The Greenes

I've not had nor have I taken the time to sit down and write on any of the additional highlights of the Quartet Convention, but I now feel the need to discuss one of the highlights. One of those stand-out moments came on Friday morning at the Gaither sing-along. It was a decent sized showcase where several artists sat around the stage and sang songs out of the red Church Of God hymnal. It was a great showcase, but the stand-out moment came after one of my favorite singers in the world took the stage.

I've talked about her / them before on several occasions and even posted my videos I took last year at the convention. So, the fact that TaRanda Greene sang, was a good enough reason to have a "stand-out" moment. But truthfully, that wasn't all there was to it. I've referenced before that this is the artist who gave up her kidney for her spouse, Tony, who was suffering from kidney failure and was taking peritoneal dialysis at home multiple times a day.

She sang a verse of the old song, "Leave it There." She could sing "Happy Birthday" and it would give you chills and make you tear up. She's THAT good! But she did an outstanding job on this particular song. After she sang, an audibly shaken Gloria Gaither stood up and gave one of the greatest "speeches" I have ever heard her give. It was not a recitation that has been recorded that she gave from memory. It was one of those beautiful heart-felt moments.....and I have to admit, I had to dig out my hankie. I didn't go without it this year because I had cried so much last year, I wasn't taking the chance of having no tissues.

Gloria began her little speech with the fact that she has "trouble" with this particular song. She broke down the areas in which she struggled. The first being a line in the chorus which says....."take your burdens to the Lord and leave it there." She said in an age where we are so used to quick fixes - this song becomes harder and harder to live. When we are in pain, we take and Aspirin or Motrin for that. If we're hungry, we go through the drive-thru and grab something to eat, etc..... However when it comes to taking the cares of life, we attempt so hard at taking them to the throne of God to allow Him to handle it and somehow when we wake up the next morning, we find that we've taken them right back into our hands. It seems as tho God doesn't want to show up as soon as we think He should, so surely there's something we could do to make it better.......She mentioned Tony and TaRanda Greene at this point and said she was sure there were times throughout this failing health ordeal that TaRanda had wondered where in the world God was. Yet, really the only answer that works is waiting on God. As hard as that may be!

She said another part of the song she was working on was the part that says, "If you trust and never doubt He will surely bring you out!" Finding the faith to believe God is going to work it all out is sometimes hard to come by. In our feeble minds, we are left with all kinds of questions of how in the world we can solve these issues, but we forget that God thinks in levels that we are unable to think on....and has solutions that we probably never considered.

I have to admit, part of the reason that I was so broken by the entire thing, is because I have also had to work on both of these heart issues in my own life. And I will be the first to admit, I'm still a work in progress. I have definitely NOT arrived. But I'm trying.

I took note of TaRanda's reaction during this time of wide-open, cut to the heart, honesty. She repeatedly wiped her eyes as well, I'm sure, thinking of the times she wondered where God was.

I've had this "highlight" on my mind since I left convention. It was probably one of the most "spiritual" moments I experienced all week. I had to confess my tendency to doubt in a few areas.

In the past week since we left convention, we discovered Sunday night that Tony Greene is currently in ICU - in critical condition. He is on a ventilator with collapsed lungs and pneumonia. From the twitter posts and facebook accounts of their close friends, it appears as thought his life is hanging in the balance and it could easily go either way from here without a miracle. They have two very young daughters. Hopefully I will be able to write back in a few days and report that he is improving. Until I do that, please whisper a prayer for the Greene Family.