Last week, Joshua Bell paid $4 million dollars for a violin. Bell, a modern master, heard the violin played by an Englishman Norbert Brainin, and was allowed to play it himself. He fell in love with the sound.
Bell found out this past August Brainin was about to sell the violin to a German industrialist. Bell finally purchased the instrument for the eye-popping price tag in October.
Made by Antonio Stradivarius in 1713, this is no ordinary violin.
It was known as the Gibson Strad, named after its first owner.
Stolen in Vienna, Austria in 1919 from its owner, Polish violinist, Bronislaw Huberman, it would be quickly returned. It would be taken again from Huberman in 1936, at Carnegie Hall, and never recovered.
Huberman eventually settled for a $30 thousand dollar insurance payout, from Lloyd's of London.
The violin would not resurface for nearly fifty years.
A cafe musician, on his deathbed,would confess to stealing the violin all those years ago, and it would be returned to Lloyd's. They would in turn, sell it to Brainin for $1.2 million in 1988.
Bell and Branin would play in a concert together, and Bell would recognize the sound of the instrument "as the most amazing he had ever heard."
Now in the hands of one of the true virtuosos of modern violin, it will be played appreciated for the hand-crafted piece of art and sound that it is.
It had spent nearly fifty years on the streets being played by a thief. It was heard by countless numbers, none of which could discern what it was, or knew of its value.
To those who listened, it was nothing more than a fiddle.
To Bell, it was priceless. He was willing to pay whatever he had to, to own this one-of-a-kind instrument.
Now, in the hands of someone who understands its worth it will be enjoyed for years to come.
Our relationship with God can be the same.
For some, it is nothing more than a fiddle. It looks and sounds nice, but we don't really appreciate how much it costs.
To others though, it is precious. It makes sweet music in their lives. They heard the sound of the fiddle, but it didn't appeal to them.
They heard the violin played by the Master, and had to have it. They become rare hard-to-find instruments that are sweet music to everyone that comes in contact with them.
They allow the Lord to pluck the heart strings of their lives and become finely tuned instruments.
Just as Joshua Bell chose his instrument, and paid the price for it, God has chosen us as his.
"....offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer your body to him as an instrument of righteousness." Romans 6:13
Far too many times, we sell ourselves to the world as a fiddle, when the Master calls us to be violins.
Out of the Box......I'm Robin Guidicy
e-mail me at: tsfg @ belsouth.net
