My Humiliating, Embarrassing, Ego-Bruising, Culture-Shocked, Bubble-Bursting Moment

I haven't written in a few days because I've been recovering. I don't even know how to explain this without writing a novel, so here's the facts:

• I was the guest speaker at a creché (kindergarten) graduation on Saturday out in a township (this is a story in itself as they printed the programmes with my name written down as the guest speaker before they even asked me, so I didn't really have a choice!)
• I am not a public speaker (I am not afraid of being in front of a crowd at all; I just... don't do public speaking)
• I worked really hard on this address - I prayed, I studied, I dug deep in the Bible, I practiced, I made sure my illustrations were culturally relevant, I even endured an ant attack at the Botanical Gardens working on this speech - and I was ready!
  
• I was asked to speak for 15 - 30 minutes.
  
• I was ten minutes into my speech when a woman walked up and whispered something to the interpreter. After another minute or so the interpreter turned to me (I was expecting her to translate what I just said) and said, "The parents say they are bored and can you please stop talking?"

Now what would you do if you had poured your heart into this and were stopped - on stage - by the interpreter? It gets even worse - one of the parents went back to the pastor and asked him to cut me off. He refused. There was also a lady sitting right in front of me making lovely gestures to get me to stop. I somehow ended my speech in a few minutes, cutting most of it short (I had to bring it to an end semi-gracefully, right?).

Dan assures me that I wasn't actually boring. The pastor apologised... but I still had a wounded ego for the rest of the day. I didn't ask to be the guest speaker, but I gave it my best. Ever have one of those "What's up with that, Lord?" moments?

I confess I'm still smarting from it two days later (just a little), but I realised something: Jesus didn't always get a great reception when He spoke, either. Or Paul. Or Stephen. Or many other Bible greats. I am not comparing myself to them, but if they, who were great orators, sometimes got a less-than-ideal response, who am I to think that people should thank me for speaking, or even listen to me? It is humbling, to say the least (on the plus side, they didn't stone me!)

So the moral of the story is.... um... that's a hard one. Maybe the whole point is just to be obedient to God and leave the outcome to Him. I don't really need to know the answers; I just need to obey. (But Lord? Please don't ask me to do any more public speaking!)