October 07, 2025
TCOASAS
Once Upon A Band
When I started to write this paper I wasn't sure exactly what it was going to be about. My first impression of reflection was, "I don't really have anything to reflect on." But I only had to sit down for a minute to realize that I had a lot of memories. I would only like to share one of them with you now.
A while back I was fortunate enough to be a member, and at one point the leader, of a praise and worship band. Our name was Third & Ryan. There were four members in our band. We had: a bass guitarist, an electric guitarist, an acoustic guitarist, and a percussionist. The friendship we shared was truly gratifying.
When we first started playing we didn't always tune to the same A440 but we never missed jam session. Our church was kind enough to let us set up in the auditorium to practice. Every available afternoon I would call everyone up and ask if they wanted to go jam. Then we would pile all our stuff into our cars and race to the church where it would take us at least an hour and a half to set up. Usually after everyone got situated, just they way wanted, we would hit the tunes. We would play and play, sometimes late into the night. It was a lot of fun.
I'm grateful for such good friends. On occasion someone would play out of rhythm or play an off note. The guys were incredibly amazing, they would gently correct whoever was off and we would jump right back in there and keep playing.
Eventually we got good enough that we had a whole music set worked up. When we stared looking for a venue to play at we discovered that there were endless possibilities. Especially when all we wanted to do was to play. We didn't care about making money, we didn't care where it was; we simply wanted to minister to people with our talent. Some shows went better than others but over all I'm glad that I have had the experience of performing in front of people.
It is sometimes sad to think that we aren't still together today. I miss the adrenalin rush when playing for an audience. I miss the long hours of practice. I miss the discipline of practice at least twice a week. But the thing I miss the most is the close friendship we had as members of Third & Ryan.
There is a phrase that says, "All good things must come to an end." I see now that God had different plans for our lives. I'm not sure that that phrase is entirely true but I do know this, Even though it's over now, I've been blessed to be a part of God's work.