“Amen!”

So ended my Lovely Wife’s first sermon.

Our Pastor was on vacation and she took on the challenge to lead our Worship Service. The question was, could she pull it off? Would she crack under the pressure? Should she really stretch out this Far? It all came down to confidence. I’d read Her Sermon….I was even brave enough to add a few suggestions---piece of advice---don’t give advice on your wife’s first Sermon---unless you wish to sleep on the couch (actually She really took the advice quite well but I still would not advise it). She knew what to do. She knew Her role. She had a good Sermon. She practiced, practiced and then practiced some more. I think she practiced a little more after that. But the question was….Confidence.

I was in the ninth grade and a member of The Beta Club. I was the one chosen to give a speech to the entire school on the Beta Club and how the way it served the community was like the spokes of a wheel. The gymnasium was full. As I began my speech the laughing began….and it never stopped. I managed to finish but vowed to never speak in public again. Never.

When asked to read out loud in class---I refused. I said I just couldn’t do it. Even when faced with a failing grade if I did not read out loud---I refused. I just could not do it (luckily the teacher did not fail me, maybe she understood).

Then came High School. I fell in love for the first time {sorry Dear}. Her name was Debbie and I was head over heels in Love. But then she joined the Drama Club! What’s a teen to do????? So I joined the Drama Club confident that I could hide in the back of the room and never be seen.

Oops. I hate Oops!!

The Drama teacher, Mrs. Ritchey (I really should call her Sally as we became very, very close friends) called out my name to read for a part in the High School Play.

Read out loud!! In front of others! Others who thought they wanted to be actors!!

Was she out of her mind?

As I started to fumble with all of the reasons I could not do that, Sally told me that if I wanted to be part of the Drama Club, I had to audition. My first love was in this club….what’s a teen to do?

So I read for the part.

Type casting!!!

Have you ever heard of that term? It’s when the person you choose for the part really didn’t have to act---you were already the character. The part of Tommy called for a shy boy with absolutely no confidence. To stutter his way through his lines. Including a lengthy monologue.

I got the part---------I could not read out loud---------I had seen what audiences could do-----and I got the part.

Confidence. It’s all about Confidence. And I did not have it---not an ounce.

But as they say the play must go on.

So, like my lovely Wife I practiced, practiced and then practiced some more. I think I practiced a little more after that.

Nerves were more then frazzled on opening night, but the play must go on. I managed to hold my own until the monologue. This was a mountain that I had to climb.---------I could not read out loud---------I had seen what audiences could do. But the play must go on.

So I delivered my lines with everything that was in me. I gave it all I had. After, as the script called for, I ran off the stage. I remember hitting my fists against the wall behind the stage. I remember even hitting my head against the wall. I was that worked up. I can not describe the feeling of giving everything to a task that you really did not think you were up to….but to had done it.

Then I heard the Applause!

Applause!

Applause!

No booing or mocking but applause! And they were Applauding for Me! For Me!.

That was the first of many Plays. The beginning of Confidence. And Confidence grows.

Now I write stories, confident that the worst that I can do is fail. Confident that if I do fail I will simply try again, and again, and again, and if I succeed……I can still remember what Applause sounds like!!

Oh and my Lovely Wife--- and her Sermon---She was marvelous…simply marvelous!! Confidence? No Problem.

Pray for me. I’ll pray for you.

Just a side---my Lovely Wife did have a good teacher!!