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here; my story has only just begun!

      4

      An unseen advantage

      David Schlachter

      Life is full of surprises, and with the pressures of today, following your dreams may seem difficult. The one thing I have learnt, though, is that when you bring the Lord into the equation, tomorrow’s uncertainties are eclipsed by hope, and today’s challenges are filled with joy.

      What do you do when an opportunity falls into your lap, unexpectedly, that could change your life in an instant? Most of us would take it and run, although not all opportunities turn out as we think they should and not all life-changing scenarios can seem to be for the better.

      Only the Lord could have created an opportunity that was perfect in every way, and met all the desires of my heart.

      My short journey of 22 years may not have included many huge decisions as of yet, however, many small decisions have led to big changes. I was told once that we might not see what the puzzle looks like holding one piece – but put them all together and you see the whole picture.

      Life is a day to day experience, and while things like money and an academic degree might help in some areas of our lives, there is still a part of us that longs for true happiness and contentment.

      My life has definitely been full of surprises and unexpected twists and turns, and yet, right now as I sit typing this, I can honestly look back and see how the Lord has had his hand over me all of the way, and how, without Him, there is no way I would be where I am now.

      I want to go back about two years and share with you how quickly the desires of your heart can be met, and hope that you will see how intricate the Lord is, and how He has the best in mind for us.

      After finishing school and then going into a year of Architecture, I was at a crossroad as I realised that Architecture wasn’t for me. Should I drop Architecture and hesitantly take up another degree, or should I dive into the unknown and chase a dream lead by hope?

      I know that the Lord is in everything, but I knew that if I were to venture on a path with which I was not familiar, it seemed as though I would have to know for sure who He was and what role He played before I just carried on playing in this game we call “life”. You see, singing had always been my number one passion, and I can remember now that feeling of being uncertain about whether I was in the right place in my life, making the right decisions, etc, and I knew something had to change.

      I decided to take a step of faith and stop my degree, and rather take a gap year that was focused on singing, but also had the purpose of clarifying whether there was something else I loved as much as singing, and whether it was worth pursuing. The year started off well, I was involved with singing teachers from Reach for the stars, Cindy Dickinson and Denise Ostler, whom I had met halfway through my first year at architecture. They were the ones that helped me act on my love for singing, and continuously fuelled my decision to pursue it, by getting the odd corporate engagement and landing our first residential restaurant gig, every Sunday night for about three months. I was also working at the Physiotherapy department at St. Augustines Hospital to see if Physiotherapy was something I could see myself studying. This was something I had always been interested in, but could never see myself doing for very long. I also got stuck into my studies, which was me trying to complete the matric higher grade physical science syllabus in four months, and trying to get an “A” after not having done it since Grade 9, which I thought was a bit optimistic, but I was going to try anyway. Little did I know that this year and all these new experiences I was embracing, were just stepping stones to what would be the main reason as to why my all important gap year had occurred.

      So with the year running smoothly and going as fast as time does, the first five months flew by and almost halfway into the year I had finished my science course, the Sunday gig was coming to an end and I had pretty much stopped going to the hospital, as I learnt that as much as it interests me, I definitely did not love it more than singing.

      With everything now ending, and with six months left of the year, my plan of action was inconclusive. I did know, however, that I was going to focus all my attention on singing, as that was the main project for my gap year.

      Then, on the Friday morning of 27 June 2008, I woke up and was organising my plan for the day. I was going to the first day of the Mr Price Pro competition. My friends were going to pick me up around 10:00 and we were going to spend the whole day there.

      How my day ended up, though, came nowhere close to a relaxed day on the beach. My friends phoned at around 10:30, and told me they were running a bit late, due to them waiting for their cousins.

      With that, I decided I would give Denise a call to see how she was doing and to chat about our gig that Sunday night, also about what I was going to be doing in the next six months, etc. While speaking to her my sister asked if I would be around to pick her up at 12 30, as she was going out to lunch with a friend, but due to my friends picking me up sooner, I told her I was not going to be able to pick her up.

      So I carried on with my phone call, which was turning into quite a lengthy conversation, when somehow we got to the topic of auditions, and Denise told me that one of their other students from the school was down at the Bat centre, auditioning for the High Shool Musical reality show which was going to air on MNet in August.

      I didn’t really know anything about it, and decided I had to go look on the website for more information, where I remember clearly reading, “If you want to sing, dance and act, then this is for you”. Something sparked inside of me, and I just knew I had to go and do this. Not knowing what song to audition with or what to wear, I said goodbye to Denise, SMSed my friends to say I was not going to make it to the beach, got changed and brushed pass my father (who had just got home) with a comical “bye Dad I am off to an audition in town”.

      So, eventually, I arrived at the Bat centre, and thanks to them keeping it open for people still in school, I could still sign up and audition. I was the last person to fill out a sign-up form and was told to go and wait outside audition room C. I was under the impression that I should sing a musical number, and thought “Come what may” from Moulin Rouge would have to suffice. So, because I had arrived rather late, it never took too long for me to audition, and I was told after I had quickly sung my song, that I should immediately go to where everyone was waiting, as they were waiting for the lady’s forms whom I had auditioned for, to see how many people were going to be put into the next round. Once I got there, I waited about five minutes before I heard my name called out, and due to me being the last one to audition, it was a surprise! I was the first one to be called out. It was all a bit surreal for me to know exactly what was going on, but I was excited as ever, and was one of about 50 contestants in Durban to make it through to the weekend workshop round. So I arrived home with good news for my family, who were all a bit confused as to what was going on (due to me not giving them much information before I left), but they were all so supportive and also knew this was something special.

      The next day, I arrived with lots of excitement, and we had to learn a hip-hop dance routine, a high school musical song, as well as sing our audition song from the first round, this time with the adjudicator panel and several TV cameras – not so easy anymore.

      I felt like I was in one of my dreams, as I had always watched shows like Idols and So you think you can dance and thought how awesome it would be to learn a dance routine and learn new songs.

      We had the Saturday to learn these numbers, were put into different groups and were taught the choreography. Fortunately my group was full of spunk and willing to work hard and eager to stand out from the crowd, which was obviously very important in this competition, as the judges weren’t fooled by people who were lazy or not taking the competition seriously. So, after lots of rehearsing, we ended the day on a high and were all excited for the final day of workshop, and to see who would make it into the top 40.

      The way it worked was that each group would dance for the judges, after which each one would come out and sing his or her audition song. Once that had happened, the judges would decide whether we were in or out. Out and we went home. In and we stayed for the next round which was later that

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