DON'T QUIT

Ignace Jan Paderewski, the famous composer-pianist, was scheduled
to perform at a great concert hall in America. It was an evening to
remember-black tuxedos and long evening dresses, a high-society
extravaganza. Present in the audience that evening were a mother with
her fidgety nine-year-old son. Weary of waiting, he squirmed constantly
in his seat. His mother hoped her boy would be encouraged to practice
the piano if he could just hear the immortal Paderewski at the keyboard.
So-against his wishes- he had come.
                As she turned to talk with her friends, her son could stay
seated no longer. He slipped away from her side, strangely drawn to the
 ebony concert grand Steinway and its leather tufted stool on the huge stage
flooded with blinding lights. Without much notice from the sophisticated
audience, the boy sat down at the stool, staring wide-eyed at the black-and-white
 keys. He placed his small, trembling fingers in the right location and began to play
"Chopstick." The roar of the crowd was hushed as hundreds of frowning faces
turned in his direction. Irritated and embarrassed, they began to shout:
                 "Get that boy away from there!"
                  "Who'd bring a kid that young in here?"
                    "Where's his mother?"
                    "Somebody stop him!"

           Backstage, the master overheard the sounds out front and quickly put
together in his mind what was happening. Hurriedly, he grabbed his coat and
rushed toward the stage. Without one word of announcement, he stooped over
behind the boy, reached around both sides, and began to improvise a counter-melody
to harmonize with and enhance "Chopsticks." As the two of them played together,
Paderewski kept whispering in the boy's ear, "Keep going. Don't quit, son. Keep on
playing. Don't stop. Don't quit."

                   And so it is with us. We hammer away on our project, which seems about
as significant as "Chopsticks." in a concert hall. And about the time we are ready to give
 it up, along comes the master, who leans over and whispers, "Now keep going. Don't quit.
Keep on. Don't stop. Don't quit" as He improvises on our behalf, providing just the right
touch at just the right moment.

                                                                CHARLES SWINDOLL