In the Garden

The beauty of the garden caught me off guard. After all this was a small town in the Midwest North Country where the growing season is short and the opportunities for prosperity limited. I had lunched with my friend Betsy in a small café right on the main street and then she gave me a tour of the town, all of which could be accomplished in less than five minutes. That was when “the garden” caught my eye. It was so beautiful and in many ways a bit out of place as it stood in a residential area and took up one lot….a lot where a home should be.

In the center of the garden was a lovely stone pavilion, circular in shape and held up by four stone pillars. Pathways entered from three sides and around the park were six benches. These were not your average park benches, but ones made by a true craftsman, unique in design and sturdy in form.

And then there were the flowers and shrubs, all planted with an eye for peace and serenity and there were occasional large boulders also expertly placed for design and beauty. Truly it looked a little bit like heaven on earth.

Betsy parked the car and we began to walk around. On each bench was a plaque dedicated to a different young person whose name, date of birth and death were solemnly engraved. When I entered the pavilion the whole story came into focus as there on the wall was the story of the event that happened on that very spot.

Four years earlier a house stood right where I was standing. It was graduation night and seven kids gathered there to celebrate with pizza and fun. One of the girls had broken up with her boyfriend just days before and on this night, filled with jealous anger, he arrived at the party with an assault rifle. Moments later six young people lay dead, the seventh critically injured. Days later he himself would be hunted down and shot dead.

In the twinkling of an eye, daily life in this small town was changed forever. Everyone knew all of the victims, in fact most everyone was related to at least one of them. In that small town probably the biggest crime ever committed was kids throwing eggs at passing cars. But on this night hell and all its evil made a visit and seven young promising lives were gone forever. What was left was shock, disbelief, sorrow and despair.

So what does one do with such devastation? Build a garden. The house was torn down and with it the constant reminder of the horror that took place that night. And in its place, a Garden. New birth. Beauty. Peace. Comfort. Hope.

I was reminded once again of the deep longing within us to return to the Garden…to that safe place where sin is not allowed to enter, that place where there are no tears or sorrow. That place where God is. But this earth is not heaven, for the present it belongs to Satan and will until Christ comes back. That Garden is a reminder of both…the battle on earth with pure evil and the hope of heaven and pure joy. In the meantime God occasionally gives us small glimpses …a garden….a reminder…this is not our home.

And the Lord sent him out from the Garden of Eden…
Genesis 3:23

The World of Idiots

When I was a child I was never allowed to call anyone an idiot. Webster says the word means a “mentally deficient person who is permanently incapable of rational conduct or a very stupid person.” It seems to me there are a growing number of such people. In fact a couple of years ago I was involved in an incident that convinced me the world is full of them.

I was on an entrance ramp coming onto an eight lane highway. As I neared the top, the traffic came to a complete stop. I waited and nothing happened. Soon I heard a police car roaring down the shoulder of the highway, turned onto the left lane and came to a stop behind a cranberry colored Ford Explorer. And there I waited for many minutes as the car refused to move and the police lights kept flashing.

“Idiot”, I said under my breath. This guy would not budge even though those lights kept going. I waited a bit longer growing more and more frustrated with this guy in the Explorer reviewing in my mind the sin of man and how this guy was the worst of the worst. He had no compassion. Perhaps there were people lying wounded and dying in the road just ahead desperately needing an officer and yet Mr. Explorer refused to move his car.

I was ready to jump out and drag him out of his car myself, so enraged at the gall, the inconsiderateness, the unwillingness to consider there was a CRISIS up ahead, when all of a sudden I heard the policeman take serious steps to get him to move.

A loudspeaker bellowed. “Please move to the right!” “There…that should get him!” I thought, but still he didn’t budge. Again the loudspeaker came on, with greater firmness and urgency. “Please move to the right! Please move your car to the right!!” Everyone within hearing distance would have moved to the right but our IDIOT would not!

“Please move your Four Runner to the right!” The voice came again. I thought the policeman must not know his cars very well because THAT car was an Explorer.

Again, and this time the color of the car was added to the command. “PLEASE MOVE YOUR TAN FOUR RUNNER TO THE RIGHT!!!!” Tan Forerunner? The idiot was driving a cranberry Explorer. How could the police make such a horrible mistake. And then I glanced in the rear view mirror only to see an ambulance right behind me and my tan Four Runner directing ME to MOVE my car to the right!!!

As it turns out, there was only ONE idiot on the scene and that was me. The police was stopped behind the guy in the Explorer because that car and several others had been involved in an accident. I was the person incapable of rational behavior .

I moved my car to the right.

And I looked in the mirror. And there I saw a profound truth.

Do not judge others who might have a splinter in their eye until you have taken the huge jumbo log out of your own eye. Those words are Jesus’ idea because He created us and knows full well that at any given moment we are all capable of being idiots… totally incapable of rational thought

Just In Time

Jerry is a friend of ours who manages The Athens’s Boat Club, a small private lake community. He wears a hundred hats, taking care of all the tens of acres of lawns, the pavilion, the streets and water supply, the downed trees, the gas dock, the administrative work and about everything else that takes place there. There is nothing he can’t handle.

A couple weeks ago he was weed-eating, while a short distance away, Manuel, Jerry’s right hand man, was cutting wood with a chain saw. Jerry disturbed a bee hive and was stung by a couple of angry bees. He had been stung many times before but this time was different and he immediately began to experience serious affects. His body weakened and he fell to the ground into a red ant bed. He tried to call to Manuel but his voice was not loud enough over the sound of the chain saw. One last time his forced himself to make a sound, knowing he was loosing consciousness and perhaps his life. And then a miracle happened. At that very moment just in time, the chain saw broke and Manuel was able to hear Jerry’s weak call as he slipped into a coma.

The paramedics arrived in record time and after a short hospital stay Jerry was back at work. He says it was a miracle, a TRUE miracle that the chain saw broke at the very second he need help. He shutters to think what would have happened if God had not intervened just- in- time.

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There have been many times in ministry that we have experienced our Just In Time God. Though none are quite as dramatic as Jerry’s incident still they are always reminders that God is in our business and He is the great provider.

This past spring was one of those times. Women’s Ministry Leaders were making decisions for the fall programs and we wanted them to know that The Amazing Collection was a viable option. We knew we had a small window in which to send promotional material to churches across the country who have never heard of the ministry or the studies we have produced, but we didn’t have a list of those churches nor did we know where to get one.

But our Just- In- Time God had already gone before us. Becca Shriver had graduated from college and was waiting to begin graduate school. AND she LOVED doing research! She literally fell into our ministry and began working immediately. I would have to laugh whenever I would pass her desk because she would have two computer screens going at once and could find anything and everything with lightening speed. Day after day she would do searches for the various denominations we knew would gain the most from the studies. So in a few days she had found all of the Presbyterian churches and also had contact names, emails and addresses. Then she would begin work on the Baptists, then Methodists followed by Independent churches and on and on until she had added thousands of contacts to our data base. She was with us just four months. She was invaluable. She was a God-send and she was just in time.

Habakkuk 2:3
The vision is set for an appointed time
But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.

Scooters and Sages

When I was in college my friend Rocky Driver had a Honda motor scooter. It was red and gold and easy to drive and went 50 miles an hour. I went to school year around but Rocky did not, choosing instead to take a break from the demands of student life during the summer months. While he was away I was allowed to use the scooter as I needed it. I loved it. I loved everything about it…the speed, the fun, the wind blowing through my hair (that was long before helmets took that thrill away!)

So for years following that time I have wanted a motor scooter. However, raising a family never allowed for extra funds to provide such a luxury. And quite truthfully my family never seemed to take me seriously.

I get up early most mornings, like 4:00 AM and my sixtieth birthday was no exception. As I crossed the living room I noticed a beautifully wrapped box sitting on the table and when I did, there was a motorcycle helmet!

I was not expecting a motor cycle helmet and had never asked for one. But Beloved appeared grinning from ear to ear and pointed to the garage. AND THERE IT WAS! My lifelong dream! It was dark green and white and beautiful and it was MINE!

And so dressed in pajamas I donned helmet and drove my new scooter out into the dark! It was thrilling to say the least. I drove down the drive way, up through the side woods, around the back, through the fruit trees and up the hill back to the garage! And then again and again laughing hysterically all the way!

Two days later Eleanor rode it around our property. She hit a rock and ended up on the ground with scrapes and bruises. Then I took it on the city streets. A car, impatient with my forty miles an hour, whizzed by me at sixty and the wind nearly knocked me off the road. Days later I tried quiet lanes and there I hit asphalt and sand and the scooter knocked me over scrapping my arms and legs. It was Beloved’s turn and he suffered the same fate. And at that point we had to admit that which we had refused to do. We were getting OLDER. Our balance was not as sharp. The scooter had to go.

And so on October 24, 2007 I GAVE UP and a “For Sale” sign was posted and days later my scooter and dream were gone.

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Two months ago a group of women including Eleanor and Linda, Board member Robin Rosebrough along with our production guru Kelle Ortiz and speaker Michelle Helms met to discuss Big Dream’s next venture. We are concerned about women in America. We are concerned about young women in America. We are troubled by the lies they are buying into and the choices they are making that have life long consequences. And we want to help.

We have studied and observed and interviewed and surveyed and there is one thing we know. We think differently. We are OLDER.

The younger generation can be intimidating to say the least. They are technologically savvy. They have a confidence that often prohibits them from accepting advice. They do not see things such as home and marriage and family in the same light. And so we have struggled to figure out just what to teach and how to teach it in a way that could be received.

Recently we revisited a Biblical truth. Older women (that’s us) ARE suppose to teach the younger women out of their wisdom and knowledge of God and His Word. There it is. True direction in an often untrue world.

So we are older. And no, we do not think the same. But we have lived longer and in doing so have gained something of value. Wisdom. Trust. Love. All from Jesus Christ.

And so we are pressing on with renewed excitement. We do have a message and it has nothing to do with the generations because it transcends time. God’s Word is TRUE and we can teach with great confidence from that platform. How we do it will be fresh and exciting because we know the message and we know the Messenger.

Yes we are older and though our balance isn’t as great, our passion for Christ and the women He brings us has not changed. In fact it has only grown with each passing year. So we won’t give up. There will be no letting the dream go….but simply a cry to God to help us, show us, give us all we need to find a way to reach women with the life-giving message that God has for them.

Titus 2:3-5
Older women likewise ….encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands that the Word of God may not be dishonored.

Prayer and the Plan

Prayer is an interesting thing. We pray with our own great plan in mind. I had prayed for years that our daughters would be used mightily by God. When they married, that prayer expanded to include the new son – in – laws. I asked that our children would be warriors for Christ. In my mind I knew exactly how that would be played out AND of course; they would all live next door! The prayer and the plan were good ones for sure.

So when Cameron, daughter number two, called with the news that they were leaving the youth pastorate and moving to L’Viv, Ukraine to minister there, it was not in my plan.
It is a tearing away of the flesh in many ways to send those you love off to foreign fields, knowing that you cannot just drive an hour and be in their presence. And Ukraine sounded like a strange culture only because it is different from ours. I was on this side of the ocean….and they were on the other many countries away. Though I hate to admit it, often fear would take over; fear for my children’s safety and fear for our grandchildren’s development.

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There is a great kindness in God that often catches us off guard. It is so very personal, so completely designed for us that we are shocked and reminded that yes, He does really KNOW us and as a good Father, shapes gifts that are full of the surprise of tender love.

One of those gifts arrived in the spring of 2007. I received a call from Eleanor Lewis. Marsha Crowe, the Women’s Ministry Director at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church had asked Eleanor and me to teach a Women’s Conference in Ludzk, Ukraine. We would fly into L’Viv, spend a day there and then drive the three hours to the conference.

Marsha had no idea my daughter lived in L’Viv but God did and He handed me the gift of an all-expense-paid visit complete with ministry opportunities and a shared experience with some great and wonderful women who accompanied us.

And so we landed in L’Viv and my family was waiting at the airport to meet us! We dined at their apartment and shared stories. Then Cameron became not only our hostess but also one of our drivers escorting us for the next several days to the conference and back again and her Ukrainian team mate served as my translator.

But God was not done giving. While at the conference I received another gift, one that was probably the most important one. I began to see clearly WHY God had sent them to Ukraine. They were doing a good work…warriors for Jesus Christ. They were seeing God open doors that seemed shut. They brought the hope of the gospel to those who were hopeless. They saw the Spirit of God move and change lives. They had become totally dependent on His leading. They had witnessed His provision and they were well aware of His great protection.

And I began to see that God was in the process of answering my prayer, not my plan.

So for one week, every moment with my daughter and her family was a treasure. And the opportunity to minister to the gracious women who attended the conference was wonderful. But by far the greatest gift was knowing God had heard, God had answered, God was working and God understood the mother’s heart.

Answered prayer and God’s plan: the winning combination.

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

Eyes Are Watching

Several years ago I had the privilege of meeting a Christian celebrity. He was a giant in my eyes as he had written many books that I had devoured and also had produced several teaching videos that I had watched over and over again. I was expecting someone who radiated love and kindness, warmth and perhaps some humor, certainly a touch or more of joy.

And yet the man I met was cold, self engrossed, distant from those who were his host and sour - nothing what I expected. I did not see Christ. I simply saw an ego-elevated man who believed he was to be served and admired for his work. It was not attractive. I wonder if he had any idea that eyes were watching and so disappointed in what they saw

A few years later I was honored by being in the presence of a woman who was a well know author and speaker. She was one of my heroes. I was sure I would meet an earthly angel, a woman of quiet dignity and charm, a woman who would embrace those she met and display the very radiance of Christ. Instead she was haughty, demanding, critical toward her husband and …well.. you get the picture. Did she have any idea that eyes were watching?

I have often thought it would be a great idea if I could first spend some time with those whose works I admire. I want to see above all else if they really believe what they write about and if they are willing to LIVE it. So much of the New Testament is a call to a lifestyle and a character that simply reflects the love, kindness, mercy and OTHER-CENTEREDNESS of Jesus Christ. I so want to see the REAL DEAL and I expect it from those celebrities who represent our faith and our God.

A few months ago I had the privilege to go to Israel for ten days with eighty seven other travelers. It was a fabulous trip and there were a few people in full time ministry who came along. In many ways they were celebrities in my eyes as they had achieved national prominence, some through music and some through preaching and writing. But this time I was not disappointed. The openness, loving kindness, genuine warmth and servant’s hearts was shown day after day. And joy was abundant. It was encouraging. It was heart warming. It was a beautiful example for everyone on the trip to follow. Eyes were watching and because of that we all were encouraged to be more like Christ.

I was in the airport with my Beloved having returned from an over seas flight. It was 5:30 AM and I had not slept in 24 hours. My hair was a mess, my clothes were wrinkled and we were in a slow line waiting to get through customs.

From out of the blue two young women made their way over to us and very excitedly asked if I was Pat Harley. They had done almost all of the Amazing Collection in their home church in Louisville, Kentucky and they had recognized me from the DVDs. Now truthfully I was shocked that they recognized me because not only am I ten years older but also because I am not at my best at 5:00 AM! But they were excited to meet me, as cute as could be and had so many good things to say about the Amazing Collection.

When they left it occurred to me that eyes are always upon us. No matter if we are a great celebrity or someone like me who simply professes Christ openly, eyes are upon us. Our neighbors, the grocery clerk, the hairdresser, all who we come in contact with every day are watching. Are they encouraged to be more like our Savior or are the disheartened by what they see?

But even more sobering are another set of eyes….the eyes of heaven. It is something worth remembering. After all it is Him we represent.

Psalm 11:4
The Lord’s throne is in heaven;
His eyes behold,
His eyelids test the sons of men

An Unexpected Gift

She was Russian and had married a good friend’s son. They had met overseas and had continued the relationship via email and now they were married and she was looking for a job. She had experience in bookkeeping and we needed a bookkeeper and so we hired her for one day a week. It was a good fit. She was detail oriented, a quiet and conscientious worker and lifted some of the burden from our office manager’s shoulders. And she spoke fluent Russian which didn’t seem to be a plus at first but later proved invaluable.

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Charlotte Reeves had adopted a Russian child and through that had become involved in Russian ministries. One day she sent me an email. CNLTV, a Russian Christian broadcasting company was looking for fresh programming. She thought they might be interested in The Amazing Collection and so I made the call to their US office and Mark Patterson, International Director of CNLTV. He was going to be at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention in two weeks and so we agreed to meet there.

CNLTV had a booth close to ours and so the meeting took place quickly. The cost would be $250 a program plus another $250 per program to cover translation costs. Being a mathematical genius, I figured it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and so told him we were not interested.

Several months later I was in my office and Yulia, our Russian bookkeeper came in and asked me if I had ever considered getting The Amazing Collection on a Russian broadcasting company. I told her of my experience with CNLTV and her eyes lit up. “Did you know I was the secretary to the president of CNLTV when I lived in Kazakhstan?” Of course that was new information!

“I think you should call them back and ask them to reconsider the price. And besides”, she added, “the translation would only cost a little over $16,000!”

That was a far cry from my imagined “hundreds of thousands of dollars”!

So I made the call. Once again I talked to Mark Patterson. He was kind and pleasant and seemed to be glad I had called. He said they were going to be choosing programming the very next day for the fall season and would be glad to consider The Amazing Collection! I asked if he wanted me to overnight some of the DVDs and he said he had some sitting on his desk! He had kept them from our meeting at the NRBC!!

Two days later he called back. They REALLY wanted our program and would also waive the program fee if we could please pay for the translation! I was shocked, dismayed and delighted all once…and so grateful to a God who works in the most creative ways!

The next day we received a call from a man who wanted to pay for all of those fees, and so we began a warm partnership with CNLTV. Through them The Amazing Collection has been shown to well over 100 nations in the Russian language over three different satellites.

As for Yulia, she ended up translating four of our workbooks into the Russian language. She has now followed her husband to Norway for extra schooling but she was a great gift to us. And who would have guessed that of all of her many gifts, it would be her Russian contacts and language that proved to be so abundantly helpful!

I Corinthians 2:9
Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor has entered the heart of man, The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.