Guitar Lust

Hi. My Name is Josh Williams, and I have a problem.  I want things.  I am aware of this.  Most of the time the want is more of a "in the future, I would really like to have one of these."  But every once and a while I get a "I want this now" feeling.

I got it today.

I was at Guitar Center with some equipment I was looking at trading.  I had the guitar I wanted to trade for in mind: an Epiphone Les Paul Traditional Pro.  Well, I wanted a Les Paul.  The salesman told me he was going to go test my equipment I brought it (he was pretty excited about doing so), and that while he was gone, I should play some of the guitars I wanted.  He handed me the Trad Pro.

I fell in love.  The cherry sunburst color was beautiful, the back and neck had a satin finish that let your hand glide like... well... it was insanely smooth.

The humbucker pickups sounded amazing, and then the salesman told me the two volume knobs could be pulled up, converting the 2 humbuckers into 4 single coils (for those who don't understand this- just know, it makes different sounds, basically).

The action was low on the neck, and the sound was versatile and beautiful.  Using the rhythm switch, I could make that guitar sound clean and full, and immediately sound bright and 'treble-y' with the treble pickup.
It was a guitar perfect for someone like me.  If I wanted to lead worship, it would be perfect, because I could use clean sounds on it, instead of having to always switch to an acoustic.

The salesman came back and told me my trade would only be worth about $100.  I had figured so, but was willing to try.

But I had played this guitar now.  The warmth of it was still on my hands.  I wanted it.  So badly I could not get it out of my head.  I could only think of what other gear I had that I could part with, and how much I could get for it to trade for this guitar.  It actually gave me a headache.

My name is Josh Williams, and I have a problem.  I am aware of this.  The problem is that I am aware of this.  I know that I will want, I know that it is in my nature.  It is human nature to want.  This went beyond want.  This was lust. Guitar lust.  I took my focus off of God and His glory, and put it on me owning this guitar.

Who knows, maybe someday in the near future, the time will be right for me to have it.  But I have to accept that now isn't that time.  I have to accept that there are more important things that buying a new guitar.  Yes, my electric guitar is not in the best shape, and has a warped neck- but you know what- it still plays.  It still makes a decent sound.

I just thought I should share this with you.  My struggles.  Staying focused on God isn't easy, we all have those things that draw our attention away.  For some of us, those things are numerous just because of our personalities. For others, there seem to be less things in the way.  But we all do have something that many times stands in the way of God's glory and us.