Dieter Zander was once arguably one of the best worship leaders in the country.  He used to serve at Willow Creek Community Church in a suburb of Chicago, along with John Ortberg.  In his book, Soul Keeping, Ortberg shares that the church had to literally stop singing certain songs when Zander led worship because some people on the balconies would jump up and down so vigorously that the engineers were afraid that the whole balcony would collapse. 

One night while still in his forties, Zander suffered a massive stroke that six days later when he awoke, he could no longer talk or use his right hand.  No more words, no more music.  He left his ministerial post, he left the stage where thousands used to sing under his direction, for a room, in the back of a Trader Joe’s store.  There, day after day, he’d break down boxes, collecting bruised fruit or any imperfect product to be delivered to the hungry. 

However, instead of feeling bitter he remained grateful.  In a letter to John Ortberg, he wrote “It is good that I work there.  I am like that fruit.  I am imperfect . . . . What should take three minutes to say is an hour of frustration.  People lose patience with me.  Aphasia means aloneness.  But God hears me.  My world is small and quiet, and slow and simple.  No stage.  No performance. More real. Good.” 

A year after the stroke, Zander and his wife Val visited Ortberg and his wife Nancy.  Before they left, he wrote on a small whiteboard John 21:18, “When you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.”  Below that verse, he added, “Good.”  How could that be good? I asked.  I don’t know the answer but this I do know:  Only those who know that God is good can say that.

Pastor Paul