The Ficus Crisis and Thensome

It was only 108 degrees today. Tomorrow promises to be a bit warmer with thunderstorms arriving on Wednesday. The news around the office revolved around the intervention needed to rescue the conference atrium tree from imminent collapse. One day it was growing, tall and robust, to the admiration of all visitors who came to conference office. Then suddenly half the tree began to sag terribly and was in danger of breaking off and possibly causing the permanent demise of the entire tree. The tree doctors were summoned immediately and were supposed to arrive expeditiously and intervene on Thursday. The day came and went without any intervention other than a couple of makeshift straps and sticks put in place possibly by office personnel and intended to delay the inevitable.
The office is closed on Fridays. No intervention took place over the weekend, since the tree doctors honor the conference schedule. The tree was on its own for Sabbath and Sunday. It obviously rested on Sabbath. When we arrived on Monday morning we were startled to see tree resemble a weeping willow and not the proud Ficus tree that once stood in its place. It had obviously been praying since Sabbath. Half the tree was now languishing and listing to one side. The branches were actually resting on the floor as if it had been kneeling on its own behalf. I was concerned the tree was beyond help.
The tree intervention specialists arrived suddenly during the morning worship time for the office staff. They got to work immediately and worked for a considerable amount of time. They put down some wooden stakes. They pounded in some metal stakes. They trimmed. They tied down certain sections of the tree to the stakes. Week branches were secured to others stronger ones. The trunk that had sagged under its own weight was strapped to its twin trunk that was still standing straight.
By late morning the tree looked totally different. It looked majestic and strong. It once again became the main attraction of the atrium. (There are the baby fish that suddenly arrived last week, but you have to actually look for those little black beauties behind the rock reef in the fish pond.) You can't miss the Ficus tree! Yes, the straps and the stakes can be seen, like a labyrinth of metal, rubber, wood, and hope. But the tree had been saved!
I don't know how everyone missed the signs of deterioration before it got to such a critical state. Once the collapse took place the comments regarding what should have been done were many. Yet nothing was done until the tree went into shock. There's a lesson in there somewhere. In fact, there are some very intentional decisions regarding Thunderbird (and the entire Adventist educational system) that will have to take place soon that will require "out of the box" thinking and bold action. They probably should have taken place long before-- before the system began to list under its own weight. The intervention will not be conventional. Conventional wisdom is not enough. Prayerful and visionary decisions are needed. It will be the only intervention that will shock the system back into homeostasis (my word of the day). Nonetheless it will be exciting to see how the intervention will develop and how the results will unfold. I'm excited about the possibilities. Stay tuned to this developing story. Back to work! Keep on praying!