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A funny thing happened to me on the way to the Southern Baptist Convention in San Antonio. On May 15 I had a growth removed from my vocal cord. It was benign but the doctor told me I could not say a word for two weeks.
It was on this point that Gary Ledbetter and others said I needed to relay what it was like to not be able to speak a word for two weeks. Confession is good for the soul but bad for the reputation. I did let about a half-dozen words slip out, but they were barely audible. The hardest test during this time was refraining from telling people how awful their jokes were. Many people thought they would make me feel better by levity. The most common jab was that my wife, staff, other family members and the general public must have been enjoying me not talking. I don’t know how this was supposed to make me feel better, but it must have been therapeutic because I did recover.
The doctor said the next two weeks I could only say a few words a day in a “soft” voice. What I found out was that some of the stupid things I was thinking were best not said. I also discovered that most of the time other people would make comments similar to my thoughts.
Another great lesson was that noise doesn’t have to happen. Silence can be golden. My wife did the ordering at restaurants. This was a role reversal. Because I couldn’t talk, people thought I was deaf. They would speak louder than normal. They would act like I was not there on occasions and directed all conversation and eye contact towards my wife. They would say things as if I did not have a memory. I lost my voice, not my mind.
During the convention I was on “soft” voice conversation except for the doctor-authorized five-minute welcome on Tuesday morning. Now this was an extraordinary time to be around 5,000 preachers and not be able to raise my voice. I couldn’t talk over the music, crowd noise or other preachers. I had to nearly put my mouth to the ear of the person I wanted to talk to. This caused numerous intimate moments to arise. I became up close and personal with many people I hardly knew.
Currently, I am in a six-week rehabilitation. The doctor has given me permission to preach, but with certain restrictions. I can preach with a hot mic and only for 20 minutes. Every pastorless church in Texas is interested in me?until they find out that at the end of six weeks the 20-minutes restriction is lifted.
Thank you to all those who are praying for me. Our Lord is healing me. I am not 100 percent, but I am recovering.
Thank you Southern Baptists of Texas Convention! My election as first vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention is a personal honor and a collective affirmation of the SBTC. Your prayers and participation impacted our Baptist Zion.
