen.

Marlo was a Christian too, so he didn’t mind the salvation thought.

However, could Diehl hear their conversation from wherever he was in the house?

“I’m open to the idea,” Brinley said. “I’m biased toward my brother. I want him in church. So if this takes him back to church, then maybe God has something in mind.”

“Avery wants proof in the pudding.” Skye sautéed the brussels sprouts and carrots. She kept the heat on high.

“I don’t know,” Avery said. “At the same time, I don’t want to get in the way of what God might be doing in his life.”

“Neither do I.” Skye poured some water into the pan and quickly covered it. The steam threatened to burst out of the frying pan. She kept the lid down. “How about you pray for us right now?”

Avery did. She knew that Skye was cooking, so she kept the prayer short.

“All in favor of Diehl playing piano for us say aye,” Skye said.

Surprisingly, Avery voted for it.

“It’s unanimous then,” Skye announced. “To be sure, this is not the first time we’ve had instrumental help from others. Remember when we needed extra strings, and Matt helped out with his guitar?”

The ladies nodded.

“Also remember when musicians visited our church and we sometimes sang with them?” Skye reminded them. “We didn’t know what denomination—if at all—they were in. But we recognized that the gift of music comes from God.”

“Indeed,” Brinley said. “I’ll send Diehl the link to the music sheets. He has an iPad, I think, or he can put his laptop on top of the grand.”

“Thank you, Brin.” Skye ended their conversation.

She felt pretty good about how they worked together well as a trio, but at the back of her mind, she wasn’t sure how Diehl would affect their ministry to God’s people.

After all, he had told her point blank only hours before that he did not need God.

And here they were, accepting his offer to play accompaniment for them? Would he think that Godneededhim? Heaven forbid he should think that way.

Then again, Avery had reminded them about casting stones. Skye knew that passage from John 8:7 well.

So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.”

Skye felt that she had to be extra careful about viewing immature Christians—if Diehl was such a one—through the sometimes critical lenses of pious church life.

God worked in each person’s heart differently from another.

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