My pastor is one of my heros. John Stumbo from Salem Alliance Church is a man in his 40s who runs marathons for “fun.” (Okay, well that’s a special kind of sickness! HA!!) John has recently survived 77 days in the hospital due to a mystery illness that even 100 different diagnostic tests has been unable to fully identify. John came within a hair’s breadth of death on several occasions, but is now back at home beginning a very long recovery process. John is in intense therapy relearning how to do everything including swallowing and speaking. One of the losses this illness has cost John is his ability to speak and sing with ease. He says he never realized how much of his identity is tied to his voice – how he speaks, preaches, sings, laughes, whispers, etc. I had never even considered that our voices are so deeply embedded in who we are. And for singers even more so. John loves to sing and says his inability to do anything but croak out a few notes is embarrassing to him.  He says, however, that God does not evaluate our praise on the quality of the voice but on the condition of the heart.   What a valuable lesson to remember.

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