I play banjo in a prison band.  I don’t know if I’ll ever apply for a job again, but if I do, that happy fact will  lead my resume.  

I’m part of a team that brings the Kairos ministry training , that brings the hope of Jesus, the light of Christ into the dark world of the Wallace Pack Unit in Navasota, Texas.  

In a recent training, the “brother-in-white” who plays bass said he had worked with a banjo player who opened the gospel hymn “I Saw the Light” with “Foggy Mountain Breakdown”, a signature banjo piece that is fast and complicated.   I’ve never learned to play it well, just taking a  stab at it, missing many of the notes that make it so driving and intricate.  

By playing with others I’ve realized my limitations on the instrument, and I’ve decided to start over with the basics.  Today I’ve practiced the “forward roll”, the steady repetition of eight sequenced notes on three strings: thumb,  index finger, middle finger;  thumb,  index, middle;  thumb, middle.  Over and over with the right hand, and moving different formations along the neck with my left.  Using a metronome, 60 beats per minute, getting the rhythm steady. Becoming grounded in the pattern, anchored in the music so that you can speed up or slow down, and being ready for the next challenge.  

I had neglected the basics.  

So why am I writing this?  Because my habits were not formed well, and I’m correcting it now, in music and in life.    

Some of the best advice I’ve ever received was from my first District Superintendent, when I lamented over the length of time it took to be ordained in the Methodist Church.  

“Don’t rush the spiritual formation process,” he said.  “Otherwise you won’t be spiritually formed.”  

We need to be grounded in the fundamentals.  And as I was practicing the forward roll with the metronome I thought about getting grounded in the faith.  Becoming a disciple is getting the basics down solid, and if we don’t do that we can die out, like the seed planted on rocky soil.  

Practicing spiritual disciplines, like I have learned since being involved with the Inspire Way of Life, is the grounding that I need.  When I first came to Jesus, I learned a few things, and  thought I knew it all.  I did not have a “band” around me, or anyoneS that I allowed to teach me.  I was like a train wreck, harming myself and others as I married poorly and divorced quickly, all thinking i was acting in the will of God.  

What did I not do?  Pray for God’s will, and be willing to listen.  Study Scripture, and be in a relationship with others that I trusted.  I did not fast to seek God’s will for myself or others.  

Fasting in particular makes me aware of my impulsive desires, and eventually leads me closer to the Lord.  

Prayer, fasting, Scripture, fellowship, serving others — these are basic practices.  Studying and starting to memorize the Sermon on the Mount has been transforming.  Such things don’t lead to salvation, but they give a greater awareness of who Jesus is and what He has done.  They can help lay a foundation, a practice, and I will do well to go back to the basics of faith regularly, to strengthen the foundations like practicing a forward roll.  

Where have you seen God?