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Yesterday in sacrament meeting, after the second speaker had finished her talk, a surprising thing happened. A young man in his 20’s stood up at the front of the chapel and began to speak about his father. He was wearing a t-shirt with “Arkansas” across the front.
This young man has Down’s syndrome, but spoke loudly and clearly enough for all to hear. I believe he is a member of the church who shows up only now and then for brief periods.
Through intermittent tears, he spoke of his father, and how his father had run out on him and his mother when he just a boy.
He said he didn’t know where his father was now, but that he had forgiven his father.
He said he wanted to wish his father a Happy Father’s Day.
The bishopric was obviously becoming agitated, and after about five-minutes, the counselor conducting stood up and went to the lectern to say something, but right at that instant, the young man finished and walked up the aisle and out of the chapel.
The meeting then proceeded on schedule with the Primary children getting up to sing some songs about how wonderful their fathers are.
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After the meeting was over, I approached the bishopric member who had been conducting the meeting. He is a good guy. I told him that I was impressed with what the young man had said, and he agreed.
I told him the experience reminded me of Jurassic Park. He asked how. I said that in Jurassic Park, there was an island full of dinosaurs that had been genetically engineered with frog DNA to not be able to reproduce . . . and yet they had reproduced. Malcolm commented, “Nature finds a way.”
I said that in the LDS Church we schedule our sacrament meetings so completely as to keep the Spirit from manifesting, but in spite of our best efforts, “The Spirit finds a way.”
It was the most worthwhile sacrament meeting I have been to in years.
All the Best!
–Consiglieri
wow ! that’s neat ! befriend that young man if you can ! I’m lucky, my parents had a good marriage, but there are so many other things wrong amongst close relatives and family. I have a cousin who divorced her wife after she became bedridden and paralyzed. Much of the family was disgusted by that, and I had to listen to my aunt once ranting about how evil this woman was and how she used her illness. It made me very uncomfortable. I’ve heard some excellent testimonies in the past year from a African with long dreadlocks and a strong accent, a girl who wears jeans and has short hair (she gives her testimony regularly, and has virtually reactivated her family – she was at the temple recently), and a guy who was inactive for twenty years and is openly a member of the AA.
That’s awesome, Consig. I’m glad that happened. I love it when the Lord speaks through unexpected means, pushing religiosity aside to allow room for spirituality.
Wow! What a cool event. I am particularly fascinated by randomness and spontaneity like that. I would definitely think of that as God speaking, in a way. So many things to consider and ponder. What a beautiful declaration of forgiveness and healing!
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