Sick of Being Sick

Well, it started almost two weeks ago when Emma had to stay home from school because she was sick. Then Madeline got sick (a little). And since Wednesday I have been coughing my head off and wishing my head would go back to normal. Living in northwest Florida, there is no off season for allergies, so I end up with a sinus infection about every other month. Upper respiratory issues are a major problem for someone in my business. A parishioner, who happens to do the weather for one of our local television stations, asked me last month what happens when I get sick. He had been sick several days in January and could hardly talk, so it was a timely conversation. I told him I just have to muddle through. I hate being gone on a Sunday, so I did my best today. Though, after coughing throughout the entire middle service, I really wanted to say "Hey people, get me some water. Can't you see I am about to start coughing up blood?" Maybe I just covered it so well that they did not notice. Fat chance. I came home, had lunch, and slept for four hours. I am sick of being sick.

Saturday I spent the day judging district solo and ensemble contest in Panama City Beach. For my first couple of years here, no one in the musical establishment of Bay County gave me the time of day. A lot of it has to do with having no one in the area who knows you are not a crackpot. Well, now it seems I have become the beau at the ball and people are raving about my vocal coaching and what I have done with my choir and now I am being invited to sing or judge or whatever all over. It is nice. And even though I do not feel the need to be stroked very much, it does feel better that people are getting to know and appreciate what I have to offer. I have also become acutely aware of how high school students react to me and my sense of humor. It is wild. It is like I have this instant rapport with them. So, if the world came to an end and I had to teach in a high school, I believe, for the first time, this would not be horrible. Let's hope this does not happen any time soon.

I remember when I moved to Texas from Oklahoma and how difficult it was to start over again. A well-respected youth minister in the Oklahoma City area gave me some wise counsel that I did not follow. In many ways, I was hot stuff in the area Assemblies of God, even as a young person. And he told me that it would be better for me to stay in the area, go to school there, and remain working in churches there because I had built a big platform for ministry there already. Everyone knew me. I liked that, but I still moved away because I thought it was the right thing.

However, right is not usually the easiest avenue to walk down. After a year of being in Texas, I was ready to move "home." Starting over is the worst for someone like me because I hate having to prove myself again and again. What was nice about that move was that I ended up taking the job teaching at Southwestern and that came with an automatic, built-in platform.

Several years ago when I began to wonder if I would spend the rest of my life in the fellowship of youth, I started talking to a lot of different Christian leaders. One such individual was this man from Florida who was part of a group called the Charismatic Orthodox Church. He was the leader of this new church and one of the most intuitive people I have ever spoken to. He talked about the importance of a platform for ministry, that if you do not have one, no one will hear your voice even if you have a direct line to God. He told me it would be better to stay within the place that I was because I had a platform for affecting change in more lives where I was.

I wonder what significance there is in not listening to the greater part of wisdom and leaving good enough (or bad enough) alone? I have often spoken of change as the greatest constant in life. We hear so much about change these days with the Obama and Clinton campaigns. I hear ministers talk about change, as long as it is not only change for change's sake. So change is on everbody's mind. Clearly, since I moved I have had to reestablish a reputation and relationship to a new community each time. And, though I do not care for this process, it always seems to come.

I guess what I am getting at is, God raises us up for whatever task He requires of us and gives us the platform we need to see His will accomplished. I am glad to be in a place of acceptance in the church and in my community and I look forward to this new season and where this may lead. So, two years in and I feel more at home than I thought I might when I left the comfort of the world I had always known and a well-built platform for ministry. I am thankful that He begins a good work in us and is faithful to complete it, whether or not it is where or when or how we might have dreamed it would turn out.