There I was lying peacefully in my bed when I happened to look at the clock...6:53 am! While that isn't very early it happened to be just 7 minutes before my first meeting of the morning. And as happens when you discover your about to be late I received that adrenaline rush and jumped out of bed landing perfectly in front of my closet (almost). Actually I just jumped out of bed and began to hurriedly getting dressed.
I aroused Michelle as I hurried down the hall so that she could begin getting the rest of the family ready for church (it takes us that long to get ready for church in the morning). Somehow I managed to arrive just slightly late for my meeting. At the conclusion of the meeting I raced home to provide what little assistance I could to help the rest of the family get ready for church. As usual, Michelle had everyone ready and waiting, playing quietly in the living room. I swallowed a quick bite to eat, brushed my teeth (finally), and grabbed scriptures and church bag. In spite of our level of preparation we managed to arrived at church in time for the sacramental hymn.
As we walked in to our usual seat on the second row we noticed that there had been a change in our bishopric! The seat usually occupied by Brother Brienholt was by a distinguished looked gentleman that looked strangely familiar. We quickly took our seats. The hymn happened to be the hymn we have been practicing as a family this past week during our scripture reading in the morning, "God Loved Us, So He Sent His Son (Hymn #187).
Our boys sang the first verse of the hymn, sat quietly during the passing of the sacrament and then busied themselves playing games on our phones during the talks (presented by our new High Priest Group leadership). Each person shared a shortened talk obviously leaving time at the end of the meeting for our visitor, but having missed the announcements because we were late we had to wait until this mystery speaker was announced.
Finally it was announced that Elder Jay E Jensen of the Presidency of the Seventy would be our concluding speaker! No wonder he looked familiar!!! He shared some great thought is just a few minutes. The main idea that I received from his talk was the parable of the pearl and the box. This parable was originally related by Elder Boyd K Packer:“The parable: A merchant man seeking precious jewels found at last the perfect pearl. He had the finest craftsman carve a superb jewel box and line it with blue velvet. He put his pearl of great price on display so others could share his treasure. He watched as people came to see it. Soon he turned away in sorrow. It was the box they admired, not the pearl.” (Boyd K. Packer, “The Cloven Tongues of Fire,” Ensign, May 2000, 7)
Elder Jensen then related several examples of how we, as church members "admire the box" instead of "the pearl." Several examples, as I remember them include the following: Boy scout camp and girls camp activities are the box, the spiritual experiences are the pearl. The church buildings are the box, the gospel is the pearl. The temple is the box, Jesus is the pearl.
After the closing prayer, an eloquent oratory by Michelle, we expected the chapel to rush our position on the second row to shake the hand of this visiting General Authority. Surprising, we were not stampeded and we took advantage of our position to let each boy (except Quinten) to shake Elder Jensen's hand. After shaking the hands of the three speakers Elder Jensen came down from the stand and stopped at our row as we were trying to clean-up and repack our things.
Elder Jensen had some nice things to say to us as he surveyed our five boys and related his experience, having had 4 boys and 2 girls of his own and more than a dozen grand baby boys. He then asked my name and gave me a hug. It was a special experience to have those few special moments with someone of such spiritual stature. Both Michelle and I were able to feel a special spirit this morning.
Apparently Elder Jensen was originally scheduled for a large area training for the Eastern United States. But due to excessive snow those member's church meetings had been cancelled, freeing up Elder Jensen's Sunday. He had intended to visit a Spanish Ward in our area (not our stake) only to discover they were having ward conference. And having been acquainted with a previous stake presidency and thus being somewhat familiar with our ward/stake building he decided to visit us instead. We certainly feel blessed that the Lord would go through such great lengths to guide this servant to our ward to visit with me and my family (I'm just sure that's exactly why it happened...).
Regardless of the reasons or circumstances, this was a truly wonderful surprise visit from Elder Jensen. Once we got home we pulled out the recent Conference Ensign and showed the boys a picture of Elder Jensen and we had the opportunity to explain the various levels of church leadership (based on the row their picture happened to be in). What a fabulous Sabbath day.
