Message Balls Blog

My lessons on learning and growing were turned up a couple of notches when a national emergency suddenly changed everything. As the world looked to technology for ways to communicate, not only across the continents but now from across the street at a pace never seen before, my limited technical knowledge was quickly stretched way beyond my comfort zone. An intense spurt of communication with God, or a meltdown before the Lord, as I called it, quickly reminded me that there’s still no technology needed to communicate with God. When an answer I received from the Lord gave me a reason to eagerly pursue the challenge, I couldn’t resist.

When the church hosting our Bible study suddenly closed because of COVID-19, we were only a few weeks from finishing the year. Wanting to complete the few lessons left in the study, our Teaching Director asked if I’d come to her house to video her lectures and then upload them to an internet site for the class to view from their homes. Though we’d talked about adding video to our audio recordings, I hadn’t yet looked into it. But when the tech on my team said we could borrow her daughter’s video camera, I gave myself a crash course on how to use it by reading the manual, and off I was to video the teaching director. I also went to the home of the scheduled Opening Speaker and recorded what she had to share. The worship leader recorded herself singing and playing guitar with her phone and sent me the file via an internet transfer site. Transferring large files was the one thing I was already familiar with from my graphics business. I also discovered my computer had come with video editing software, and I learned how to use it by watching Youtube videos. I found out I could learn just about anything on Youtube, including how to upload videos to Youtube. I even learned how to overlay the lyrics on the song videos so the ladies could sing along at home. The Children’s ministry also started telling their Bible stories to the kids via video and sending them to me to upload with the others. As happy as we were to be able to complete our lessons for the year this way, we were all looking forward to being back together at the church in the Fall for our next study.

During the summer break, when it didn’t look like the church would be reopening in the Fall, the Teaching Director began looking to the Zoom video conferencing internet program as a way for our class to be together. I was glad to hear others in the Leaders group were counseling her because I knew nothing about Zoom. Once she decided to conduct our class on Zoom, I got a call and was asked if I’d be the Zoom tech. I thought she’d be better off with those already involved who knew Zoom, so I first said, “No.” But afterward, I felt really guilty. As happy as I was not to do it, at the same time, I felt like I was letting the Teaching Director down. And the thought of letting God down seemed too much to bear, which brought on my meltdown before the Lord. I started listing all the things throughout my journey with God that had taken me way out of my comfort zone. In a highly frustrated tone, I said, Lord, I’ve learned all that tech stuff; the soundboard, adjusting microphones for the music team, PowerPoint, and operating the screens. I learned how to teach the children Bible stories. I even took singing lessons! And now Zoom?! After getting it all out, I calmly said, “I just want to be left alone and write my book.” Then I heard His quiet voice in my heart say, “This is your book.” How could I say no to that? So, I decided I would do whatever I was asked to do if I was asked, which I was.

Before the new study year began, we were asked to think of a word we would want the other leaders to pray for us and to be prepared to say the word aloud in our first meeting. The plan was to write down the one-word prayers as we heard them and then pray throughout the year for each one to receive them. I spent the week trying to think of a word but didn’t have one until I was called upon to say my word. Then it came to me . . . Able. I told them, “I just want to be able to fulfill my ministry duties and to have the ability to do what’s needed.”

As it turned out, Zoom was easier than going to people’s houses to video them. I could record directly on Zoom, and the files were saved on my computer. Singing and playing guitar didn’t sound well on that platform, though. So the worship leader continued recording herself and sending me the video to play on Zoom. When she started missing the other two she usually sings with, we met at her house so I could video them together and then played the video on Zoom, which worked out pretty well.

There came a time when I realized how much I was responsible for and began to worry about what they would do if I couldn’t start the class for some reason. What would happen if I was to get sick or even if I had computer trouble? I started thinking I should have a backup, someone they could go to. I checked with my tech teammates and was told one was recovering from major surgery, and the other was busy with family needs. So, I went to God for help and asked, “Lord, what am I going to do about a backup?” He answered me with a simple question that had me questioning my faith. He said, “If I’m enabling you, why would you need a backup?” After that sunk in, I thought, “Yeah, why would I need a backup if God is enabling me?” So I continued doing everything I was asked to do. I started to relax and even began to get creative. I learned how to do a funny video with a countdown timer that cued the worship leader to start us off by introducing the song. Hearing the ladies’ reactions to my video countdown encouraged me to do even more.

Then one night, I had a dream that I believed was telling me things had changed and it was time to have a backup. I dreamt I was at my cousin’s house, a house I hadn’t ever been to, either in my dream or real life. It was a large house, and I had slept there overnight. When I woke up, there was no one there. I went from room to room and found myself alone in this house. When I looked at the clock, it was almost time for me to start the Virtual Bible study class. I looked around for my purse, and I couldn’t find it. I had no keys to drive home where my computer and everything were set up to start the class. I didn’t even have my phone to call and tell someone I couldn’t begin the class. It seemed so real, but when I woke up, I was relieved that it was just a dream and that I hadn’t missed Bible study.

After thinking about it, I couldn’t remember the last time I had a dream, especially one I could remember so clearly. I even told Jim about it. Could God be telling me it was time for a backup? That question was answered soon after the dream when the timing of something else I’d long awaited coincided with the last class of the year, which meant I would need a backup. I’ll tell you about that next time.

To be continued . . . see Decision-Row

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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 25th, 2023 at 3:06 pm and is filed under The road to the greater life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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