Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Maylan Schurch
Friday, June 20, 2025
This year at camp meeting I was given a new piano-playing assignment. Actually I’ve been playing piano at camp meeting for decades, spending many wonderful evening meetings joining organist Rob Aaron in Rainier Auditorium, jamming on the old hymns to the appreciation of the crowd.
But this year I’m playing the piano for two “Beginners” programs each day. These are kids ages 0 to 4, and in order to fulfill my duty properly I have had to learn nearly 20 kids’ songs, most of which I had never heard before. To add to the pressure, I am not a good note-reader. I can do it, but need to spend a lot of time with each selection to make sure that when it’s called for, I can launch promptly and confidently into it.
This means rehearsal, and I discovered a piano in a back room of the church on the Auburn Academy campus, where camp meeting is happening. I positioned the piano bench, and settled down on it, and got ready to play.
You must believe me when I say that I didn’t fall on that bench, but just descended demurely. But the bench’s legs must have been just ready to pop, because suddenly I found it collapsing under me, and I ended up flat on my back on the floor.
Fortunately, I was not injured (can’t say the same for the bench), but looking at the above photo and trying not to shudder makes me think of a Bible verse. No pianos existed in Bible times, of course, and thus no piano benches, but here’s the verse:
Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. 1 Corinthians 10:12 NKJV
It’s always best to look at the context of any Bible verse, and this one is no exception. Earlier in the chapter Paul is giving a history lesson on how foolish and sinful certain Old Testament people were. But he doesn’t stop with the “downer” text I’ve just quoted. He follows it with true encouragement:
No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. Verse 13.
I again insist that I did not crash callously down upon that bench, but the fact is, I thought the structure was fine, and didn’t check it out, and sure enough, it fell.
Want to read some brisk, straight-from-the-shoulder Bible advice about temptation? Check out this link: