Among other things I do, I also sing for our church, and with a recent retirement of a couple from our church to a new mission we are left many weeks with only me singing and Mrs. S on the piano. (She is a fantastic pianist, btw.) Holy Week includes three services and that, the play and some other engagements have frankly taken a toll on my voice.

But they were no excuse for Sunday. Our pastor gave a sermon on how often we don't recognize God's grace in our lives, and the relationship of fathers to sons, using Mary Magdalene's question of Jesus before she recognizes him -- "c'mon buddy, where is his body? Hand it over and I will take care of it" -- and ended the sermon with a video clip of Team Hoyt, a father and son the latter of whom has profound cerebral palsy but whose father runs a triathlon using a dinghy and special bicycle and wheelchair to take his son with him. The music in the background was "My Redeemer Lives" (I think it's Nicole Mullen singing.)

I sang a few months ago for my father-in-law's funeral, and that was easier than singing after watching the video, which was right afterward. I'm sure the congregation wondered what the heck was wrong with me.

At that moment, nothing at all was wrong.

If you've never seen this video or know the Hoyts' story, you can watch a video clip about them here.