The Violin Maker of Cremona

In Cremona, Italy, a small workshop still builds violins by hand, following methods passed down since the days of Stradivari. When master luthier Stefano Conia selects a young apprentice, he does not simply hand them a chisel and wish them well. He provides the wood, the tools, the varnish, the workspace. He teaches them to hear the grain of the spruce, to feel where the maple wants to bend. Every resource the apprentice needs to become a master — Conia supplies it, year after year, decade after decade.

What strikes visitors most is this: Conia never abandons a student midway through their training. He has said that once he calls someone into his workshop, he considers it a covenant. He will see them through to completion, even when their early instruments sound like wounded cats, even when they nick the wood or crack a plate. His faithfulness to the apprentice does not depend on the apprentice's perfection. It depends on his own word.

This is the heartbeat of what Paul tells the Corinthians. The Almighty has called you into fellowship with His Son, and He has enriched you with every gift you need for the journey — speech, knowledge, spiritual endowment. Not one thing is lacking. And here is the promise that holds it all together: God is faithful. The One who called you will sustain you to the end. Your confidence rests not in your own grip, but in the unbreakable commitment of the Master who chose you and will not let go.