GUEST BLOGGER:::The Dragon in The Castle-Music Ministers and Our Struggles..(1) By Tommy Rush

Hello guys, have missed y'all. Here is an interesting article i would want you to spare your little time to read. I came across the article and felt it will be of a great interest to you too esp as a gospel artiste.




Imagine having a tasty luxurious state-of-the-art castle, everything polished to taste. The lights are like stars, the floors look like gold, everything is in abundance-food, water, the air in the atmosphere is fresh and healing, there's soulful soothing music in the air. Everything is perfect except that there is Dragon In the Castle.
I shouldn't have titled this "Music Ministers and Their Struggles". It brings a wrong perception that there are struggles exclusive to Music Ministers. However in a my few years of being in the music world, within the 4 walls of the church and outside in Music Business, I've discovered that Music ministers face the same struggles as every other person in the pew or in the corporate world. Ours just seem to be a major issue because of the position we occupy. We are always in the spotlight. And we are among church folks and you and I know "there aint no people in the world as fast to judge and castigate others as church folks..hmm hmm". So every single stain, every single crease on the cloth is easily spotted and judged.
Now I don't care what people say or how they look, all music ministers, from the new entry to the legends, do face struggles. No one is exempted. I have mine. Don't need to ask what it is because you have yours. There's something we all lock ourselves up in the middle of the night for and cry to God for help and Grace. I have never met any sincere anointed minister who has never had to overcome something to get to God's designed place.
Everyone is in tussle. A war of some sort. We may just know how to manage ours but we all go through. Many face financial struggles, marital issues, sexual issues, addictions of varying kinds, emotional matters, health problems, career growth challenges, mental matters, family pressures, cultural pressures, societal pressures, ghost-from-the-past issues...the list is endless.
As Musicians, we have a very funny way of masking our struggles. Some of us wear dark shades everywhere and every time, even at night. Get on stage with the shades so people won't see the fear lurking in our eyes, the shyness, the tears we shed. Some of us get more shows and concerts than we should and we get immersed in being busy just so we can have a momentary escape from the dragon in our castle. We borrow more than we can pay back to get the luxuries- clothes, bags, wrist watches, fast cars. Everyone sees that we look awesome and conclude our lives are awesome. We are the only one who know that is far from the truth. The glamorous life we live is a cover up for the issues we face. And because everyone thinks we are fine and we don't want them to think otherwise, we lock up and fake it. We are afraid to seek help.
We feel its de-marketing for our "brand" and destruction of career if we seek help. We don't want to look vulnerable. How come we value our brand and career far beyond our lives? Reality shows and TV entertainment "gossip" shows, award ceremonies don't help matters. Everyone wants to look good for the press- "say cheese". We only showcase how things are going good for us, the next project, the concert last night, we get on Facebook and update the great time we had with so and so, we take pictures with other aching and struggling but-faking-it co-music ministers and smile for the cams, do the peace sign and everyone envies us. The likes and comments start flowing and for a moment we are in a deluded world. Its like man who took opium.
The deep ones among us are the worst. They hide under speaking in tongues and quoting scriptures. Every little song is followed by a rattling of tongues. And you know church people, those are the things that trip many of us. Since we already know that, we use it. They sing and cry and everyone thinks the cry is an act of worship and they conclude "Minister XYZ is such a worshiper. So close to God". What they don't realize is though we seem to be leading them in worship, our cry is coming from a bleeding heart saying, "Lord am dying, I can't keep living like this and deceiving everyone". Now nobody is clean and am not saying that we wont have stuff to work on. Am not saying you can't be a minister of music because you have issues or that you are a fake because you have issues. If that is so, then no one can ever measure up. But the 1st thing is to acknowledge our challenges and face the dragon in our castles. Good news is Whatsoever is Born of God overcomes.