The last few weeks have been a huge challenge for us here!
Somewhere in my travels I seem to have picked up some kind of virus / infection….something!! I went to several doctors, and no one knows what it is. It started a day after I got home from a short tour. I woke up and my lips were swollen pretty bad. I looked like I had plastic surgery on my lips! A day later, my mouth had several growths in it that kind of looked like I had a second row of teeth growing under my tongue. I was put on some drugs and the growths went away, but the swelling stayed. 10 days later, I started another med and a week later the swelling began to go down.
Throughout the whole thing, I was not able to play my trumpets at all. I tried many times, but the swelling just wouldn’t let my lips vibrate at all which means no sound. Today, as I write this, I am 95% back to normal, but still no one knows what it was.
The five weeks I went through this was extremely hard for me. I actually felt fine the whole time, the only problem was my mouth. But to not be able to play my horns was SO HARD for me!! Five weeks is a very long time to not play.
Now, I want to make sure to be very clear on this next part… I REALLY don’t like sharing what I just shared at all. My health issues are private to me and for the most part, I usually never share my health with many people outside of my circle, but I want to share where I messed up the most in this whole event and to be honest…where I have messed up my whole life so far.
Going through what I just did, and as bad as it was at it’s peak, I questioned whether I would ever play again, that really bothered me. I wondered what I would ever do if I couldn’t play again. I thought “ I am a trumpet player and that’s what I do”. I have identified as a trumpet player since I have been 4 years old!! That’s who I am and what I do right?
Here is where I messed up, because the real answer to that question and how I should identify is not as a trumpet player, but a child of God!!
In today’s world, there are so many people challenged to figure out their place in this world and many people struggle to identify a certain way. Let me make things really easy for anyone that reads this……if you have a relationship with Jesus Christ, then you should very simply identify as a child of God. It doesn’t matter if you are president, a teacher, a rocket scientist, or a trumpet player, that’s not what you should identify as, it maybe what you do, but it’s not your identity. Your identity is in Jesus Christ.
I love what God has let me do and am so thankful for the talents He has given me, and I am excited to get back out on the road and use those talents to serve Him and spread the Gospel, but it’s not who I am. My identity is in Jesus Christ. Where is your identity? If it’s not in Christ, then you need to change that today. If you don’t know Him, visit our website at “chizrider.com” and halfway down our home page on the right hand side is “True Salvation is just a click and prayer away” link. Click on that and see how you can find your identity today. Find you true identity in Jesus Christ!!
Thanks for your time and for checking in.
Chiz