A couple of Sunday's ago, a discussion was held in Elders Quorum. The lesson was Missionary Work, taken directly from the Gospel Principles manual. Unlike many quorums of which I've been a part, our quorum is fairly robust, both in numbers and discussion levels. Sometimes it seems as though the comments stemming from one question, bounce from one person to the next, each one attempting to outdo the other in it's level of spirituality. I was lucky enough to be a witness to one such event. The experience reminded me of what Joseph Smith remarked on his own experience in having his visions-if he hadn't witnessed them, he probably wouldn't have believed it himself (paraphrase).
I looked at my watch and it was a couple of minutes until two o'clock. However, seeing time still available, the teacher asked a question about our responsibility to warn our neighbors, since it is apparently anathema to end class a couple of minutes early. The comments started flowing like the salmon of Capistrano: One person talked about inviting their neighbors over for family home evening. Following that remark, someone talked about overcoming his anxiety (and probably legal implications) in sending gospel-related messages to a particular co-worker. I think a mission story was thrown in there for good measure. I thought, "well, you can't top those comments, they're pretty good." But, alas, I was wrong. Next came the zenith of all comments.
Note that this was immediately following the news that Osama Bin Laden had received a bullet through the head. A guy toward the front raised his hand. Sensing the moment, he looked back to the quorum. With the poise of a professional, he let everyone know that, upon hearing of Bin Laden's demise, the VERY FIRST thing he thought about was how Bin Laden never had the opportunity to hear the gospel. I almost laughed out loud thinking it was a joke, but alas, it was serious business.
That's right, this guy just pulled a Kirk Gibson circa 1988. Bottom of the ninth, this dude dug deep and proceeded to knock it out of the park. Game over. There was no topping that comment. I mean, c'mon, what could you say to that? I was blown away. I looked around the room to see if anyone else realized what just happened. This guy just commented that the second after hearing Bin Laden had died, he was saddened that he hadn't received the discussions. You can't top that level of spirituality. Since the class was already 5 minutes over, no other utterance was spoken, save the closing prayer. Well played, sir... well played...
