{"id":40857,"date":"2016-01-11T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-01-11T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/world-famous-guitarist-finds-real-purpose\/"},"modified":"2016-01-11T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-01-11T00:00:00","slug":"world-famous-guitarist-finds-real-purpose","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/world-famous-guitarist-finds-real-purpose\/","title":{"rendered":"World Famous Guitarist Finds Real Purpose"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Christopher Parkening, considered to be the world&#39;s greatest classical guitarist, achieved his musical dreams by the age of thirty. By then he was also a world-class fly-fishing champion. However, his success failed to bring him happiness. Weary of performances and recording sessions, Parkening bought a ranch and gave up on the guitar. But instead of finding happiness after getting away from it all, his life became increasingly empty. He wrote, &quot;If you arrive at a point in your life where you have everything that you&#39;ve ever wanted and thought that would make you happy and it still doesn&#39;t, then you start questioning things. It&#39;s the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I had that and I thought, <em>Well, what&#39;s left?<\/em>&quot;<\/p>\n\n<p>While visiting friends, he attended church and put his faith in Christ. Parkening developed a hunger for Scripture and was struck by 1 Corinthians 10:31: &quot;Whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.&quot; He explains, &quot;I realized there were only two things I knew how to do: fly fish for trout and play the guitar. Well, I am playing the guitar today absolutely by the grace of God &hellip; I have a joy, a peace, and a deep-down fulfillment in my life I never had before. My life has purpose &hellip; I&#39;ve learned first-hand the true secret of genuine happiness.&quot;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3366,3683,3766,3861,4027,4028,4058,4079,4117,4303,4442,4748,4885,5247],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-40857","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-abundant-life","tax_ctp_tags-contentment","tax_ctp_tags-despair","tax_ctp_tags-emptiness","tax_ctp_tags-fulfillment","tax_ctp_tags-fullness","tax_ctp_tags-gladness","tax_ctp_tags-good-pleasure","tax_ctp_tags-happiness","tax_ctp_tags-joy","tax_ctp_tags-meaning-of-life","tax_ctp_tags-purpose","tax_ctp_tags-satisfaction","tax_ctp_tags-vocation"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>World Famous Guitarist Finds Real Purpose - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/world-famous-guitarist-finds-real-purpose\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"World Famous Guitarist Finds Real Purpose - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Christopher Parkening, considered to be the world&#039;s greatest classical guitarist, achieved his musical dreams by the age of thirty. 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