Don't ask how it happened. Perhaps it's the accumulation of stress-related events lined up one after the other in this assembly line of crises. The problem with that scenario is that I haven't had a stressful day at the office since I arrived in Arizona a month and a half ago. I am sure those days will arrive in due time, but for now I have enjoyed every moment of my short stint at the conference office.
Perhaps then it was the back to back meetings. Yesterday I was, as previously mentioned in yesterday's entry, responsible for the Education Board. But it was an uneventful and routine meeting. In fact, as I recall, I scheduled myself for the devotional that opened the meeting. Perhaps that best explains the awkward moment at the start of today's Executive Board Meeting.
You might benefit from a brief explanation regarding the Executive Board. The Executive Board is the equivalent of the presidential chiefs of staff, except with legislative powers and judicial authority. They are the top of the administrative food chain in the conference administrative structure. They trump the president, the secretary, and the treasurer. As a matter of protocol, the president of the conference chairs the committee but, by definition, cannot make a motion or vote unless there is a tie vote. In other words, this meeting made yesterday's meeting marginal. Yesterday I was in charge, although the president chaired that committee as well. Today I was a mere invitee to be called upon to report to the Executive Board about my department. I was a bit anxious, but not stressed. Then it happened.
The meeting began with brief and humorous remarks by the president. I was relaxing with the Communication Director and the Director of Literature Ministries, when I the following words emanated from the mouth of the chairman of the Executive Board-- "Well, Ruben, come share your devotional thoughts with us." He spoke the words with conviction and confidence a friend would have in someone who would certainly respond.
My initial reaction was to laugh it off as a joke. After all, the president is known to have a wry sense of humor. What could be funnier than putting the newly appointed Superintendent of Education on the spot with an off the cuff remark about leading the group in an unannounced devotional thought. "Very funny!" I thought the words to myself and almost let them escape from my lips. But then a sinking feeling enveloped me immediately as I recalled a request made a couple of weeks ago to prepare, in fact, a devotional thought for the Executive Board of the Arizona Conference Corporation of Seventh-day Adventists. "What better way," I recalled him saying, "to have the committee get to know their new superintendent. A silent Charlie Brown-like "Aaaaaarrrrgh!" resonated in my ears like the sound of a thousand fire alarms being set off simultaneously.
I grabbed my folder and began to rise and move towards the front of the room. I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me on the spot. I was not prepared-- at all. I had forgotten my first duty at the most inopportune time. I must have been in a state of post-traumatic, temporary insanity due to a break in my space continuum. I walked slowly but deliberately and stood before the group of well-dressed and obviously well-educated leaders of this state-wide organization. I am almost certain that if there was a psychologist amongst them, she or he may have noticed the shifting eyes and nervous twitches. The rest is a mental blur and a miracle of God wrapped up in one.
I began talking, but not really speaking. I remember saying something about Noah and the ark and animals and the long time he may have been cooped up in the ark with hundreds, if not thousands, of animals. I suddenly and clumsily segued to a reference about being uncomfortable in the water and about having a dis-taste for water travel. How that fit in with anything prior or following is beyond me. I was groping for something to hang on to, as perhaps those outside the ark during the deluge. Before I knew it I had segued again to a disconnected reference to the possible reason why I was so ambivalent about water travel. I was sinking fast. Maybe that was the flood reference connection.
Then the miracle! I was inexplicably impressed to latch on to a story about Pathfinders, kids, water, and common causes. The words began to flow with ease and with conviction. By the end of my short story the message, albeit totally unrelated by any reasonable stretch of narrative liberties, became clear to all in the room. We were there for one reason and one reason alone-- to draw souls to the Savior. Unless we see all our plans and activities through the prism of that task, then we are destined to spin our wheels in the muck and mire of contention and controversy. What a waste of time, energy, and resources.
I closed with prayer as if at the end of a full sermon. It didn't matter that prayer was another separate item on the agenda. I just prayed for the task before us, as a committee and as a people.
Boy, am I glad God is good! I think I now know how Peter felt, except without the walking on the water part....
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