Ain't Nothin' Like the Real Thing

(on the 8th day God created the Hammond organ)

I’ve been a piano/keyboard player most of my life and I’ve played one of those instruments at church for as long as I can remember. At the last church I served we had a great piece of equipment that emulated the legendary Hammond B3 organ, (that sound you hear in so much of the music of the 60’s from groups like The Allman Brothers and the Spencer Davis Group.) I enjoyed that digital rendering and the color it added to the music.

But this past week I reached the pinnacle of keyboarding. Our new church in Toledo has a genuine Hammond B3, rescued from a garage in Oberlin, Ohio. And it was my first Sunday in the band. The digital sound I thought was so outstanding paled in comparison to playing with the Leslie speaker spinning in the cabinet a few feet away. There ain’t nothin’ like the real thing!

The children of Israel came to this same conclusion time after time after time in the Old Testament. God had miraculously brought them out of bondage in Egypt, taken them across the Red Sea, given them manna and quail, and led them to victory over their enemies. But they fell into the trap of chasing after cheap imitations; idols made of gold and wood and stone. When things finally reached the breaking point they would remember the one true God, the God of their fathers, and cry out in repentance. The love and protection would envelope them once again.

Remember, then and now…There ain’t nothin’ like the real thing!

Thanks for all you do.

Brian

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