Our Gifts, God Given, Are Meant To Be Shared

Bring whatever you have, wherever you are, and trust God to multiply your offering.

John 6:1-14 . . . After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred denariia worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.”

One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”

The triune God distributes a variety of gifts, service, and work to people to be used to bless others.

1 Corinthians 12:1-3 . . . There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.

All who place their trust in Christ receive the gift of the Holy Spirit whose fruit brings blessings to others.

Galatians 5:22-23 . . . For the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

I pray you'll be our eyes
And watch us where we go
And help us to be wise
In times when we don't know
Let this be our prayer
When we lose our way
Lead us to a place
Guide us with your grace
To a place where we'll be safe

Homeschooled Siblings’ Song Covers Touch Millions

By Louise Chambers, 3/9/2024

Three siblings with a shared passion for singing are touching millions with their covers of songs that are sung in beautiful three-part harmony.

Siblings Daylon, Daura, and Devon Veater were born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, and today they stay together and study at Arizona State University. They also sing together as an a cappella group—Life in 3D.

Mr. Daylon Veater, 23, is studying for a master’s in electrical engineering. Mr. Devon Veater, 18, is following in his brother’s footsteps as a freshman. Their sister Daura Veater, 21, will graduate in May with a degree in biochemistry. While their mom dreamed of her children working in STEM, she integrated music into their unique homeschooling program, and in recent months, the siblings have gone viral on YouTube.

Family Support

The siblings were first introduced to music when they took piano lessons from their grandmother; the family was “too poor to actually purchase real piano lessons.” Later, Devon met someone at church who taught guitar for an affordable price, and he and his sister took lessons.

Apart from this, their biggest source of inspiration was their grandfather, who was their biggest champion and who loved singing. “Our parents, by the way, have zero musical talent, which is really strange,” Daylon said. “But our grandpa played the guitar with us and sent us songs, and even when we didn’t sound all that good earlier, he told us that we sounded amazing.”

With their grandfather’s encouragement, the siblings purchased their first microphone and began recording, with “The Prayer“ being one of the very first songs they recorded. “It was also the song that blew up and kind of took us from, ‘Hey, you have 50 followers who are your grandma and your aunt and your uncle,’ to, ‘There’s a lot of people who really like this!’” Daylon said.

Sadly, their biggest cheerleader—their grandpa—wasn’t able to hear it. The Christmas that we got our first microphone was also the Christmas that he passed away, so he never got to hear any of this,” Daylon said.

In their beloved grandpa’s absence, the siblings take great comfort in support from the rest of their family, and in comments from their growing following on social media. “When I’m having a bad day, that’s where I go,” Daura said. “I read other people’s comments, and it’s just really touching to see how many people are affected by our music in positive, uplifting ways.”

The Power of Homeschooling

Daylon, Daura, and Devon were homeschooled by their mother through grade school and junior high before attending mainstream high school. They sang as part of their church congregation and later joined a high school choir. Their artistic name, Life in 3D, is a nod to their shared first initial and also to their mother.

“Our mom’s like, ‘It’s kind of like living in a musical with you guys!’” Daylon said. “It’s like, you wake up, and you’re doing the dishes, and you’re singing a harmony part with Daura who’s doing her laundry at the table. Then you walk in the bedroom and there’s Devon sitting on his bed, playing the guitar. It’s literally like a life of just music and collaboration, a three-part harmony.”

The siblings attribute a lot of their creative capacity to homeschooling, as they were able to spend more time on music and reading than their peers in mainstream education. They even took a trip to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, at the ages of 13, 12, and 9, thanks to a lesson from their mother.

“There’s homeschool programs out there that you can buy and then follow, but our mom didn’t do that ... she made up her own program,” Daylon said. “One of the things that she came up with was memory work.”

Daura said, “We had a lady in our congregation who worked with the United Nations, and she wanted a group of children to present this document on the rights of children and their families at the UN in Geneva. She saw the program that my mom was doing with us, the memorizing program. So she chose us, and we memorized the document, and then we went over there and did that. Homeschooling allowed us to have that experience.”

The trio also believes that homeschooling has helped strengthen their sibling bond. Devon said: “I don’t know if any other siblings have spent as much time together as we did. We all know how to communicate with each other not to make each other mad, most of the time. Sometimes we still argue, but this is how we really strengthened our relationship and how it’s actually going to last a long time.”

The Impact of Music

As Life in 3D, Daylon, Daura, and Devon have sung many times at church, and more recently, they even sang at their father’s 30th high school reunion. They continue to upload new covers to YouTube and share their clips on Instagram.

Devon recalls that one of the comments they received on their cover of, “O, Holy Night”, really stuck with him. He said: “‘I’m an atheist, but this gave me chills.’ It was just an ‘Aha!’ moment, where we were bringing the light of Christ to other people, to our music, and they were feeling it.”

The siblings are working on some original songs, but first, since their channel has grown, they are working on securing music licenses for the songs they’ve already covered in order to monetize their channel.

“We’re broke college kids,” per Daylon. “Licenses are really, really expensive, like $2,000 a song for a year. Finally, we decided that it was time to ask the people who support us for some help, to us keep going in our music journey, so we’ve opened a GoFundMe, and we’ve actually raised a good deal of money.”

As their channel continues to grow, the siblings are finding a balance between their college careers and their passion for sharing the music that’s close to their hearts. The impact of their music on other people is part of what keeps them going.

Daylon said: “I remember having difficulties keeping going with our music channel, even just six months ago when we had, like, 400 followers, because I felt like it was so much work. But I had so much support and encouragement from my family members and from my relations who said, ‘No, you should keep going, because even if you’re blessing a few people, it’s worth it.’ Now I could not believe I was ever doubting.”