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A Mess is a Blessing... Sometimes

 

This blog post is based on a true story that recently happened in a country I can’t mention. For various reasons, this country bans certain religious activities and I don’t want to get anyone in trouble so I will be using code language and keeping names or figures pretty vague. The outcome due to lack of organization behind it is so interesting I thought I’d share it with you. 

My personal contact (who’s an author) here in the U.S. visited a religious leader and group in this country last fall. Despite much opposition, they held a Sunday night “Meet the Author” event at a local university. Up until the last second they thought the event would be canceled because the American author believed in and represented a certain religion. Thankfully the event took place and was a huge success.

It wasn’t until months later that the local police told the religious leader in that country what happened. My author friend wondered that night why no police showed up at all. The local religious leader expected it and was surprised by their absence. It turned out that two days before the event, the “big boss” over religious affairs said to the police, “You must stop this event with the local religious leader and American author.” (The author’s name only mattered because he was a foreigner and the police have to be much more careful when foreigners are involved because they fear pressure from other governments.) So the police officer said, “I will shut them down but I want a written order,” thus covering himself in case things went badly. He was promised that the order would be delivered.

That weekend was a holiday in that country so many offices were closed. The police officer never received the order and said he called everywhere and no one knew where the order was to close down the event. It never arrived so the police just ignored the event, which was attended by 400-500 students. Here’s the kicker. The officer told the religious leader what had really happened. When the officer arrived at his office on Monday morning, the order was on his desk. But it didn’t matter because the event had already happened. The policeman couldn’t figure it out. The order that was supposed to stop them was “lost” all weekend and then showed up on the officer’s desk a day too late.

It’s interesting that a messy desk and disorganization in this police station helped my friend’s event to take place and move forward without a glitch. Sometimes disorganization is a blessing in disguise and even Providentially orchestrated!

 

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