This past weekend I had the opportunity to meet a world-class guitarist and spend some time talking with him.

In the end, I was almost as impressed by how humble and mild he was as I was impressed by his awesome talent.

In this case, I am speaking of Richard Kiser, a fellow Christian and a finger-style guitarist who started his career playing lead guitar for the biggest names in southern gospel music in the '60s and early '70s. He's probably the best guitarist you've never heard of. That's partially because when his children were born in the early to mid-'70s, he chose to drop out of the limelight. He spent the next two decades working as a 'regular Joe' while he raised his three sons.

After they were grown, he retired from his job as a computer technician and again turned to his musicianship as an outlet. He now travels all over the country and plays in churches, schools and other arenas.

Instead of seeking out large arenas as other master guitarists have, he chose to travel a path through small churches and festivals. Instead of using his talent to profit himself to a great degree personally, he uses it to bless others. I admire him for choosing convictions over profit.

Kiser does have brushes of fame—he is a former associate and close friend of Chet Atkins and is a featured performer at the annual festival in Atkins' honor. He also is a regular performer in Branson, Mo. and a man who can drop names like Nokie Edwards (one of my favorite guitarists and the original lead man of the Ventures), Roy Clark and Wayne Henderson as fellows he's played alongside in the past year or so.

But, in the end, my final picture of him is as a normal fellow who simply does his personal best to excel. Excellence is always commendable, so I can understand that in any sense of ability. But I especially understand it when it is expressed in my favorite instrument, the guitar.

In way of explanation, I have played guitar on and off for a little over 20 years now. Since I have spent many years with my instruments, I can spot someone who has made the sacrifice to achieve flawlessness, even though I haven't attained it myself. For those of you who don't know, it takes many, many hours of work to make an instrument sing like the extension of some special inner voice. When I play, it sometimes sounds less like the lovely singing of an inner voice and more like a soul's cry for help in the darkness. Nonetheless, I understand the purpose is to make a joyful noise, so I make noise and smile while I do it.

Richard Kiser makes noise and makes others smile while he does it. I managed to catch two of his performances in town, one at the Mountain Heritage Festival and the other at New Covenant Church. I had other plans or I would have seen him again at Sparta First Baptist Sunday night. He definitely was worth seeing again. On Saturday evening and again on Sunday afternoon, I had the opportunity to spend some time with him. It seems like some folks are able to think of a profound question to ask someone who has seen a touch of fame when they have an opportunity to spend time with them. I my case, it doesn't seem to happen that way. I did get the chance to show him my guitar and make my amateurish attempt to play a couple of songs with him Saturday evening as I helped him move his equipment. On Sunday, we shared a meal, his family and mine, at a table in the back of a local restaurant. We laughed and joked a bit before parting ways, without very much of a profound nature passing between us. Well, other than the a laugh or two when he asked me, "What is salt and pepper catfish?"

"It's catfish with salt and pepper on it," I told him. Of course, the waitress did a better job of telling him, but it really is catfish with batter, salt and lemon pepper seasoning. I'd never thought about that much, but it apparently isn't something folks know about away from here. He took the teasing with a laugh.

I have never been much for 'heroes' in life. I've always seen performers and others as people like me with different talents. But I do admire folks who have, as I said before, spent the time to attain excellence in anything. I can also admire those who have a meek and mild spirit about them, those who aren't haughty in sharing their God- given abilities.

One thing that watching him has inspired me to do is improve my own guitar playing. While each person has been given a measure of talent, what we do with that is up to us. In the end, it all comes down to practice. If I want to reach my personal best, I have to practice a little each day.

In talking with Richard, he told me that he practices almost every day. Those who have achieved excellence must keep working on their craft to keep it from stagnating. Water that doesn't flow goes bad, much the same way as our talents will spoil if they are not used and exercised.

We know that the sharpest knife still requires honing to retain its perfect edge. But it takes even more work to get a dull knife even partially sharp. So even if my ability might never be a razor, it doesn't have to be rusty and dull. I will always enjoy my music, and in doing so, I can tell I am improving every time I play. But in meeting Richard, I found someone who inspired me to continue to improve myself as a musician and as a person.

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