Lucky, you are a lucky guy...! Such inner peace with whatever you chose to do. You are truly blessed.

Me, I rarely talk about my beliefs here (or in public much at all), only slamming someone's arranger will get you into hotter water around here But, I have to confess, I do have a strong belief, and that is that I am here for a purpose, too. My entire life sounds very similar in ways to yours, music has been my passion and profession my entire life. I have always felt a calling to it, a sense that something outside myself was leading me to this.

But, with that in mind, my personal belief in this makes me shy away from doing something so contrary to it... I feel that if HE wants me to be a musician so bad He has lead my whole life down this path, what right do I have to deny Him, now the going gets a bit tougher?

But this is MY personal belief, and anyone else has as much right to theirs as I do to mine. But I don't expect anyone to agree with me if they don't, and I don't feel, in a public forum, that I have NO right to disagree, either. We share such a similar story, in ways, that it surprises me to find a different acceptance of circumstances. Me, I believe He is STILL calling you to play, you feel otherwise. And it IS your path, your choice to take.

But please don't think it is disrespect... far from it! It is just the natural tendency that we ALL have (including yourself, from what I read of your posts) to think that what WE choose MIGHT be a good path for others, and encourage them to consider taking it...

We see enough of this attitude in equipment choice 'wars' (I prefer 'spirited discussion'!), but it also applies to the choice to remain true to our being 'musicians' or not.

You are truly blessed to have such acceptance of your circumstances. I only hope that, when it's my turn, I can give it up with such good grace...!