*Note: Many readers asked me to reprise this previous blog in light of the newest sensation, Susan Boyles (see yesterday’s post). You’ll understand why as you read.
Paul Potts’ mania has swept over Britain and most of the world. In case you’ve been sleeping and are asking, “Who in the world is Paul Potts,” here’s your introduction.
The Nervous Man in the Cheap Suit
Simon Cowell, famous for his biting criticisms of contestants on American Idol, launched a British version called Britain’s Got Talent. One of the first contestants was Paul Potts, a gapped-tooth, portly, shy, unassuming middle-aged man dressed in a cheap suit and working as a mobile phone salesman.
In the video of his initial performance (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k08yxu57NA), the audience sees a nervous, shuffling, under-confident Mr. Potts waiting his turn. As he arrives on stage and timidly announces that he is there to sing opera, Cowell’s raised eyebrows and look of dismay advertise the fact that he and his fellow judges, Piers Morgan and Amanda Holden, expect Paul to bomb big time.
Then . . . then Paul Potts opens his gap-toothed mouth and the sounds that flow out are unbelievable. Passion, melody, beauty, power—they all come tumbling out of this jar of clay, this clay pot named Paul Potts.
As the camera pans the audience, disbelief, shock, and awe can be seen on their faces. Similarly, as the camera shows Cowell, Morgan, and Holden, everyone begins to sense that something unexpected is budding.
Potts’ brief performance is marked by gasps and claps from the crowd and highlighted by a lengthy and enthusiastic standing ovation as he concludes with a killer hitting of the final note.
The Clay Pot Blossoms
In response, the usually vicious Simon Cowell said it simply. “I wasn’t expecting that. I thought you were absolutely fabulous. And you’re selling car phones?”
Cowell’s sidekick, Holden noted, “What we have here is a lump of coal that is about to turn into a diamond.”
The next day, a United Kingdom newscaster added succinctly. “The audience saw a chubby little man in a cheap suit. Then he started to sing.”
Potts moved swiftly through subsequent rounds of the competition and with a rousing, full-length operatic singing of Nessun Dorma he was crowned Britain’s best amateur talent. However, he’s an amateur no more. Cowell himself fronted the money to produce Potts’s first album, appropriately named One Chance.
And Potts himself, what’s his take? His back story includes being mercilessly bullied throughout his school years as the shy, fat kid, working dead-end jobs, and a serious accident four years ago. Then, in early 2007, he flipped a coin to decide if he should compete in Britain’s Got Talent. That one coin flip, that one chance, catapulted Potts to the top.
As Potts’ noted, “Before this, I felt so insignificant. After that first night I realized I am somebody. I am Paul Potts!”
A real rags-to-riches tale, in seven amazing days Paul Potts went from selling mobile phones in Wales to winning Britain’s Got Talent, signing a record deal with Simon Cowell, and fulfilling his life-long dream of performing live in front of the Queen of England.
And Who Are You?
According to another Paul, this one the famous Apostle Paul, we are all cracked pots. “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” (2 Corinthians 4:7).
And what is this treasure? It is “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” shining in our hearts (2 Corinthians 4:6). Embedded inside each of us is nothing less than the glorious image of God.
And Who Do You Live For?
Paul Potts said, “. . . I am somebody. I am Paul Potts!” The Apostle Paul proclaimed, “For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake” (2 Corinthians 4:5).
Our rags-to-riches story is based upon Christ’s riches-to-rags story. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Our response is not a million dollar record tour, but an eternally valuable mission. “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20).
And Who Do You Sing For?
Paul Potts experienced the joy and honor of singing in the presence of Queen Elizabeth. The Apostle Paul invites us to sing before and for the King of Kings. “We know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence” (2 Corinthians 4:14).
We sing, we minister, we offer the cup of cold water, we counsel, we teach, we preach, we serve as a song sung to and in the presence of our listening Savior.
And What Are You Waiting For?
What’s your impossible dream? What did God design you to be, to do?
What are you waiting for? A flip of a coin?
What’s holding you back? Your background? Your past? Your looks? Your suffering?
Take Paul’s Counsel
Take Paul’s counsel—the Apostle Paul. “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).
Look to Jesus and unleashed the hidden opera singer. Live for Jesus and unleashed the hidden Sunday school teacher. Serve empowered by Jesus and unleash the hidden poet, the hidden soul physician, the hidden spiritual friend, the hidden writer, the hidden servant, the hidden . . .
