Articles
Barry's Reflections
Rather than take up time in the pulpit, I thought I would just make a few comments about my recent bout with voice troubles. My voice troubles stem from a small nodule on my vocal cord. This happened to me about 9 years ago and the nodule was much larger then. This time I got into my ENT doctor sooner and so the nodule was not as large. I know when the nodule formed – it was when I preached in early November and I barely got through the morning service. I then preached on Sunday night and I was so hoarse by the time I got through I could barely speak. The speech therapist who has been working with me said that when we strain the vocal cords and talk, we are banging the cords together and it forms a nodule. The nodule reduced but I still needed surgery and I’m recovering.
I just wanted to thank everyone for your concern and prayers. When I am sick, I prefer not to draw any attention to it but the manner of this situation where I could not preach drew the unwanted attention to my difficulties. I am just glad this inconvenience is over so I can get back to normal. Throughout this situation, I realized how much I have to be thankful for. Not only saints who prayed on my behalf but also, the tremendous suffering other people have gone through which makes any difficulty I have experienced seem so slight in comparison. I think of Bill Langley and the grace and dignity with which he has handled his throat problems. He never complains about his lot in life and I think that’s what makes him such an example to all of us as an elder. He is always looking out for others regardless of the difficulties he experiences. John Cofield is another elder who has health challenges but he never complains. These two godly elders deserve our respect and admiration all the more for their dedication and service to the saints here in Clermont over whom they have the oversight.
I did want to tell those of you who gave me a hard time by teasing me that I will not forget you. You are on my special hit list. Always be looking behind you because you never know when I might strike. Of course, I am teasing as well. I used to tell my girls all the time when I teased them that if I didn’t love you, I would just ignore you. Sometimes I think they wished I ignored them more! I know that teasing is a form of love. If we didn’t have confidence in the other person, that they could take it, we wouldn’t show any regard for them at all. Of course, people told me many times that they knew Cyrisse was enjoying me not being able to talk.
Let me tell you a few interesting things that happened to me during this time. One time, when I went to the hospital to visit Susan Howard, I gave the Pink Lady the name on a sheet of paper. She started to write the room number down and then she said, “Oh, I don’t know what I was thinking. You can still hear!” When I got a prescription at Publix the other day and told the pharmacist I couldn’t talk, he did write down on a piece of paper, “Date of birth.” I didn’t have the heart to tell him I could still hear. He was just trying to be helpful.
When I attended brother Payne’s memorial service, brother Melvin Curry was among those in attendance. I’ve known brother Curry for over 40 years and he was my professor in college. He told me after the memorial service that that was one of the most enjoyable conversations he had ever had with me!
When I was in Tampa several weeks ago, I stopped at a McDonald’s for a cheeseburger. Since I know the Tampa area so well, I knew I was in a seedier part of town. A lot of crime and drugs. While I was standing in line to place my order I had written down, a suspicious-looking fella who was lingering around the waiting lines, came up behind me and asked me if I went to church. I nodded my head yes. He then asked me for some money so he could get something to eat. There was just something about his approach to me that didn’t seem to warrant me giving him money so I just waved my hand in front of my throat and motioned I couldn’t talk. I discovered that day that not being able to talk could be used to my advantage.
My voice troubles have been a real frustration to me because I couldn’t say anything when I went to the hospital to visit the sick, I couldn’t talk to people who had missed services, I couldn’t do a home study I will be starting soon, and the hardest thing of all was not being able to preach. Preaching is not just a job to me – it’s my life. Also, not being able to carry on a one-on-one conversation with people at church has been a total frustration. When I would try to mouth something, people would look at me as though they understood but I could tell they didn’t. It made them feel uncomfortable and I felt uncomfortable as well. But at least my health is still good and for that, I am extremely thankful to God. He has blessed me more than I could ever deserve or earn. I am especially indebted to Kevin Winn, Jason McCreary and Shawn Caldwell for filling in for me during the last few months. Not only were they dependable to be here every week but they also gave tremendous sermons that kept the work going.
Let me tell you one more interesting story. I saw my dentist at the gym the other day and he said he had not seen me in a while. He sees me walking on highway 50 when he goes
to work in the morning and also at the gym. He wondered if there was something wrong with me and he was concerned about me. He said he went by my house one day and saw a lot of cars there and he thought, “Uh, oh!” He said he asked the girls at the office about me and someone told him they thought I officiated at Mr. Roberts funeral so maybe that’s why the cars were there. (That was the day of brother Roberts memorial service when food was brought to our house by our wonderful ladies). He said he was glad I was okay! Like Mark Twain said about himself, “The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”
I am thankful to the elders and the entire church for your consideration, patience and prayers during this time. Even though I couldn’t preach, I still worked every day to prepare the concluding sermons in the life of Christ. I will take a few weeks concluding that series and then we will begin looking at our theme for 2016. The theme for the church this year will be on the subject of prayer. I believe all of us would say that we need some help with our prayer life so we’re going to focus on that this next year, the Lord willing. Having said all of this, I’m ready to get back to work!
