Gerard Le Feuvre of The King's Chamber Orchestra

Cello music is probably my favorite, so when Monday's Haven Today podcast included an interview with Gerard Le Feuvre, a cellist from the Isle of Jersey in the English Channel, I turned up the volume.

Gerard lives in a 500 year-old home, which was last remodeled in the 1700s, about the time his cello was built.  He is the founder of The King's Chamber Orchestra which is made up of string players from all over Europe, people who are both outstanding instrumentalists and passionate followers of Jesus.  They come together to perform in London, the various home countries of the players, and occasionally overseas.

As I listened to Haven Today's program and visited The King's Chamber Orchestra website I found a couple of stories I want to share.

When Gerard was 22, he was taking a walk in a Scandinavian forrest.  Suddenly it became very quiet -- the birds stopped singing, the wind stopped blowing.  It amazed, even frightened him.  Then he heard Jesus say to him, "And now you will worship Me."  Though not a Christian, Gerard heard Jesus speak into his heart that day; he fell to his knees and wept over his sins.  When he left that forrest, drenched with his own tears, he was a completely new person, hungry to read the Bible and get to know God.  He knew from that moment that he was born to serve, and that is what he's done since that day.

The other story occurred in 2003.  He had just finished a concert in Toronto and set his cello on the floor for just a moment while he spoke with another musician.  Without him noticing, a young man somehow, quite accidentally, crashed into the cello so that it spun in the air and landed with a crash on its bridge, splitting it apart at the seam.  He picked up the cello and cradled it in his arms, feeling faint, while the offending young man collapsed in front of Le Feuvre and begged forgiveness.  In the midst of his own grief over the broken cello, he forgave the young man.  Amazingly, the damage was in the seams, where the pieces are glued together, and not in any other place.  He took it to the repair shop, where they glued and clamped it.  When he got it back, this magnificent, beautiful instrument was "(in terms of sound) twice the instrument that it was before. The orchestra I subsequently performed with in London who know me and my Cello well could hardly believe it. It was one of the finest instruments around, but now it is even better."  

Come to think of it, isn't that what the Lord does with anyone who comes to Him in repentance?  He takes our broken lives and recreates them, then puts us to work for His joy and His glory!

You can hear the powerful, sweet music of The King's Chamber Orchestra on either of the websites mentioned above as well as listen to the interview (on Haven Today) or learn more about the orchestra (on their website).