The Wedding and the Jail Cell

When I had been on staff for just over a year I met a wonderful, sweet girl named Bethany and I invited her to join the praise team. She was a fantastic addition to the team who could play the guitar wonderfully and she could sing lead as well as harmony. She was exactly what I needed on my team. Up until that point I had no one who could have covered for me in the event of an illness, crisis, or even a planned vacation. It was like I was in a boat with ten people and I was the only person with an oar to row.
When Bethany joined the team, I was incredibly excited because up until that point I hadn’t had any time off and Bethany was my chance for some much needed R & R. Within weeks of her joining I began preparing her for that very possibility. My goal was to have her ready so that Chris and I could go up to Georgia for a very dear friends wedding at the end of March, 2008.
As the time drew nearer to the wedding, I approached the Pastor about taking that Sunday after the wedding off since the drive would have been a good 8 hours away from where we lived. The Pastor gave me a conditional release to go; the condition was I could go if he felt like Bethany could successfully handle the Sunday morning service on her own. I was completely elated when I heard that because I thought Bethany was doing really well. Her lead vocals were not as strong as my own but she had this sweetness to her worship that was somehow reminiscent of the innocence of a newborn baby. There was this intoxicating fresh quality in how she sang, which was completely different from my own bold style. I honestly thought that the Pastor would appreciate that about her and allow me to go.
A few days before I was to leave, I again approached the Pastor about the upcoming wedding. I fully expected for him to allow me to go as I hadn’t had a single day off in over a year. Instead I was completely shocked and disappointed as he refused my request for the Sunday off. He told me I could still go to the wedding if I could ensure that I would be back by Sunday morning and fully rested for the next day. I felt completely crushed as I heard him speak. Who could reasonably travel with two young children, eight hours in car, attend a wedding and visit with people who you haven’t been able to visit with in years, and then turn around and drive home another eight hours. There was just no way that we could possibly do that. As I sat there and contemplated what he had just said, it was like the very air was being sucked out of my lungs and the room was closing in around me. I felt trapped. It was like the door slammed shut on my cell and there was no escape and at that moment I knew it. I had signed over my fate when I failed to speak up and it was like I no longer held the title to my own life. Somehow the title had been transferred into his hand. He owned me.
That moment began a time of intense favor, but with that favor came the chains of control.