During the late autumn of one year in the early 1970's, there was a homeless man who was very ill. A local preacher befriended the homeless man, doing what he could for him, but the man was very sick, and passed away a short time later.
Wanting to give his friend a proper burial, the preacher asked one of his church members, who also happened to play the bagpipes, if he would be willing to come play at the graveside service. The piper replied that he was happy to come play at the service.
The preacher gave the bagpiper directions to the cemetery, and told him the service would be held at a pauper's cemetery...basically just a vacant lot.... located in a far flung corner of the county, and to look for a backhoe which would be used to dig the grave. The service would be held late in the afternoon, in just a few days.
As fate would have it, the day of the service, the bagpiper got lost on the back roads of the county. This was long before the days of cell phones and GPS mapping.
After driving around for over an hour, the bagpiper finally stumbled upon the lot with the backhoe. Given that he was so late, he wasn't surprised to see that the only people left, were the three men of the backhoe crew, who were getting ready to fill the grave back in.
Still, wanting to honor his friend's request, the bagpiper quickly got his pipes out, hastily walked over to the side of the hole, and began to play.
The backhoe crew heard him begin to play "Amazing Grace". Wanting to be respectful of his playing, they removed their hats, and walked over to join him.
The bagpiper played Amazing Grace so beautifully, that as the last note faded into a glorious autumn sunset, the men in the backhoe crew all had tears streaming down their cheeks.
After a moment of silence, one of the men in the backhoe crew snuffled a bit and said, "Sweet mother of Jesus...I ain't never seen nothin' like this before...and I've been putting in septic tanks for over 20 years."
During the late autumn of one year in the early 1970's, there was a homeless man who was very ill. A local preacher befriended the homeless man, doing what he could for him, but the man was very sick, and passed away a short time later.
Wanting to give his friend a proper burial, the preacher asked one of his church members, who also happened to play the bagpipes, if he would be willing to come play at the graveside service. The piper replied that he was happy to come play at the service.
The preacher gave the bagpiper directions to the cemetery, and told him the service would be held at a pauper's cemetery...basically just a vacant lot.... located in a far flung corner of the county, and to look for a backhoe which would be used to dig the grave. The service would be held late in the afternoon, in just a few days.
As fate would have it, the day of the service, the bagpiper got lost on the back roads of the county. This was long before the days of cell phones and GPS mapping.
After driving around for over an hour, the bagpiper finally stumbled upon the lot with the backhoe. Given that he was so late, he wasn't surprised to see that the only people left, were the three men of the backhoe crew, who were getting ready to fill the grave back in.
Still, wanting to honor his friend's request, the bagpiper quickly got his pipes out, hastily walked over to the side of the hole, and began to play.
The backhoe crew heard him begin to play "Amazing Grace". Wanting to be respectful of his playing, they removed their hats, and walked over to join him.
The bagpiper played Amazing Grace so beautifully, that as the last note faded into a glorious autumn sunset, the men in the backhoe crew all had tears streaming down their cheeks.
After a moment of silence, one of the men in the backhoe crew snuffled a bit and said, "Sweet mother of Jesus...I ain't never seen nothin' like this before...and I've been putting in septic tanks for over 20 years."