Seth Barnes Apr 24, 2009 8:00 PM

Susan Boyle & Paul Potts prove anything's possible

Susan Boyle wasn't the first person on Britian's Got Talent to show us a Horatio Alger story that made the judges cry. Paul Potts did it a couple of y...

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Susan Boyle wasn't the first person on Britian's Got Talent to show us a Horatio Alger story that made the judges cry. Paul Potts did it a couple of years ago and now has sold over three million copies of his debut album.

These people were nobodies who had enormous undiscovered talent.

In 1981 Karen and I were living in Jakarta, Indonesia. One day after church a lady accosted me and said, "Can you sing?" I was there creating a microenterprise organization in Bali. Singing was not a part of my portfolio.

"I don't know," I responded.

"I'm directing a musical for the Petroleum Club, 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,' and I need to cast one of the male leads. Would you come over here to the piano and let me hear you sing?"

I followed her to the piano and it turns out, I could sing. Pretty soon I was wearing a toga and doing the very thing that terrified me - appearing before audiences of 500 and acting and singing. We got standing ovations every night. Good grief - it wasn't my dream, but it turns out, I had an undiscovered talent.

I think we're all that way. I think you all have some talent that is as incredible in its own way as Susan Boyle. It may not be singing, but to someone on this earth, it is no less remarkable. So here's my challenge to you: What is it that God gave you that you may still be hiding? Spend some time thinking about it. What is it that makes you come alive? Maybe the time has come to do what Paul Potts and Susan Boyle did and show it to the world.

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