I have been a dad for 15 years now, and I became a dad jokes club member. Easily one of the top 15 accomplishments of my life (becoming a member of the dad jokes club is like #4 having kids was like #7). One of my favorites, clears throat: I don’t let my kids listen to big band music. Why? Too much sax and violins. Ba dum tss. That was my band joke.
I like big band music. Why? The harmony. The togetherness. Each individual is making beautiful music as a group. Think about a huge marching band. When you hear all 37 or whatever trumpets playing, you hear all the trumpets. You don’t hear one person; you hear the band.
One Band
I always believed that this is the ultimate goal that Jesus had for us. To be one band and make one sound. Think about the human body. If one part of the body fails, no matter how much you didn’t pay attention to that body part, when it fails, you notice. When a band plays in harmony, it sounds so nice, but when one part is off-key, you notice that one part.
I watched the movie Drumline. It is about a superstar high school drum player. He is outstanding. So good that he can hear a cadence and play it from memory seconds later. But when he gets to college, he has to learn the lesson that as good as he is, they shouldn’t hear just him; they hear the band. It took him the whole movie to know that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
Jesus’s Band
Suppose you aren’t a superstar at anything. You can get by doing your thing, but how do you fit in? In Jesus’s band, the person who scrapes gum from under the seats is just as crucial as the megachurch pastor with the private jet. It doesn’t work like that in today’s world. Usually, the loudest and most controversial voice in the room is who gets the attention and accolades.
Read: We Are All Not Called To Do But to Be
Ephesians 4:11 says Jesus gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some preachers, and some teachers. Imagine the bass drum guy picking up the clarinet and declaring he is now a clarinet player. The clarinet section will sound terrible, and the bass drum section will be missing a crucial part of its team. The band will suffer.
We all have a role. When we ask God to help us and show us our role and walk in his will, we make beautiful music. No position is too small or insignificant. Being a greeter at the door, being the lead singer of praise and worship, passing out pastries at work, picking up dog crap in your neighborhood, or being president of the dad joke club, it all comes with responsibilities. There is a thing called “being the only bible someone may ever see,” this is an accurate statement. If someone sees you and cannot tell the difference between you and a non-believer, you are a clarinet player trying to play the trombone.
One band, one sound. Unity is such an important thing. Just imagine if we all got on one accord. Forget politics, forget how we were raised, forget how things are marketed to us. Just imagine if we loved unapologetically, stuck to our principles, forgave, and just did the right thing. Would we see a change in our culture? Would more and more people want to know Jesus? It all starts with me, and it all begins with you.
I still remember when I gave my dad his 65th birthday card, he looked at me with tears in his eyes and said, “you know, one would have been enough.” Ok…ok, that was my last one, but they should ask me to be president of the dad joke club. It would be music to my ears.
Prescott Williamson is a Bible-believing Christian. He is a husband, a father, and someone who believes that there is a little humor to be found in whatever situation God sends your way. He was born in the small islands of the Bahamas but now lives in the Suburbs of Fort Worth Texas, which is basically the same thing. He enjoys TV, reading, blogging and serving in his church (especially on the days they serve donuts). You can see what I have been thinking about lately on my blog www.prescottascoolbreeze.com.
