Hard to be Humble – UPDATE

Well, the song came off spectacularly in Service, if I do say so myself.

I dressed in blue jeans, a blue checked shirt, and an off-white sport coat… then I picked up my black Stetson and brough it along too. A 7:00am rehearsal call was WAY early, but I knew I needed the practice. Brush-up on Wednesday had not gone too well. The chart for it was a bit out of my range and I didn’t have the words memorized. So when I nailed it at rehearsal the first time, all the music team was kinda blown away… not to mention no one had heard me sing. I had nowhere to go but up. The second run-through was a bit rougher as there were no words on the prompters and I got WAY lost. Ouch!

I tried to get into it, but it’s hard for me to be dramatic without an audience. The Service Director, though, said I needed to ham-it-up a bit more, which I took under advisement.

The time between rehearsal and performance (in the middle of the sermon) seemed like an eternity. I sat in the side corner of the auditorium, rather hidden, waiting for it to arrive. As it got close I put on my mic–one of those nice ones that wrap around the back of your head so you don’t have to hold it–picked up my Stetson, and waited for the cue.

The music began to play and I jumped up out of my seat and ran to the stage, ready to hit the first twangy note. No one was expecting it… least of which, no one was expecting it to be me of all people. I love those kind of surprises.

“Oh Lord,it’s hard to be humble when your perfect in every way… I can’t wait to look in the mirror cause I get better lookin’ each day…”

I was into it and things were going well. I acted the part of a ‘country music legend’ as well I could and tried to hit the notes correctly. Mostly, I did a decent job.

The funnest part was hearing people’s reactions…. like:

“I want you to sing more!! You were great up there. No one else could have pulled that off.”

and

“You did not look scared at all, I felt like you looked like a stage actor, like you could be on a musical or something, since it was a song and kind of acting too. I don?t know that we?ve done anything like that at M?top before that I can remember.”

and

“You are a nut and it?s time EVERYONE knows that!”

and

“You did an outstanding job yesterday. My wife and I both think you have a very good singing voice. I really appreciated your contribution. One of the things I admire about you is the fact that you don?t take yourself too seriously. You?re truly in it for the good of the whole and not for self, which connects directly to Bill?s sermon yesterday.”

Such nice comments. And more than that… really nice to be able to use another gift to help draw others to God. I really don’t think I am that great of an actor or singer. Honestly. We have SO much talent, even in our church!! But it is wonderful when God just kinda carries you along and fills in the gaps so the message will be proclaimed, no matter our ability.

Its not ability, its about willingness. And on Sunday, I overcame a fear… and God blessed it.

…. and man, did the people laugh!!! But they got the message!