The Balaam Incident

I believe that the Lord has been intervening in my life in some curious ways. Sometimes, it appears as though He just wants me to know that He's listening and He hears me. Other times, there is an important and personal message for me. This is one such incident where I think He was just saying "hi" and was actually playing with me and my friend Lorraine. I don't know what other message to get out of it.

One day while on her way to work, Lorraine called me at my desk. I get to work a few minutes before she does. She had something on her mind and couldn't wait the few minutes longer it took her to arrive at the office to tell me. Lorraine is an elder in her church and she kept wondering if the phrase that was going around in her mind came from the Lord and whether or not she was to incorporate it into her message on Sunday. She called to ask me if it might be in scripture anywhere and if not, what the origin of the saying was. The phrase was, "the more things change, the more they stay the same." No, Lorraine, that's not in scripture. It is a common saying in the culture because it means just that, sometimes the more effort there is to change, the more they don't really change. The company has been going through major changes recently.

A few minutes later, Lorraine arrived in the office and we greeted each other and further discussed quietly how this might fit into her sermon on Sunday, and then got to work. It seems as though it was only 20 minutes later that the boss, from deep inside her office yelled out at the top of her voice and while joking with someone else in her office, "THE MORE THINGS CHANGE, THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME!!!" amid gales of laughter.

There is no way this boss could possibly have heard our discussion. We each flew out of our cubes and pointed to each other. "DID YOU HEAR THAT???" We could not believe what we heard. We have been referring to the boss as Balaam ever since, after the donkey that the Lord used to speak to His people. I'm still not sure what the message was. But it was as if the Lord tore the veil and poked through just to say "hi."

Although, since that day, there have been many changes and realignments in the company, we both still have our same jobs in our same cubicles.