Friday, October 31, 2008

God counts

On Wednesday I had to unravel a mighty mess of financial chaos (invoices, fee allocations, budgets, extended budgets, actual cost etc.) for a project that our firm has been undertaking for the last 16 months. Needless to say a tediously nit-picky nightmarish job for which I grossly lacked the mental capacity and physical energy. Also a job with a deadline. 

In my last year of high school, after many extra classes and years of mathematical abuse I switched from higher grade to standard grade. My sister is the maths genius and human calculator. I’m ok with that. I don’t feel like a lesser person or insignificant when I say: Hi, my name is Lisi and I suck at maths. The Bible says you will know the truth and it will set you free.

Back to Wednesday, it was clear that only divine intervention could get me to the balancing side of the spreadsheet. So I closed my office door and sent God an emergency plea. In faith, I reached for my calculator and the 20-inch file and double-clicked on Excel. 

The next hour was a blur. I vaguely remember directors and colleagues coming into my office and then promptly leaving after seeing what must have looked like a scary sight. Papers were flying, financial statements and reports covered the floor and walls, numbers were being rapidly punched, head was being scratched while all sorts of figures hovered around it. A wild and far-away look was the inaudible tone that made people halt at the door and swiftly retreat. 

The end result: BALANCE. The most beautiful word in accounting. 

My boss was totally impressed and wanted me to create a “template” for this sort of thing to which I confessed that I had help from above. 

Maybe this would have been easy for other people to do, but for me, it was a miracle and a God moment!

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