Oh dear! I was “called on the carpet” this week. I was mistaken when I said my mother’s older sister was 94 years old. She let me know that she is not 94! I was wrong…please forgive me Aunt Rosa. So…to be very careful, I’ll just let it stand that you are my mother’s wise, beautiful, spunky older sister…I know she misses her siblings terribly…no one with whom to share those China childhood memories. (My mother, was born in China and lived there until she was 18 years old when she went off to Wheaton College.) When mother was nearing heaven Aunt Rosa came to visit and they spent hours talking about China – such a happy childhood for them. Mother loved China, the Chinese people and all things pertaining to China.
I had a great trip to Ashland Seminary this week in Ashland, Ohio. They have a program called, Women in Dialogue, and asked me to come speak for them. It was a full house…I spoke of my faith journey, the good, the bad and the ugly, then answered questions and signed books. Everyone was so warm – I had a great time. The next day I had the delight to finally meet David Aikman – we had breakfast together. He is a dear friend of my parents – accompanying them to China in 1988. He has written extensively about my father in, Billy Graham, His life and Influence. He also mentored my collaborative writer, Stacy Mattingly, an extremely gifted writer who has been teaching at Boston University. She is a dear to me. David and I had a lot to talk about.
Then I was given the intimidating privilege of speaking in the Seminary chapel – my topic was, Fear Not Tomorrow. Afterwards my friend, Pastor JC Church, whom I had met through James Robison, picked me up and took me to his church. He is very supportive of my vision for encouraging the Church to become a safer place for broken people. He is a dynamic pastor in north central Ohio. I met with his church leadership and we had a great time of fellowship. They are doing transparency. I applaud them. On the long drive to the Cleveland Airport yesterday I asked him what he was preaching on this Sunday (today) and he preached me a rich sermon. I loved it!
A full trip…on Saturday morning I awakened at 3:30 AM. I tried to go back to sleep but couldn’t so spent concentrated time with God. He spoke very clearly to me about some things in my life I have to deal with. I think I told you back in the summer when I was on that trip to Canada – and jumped off the cliff – that one of the men in the group just happened to mention the words “submit” and “obey”. They struck my heart. During this early morning time, God put HIs finger on the areas where I need to submit and obey. And now I must do it! I’ll keep you posted.
By the way, I am starting a new blog on BeliefNet called “A Safe Place with Ruth Graham”. Should be up this week.
