The Invitation

The word “invitation” implies that you are wanted, and that there is going to be something good, a future blessing. An invitation to the prom can immediately alleviate a young girl’s fears that she will be left out. An invitation to the boss’s house for dinner says you are accepted. After all, few are fired from their jobs in that environment. An invitation to a wedding means that you have a friend who wants to include you in an important family event. And an invitation to meet with one of the most respected Christian publishers in America means that you have a product worthy of their time!

And so it was on December 9, 2003 that Sally Shriver, a board member and an invaluable asset to the ministry, boarded a plane for Colorado Springs with invitation in hand to meet with the editors and other team members of Navpress, the publishing division of The Navigators.

From the moment we pulled out of my driveway I sensed the presence and blessings of God Himself. The plane to Denver International was full except for the seat between the two of us so we were able to spread out a bit. We were met at the airport by my sister and her husband who treated us to a delicious lunch.

Then we rented a car that was so fun to drive that even the trip to Colorado Springs from Denver was true joy not to mention breathtakingly beautiful. Though the land was covered with snow the roads were clear so we southern girls thought we were getting a little taste of heaven as every where we looked were mountains and majesty.

It was dark when we arrived at Glen Erie, a lovely castle like structure that was built in the late eighteen hundreds and is now a part of the Navigators Ministry and there we spent the next two nights.

The next day we met with the Navpress Team. Dan Rich greeted us at the door and took us on a tour of the building. Every room had stellar views of the surrounding environment of broad vistas and tall mountains. And then he ushered us into a room of about ten people,

At this point we had no idea what to expect. We had been invited, we knew they were interested in The Amazing Collection but apart from that we knew nothing. And so we tried very hard to appear poised and confident, but inside we were scared and fearful and anxious.

Dan began the meeting by directing each of the team members to go around the room and give their impressions of The Amazing Collection. They had certainly done their homework as each one spoke with a familiarity of the study, both the DVDs and the workbook.

And it was at this point that we were blown away. THEY LOVED IT!

We had been in production for two years and even still we were only half way through the project. During that time we had never had any “professional” look at the study with an eye for ministry usefulness. Oh, we had all of our friends look at it and of course they loved it…but then they were our friends and totally prejudiced so their opinions couldn’t be totally trusted. But here were ten PROFESSIONALS who knew the publishing market inside and out, who spent every day going through scripts and books and proposals…and they really, really thought our work was excellent!

I wanted to put my head down on the table and cry for joy. Of course I DID NOT do this because I was trying so hard to look poised and confident…but inside I felt like falling on my face before the Throne of Grace in thanksgiving for a God who had done it all and then gone before us with such blessings that my heart could hardly contain them all!

Two days later when we walked out of those offices with a promised contract and we WERE confident! God had assured us that all of the time and effort over the last two years was worth it all and that He would use it for His glory. We didn’t know how, but we knew that He would.

An Invitation….a Blessing….A Future….

And the Lord offers us an invitation:

Isaiah 55:1-2

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Isaiah 55:1-2

The Edit

Edit: to prepare by selecting individual sections and arranging them in sequence.

I like that word. I wish it pertained to life. It allows the editor (person who edits) the ability to place things in a way that is the most understandable. So if I could do that with life, then I would place the end at the beginning of most all of the trials I have known so that it would be easier to understand the “why”. It would relieve much worry and hand wringing.

Then there are those times when unkind words escape from my lips and land on the ear of some unsuspecting soul. I would simply edit those out and no harm would be done. So for sure, editing life would be a good deal and greatly enhance one’s time here on earth.

*****************************************************

With every teaching session of The Amazing Collection there had to be some film editing. Each teacher was responsible for editing their own section. We would go to Soteria Productions and sit for hours with Shane Ortiz and cut and paste film bits on a computer until our eyes and ears were rendered useless! We would stagger out blurry eyed and tired but with the hope that all of the cutting and pasting had somehow made things more understandable and…well…better. It was a job I hated. It required details and I am so not into that.

On some occasions we would turn to Eleanor for help. Eleanor was the best at it and is to this day. We have recently completed our twelfth filmed study, Invincible Love/Invisible War and she volunteered (perhaps not by choice) to do all of the editing for those six thirty-five minute sections. She is an absolute whiz as an editor and can find the smallest error and then can figure out how to fix it. I think she is a miracle worker!

The week on December 4, 2002 was one of those “nothing can go wrong” weeks. We had received an invitation to fly to Colorado Springs, Colorado to meet with some of the big people” at Navpress, a Christian Publishing company. We were thrilled beyond words and Sally Shriver and I had been chosen to be the Big Dream Representatives for the trip. We were all pretty much overwhelmed with all God had done to make that trip possible.

Then out of the blue we received an enormous donation of $150,000 to be given to Big Dream over a period of a year. The first check for $50,000 had arrived that week giving us a huge cushion in the bank account. We were sailing alone lapping up the wind God was blowing our way.

About mid week Shane sent me an opener clip for the Early Minor Prophets. I had done these openers for all of the different sets. Though I never had a written script, I would have in my mind what I wanted to say so would just sit down, say it, get up and not give it another thought. On this day I was sitting in my house watching this little clip, just reviewing what I had said and suddenly realized I had left out a significant part! This does not sound like a big deal but we were in the process of editing. The filming had been done weeks ago. There was no turning, no refilming at this point.

So the beatings began. You know what I mean (unless you are one of my perfect friends!). You don’t need for anyone to tell you how stupid you are. You do it to yourself and with every word uttered within your soul there is another “stripe across its back”.

And so in broken humility I sat down with Shane to see what we could do. As far as I was concerned it was all hopeless. But Shane saw things through the eyes of an editor. He began to move a little piece of my talk to another place, then another part put somewhere else and added some of the extra footage that we had taken.

“Finished!”, he said after a few minutes and we reran the film. And there I was looking at the camera and…I WAS MAKING SENSE! I actually looked and talked with some intelligence! And like Eleanor, Shane also proved himself to be a miracle worker.

I wrote in my journal that day, “ God continues to pour out upon us gracious kindness and abundant mercy.” Mercy! Kindness! Both given to those who need it the most.

Ephesians 2:4

But God being rich in mercy because of His great

love with which He loved us..”