It’s a blustery night and we can’t make it up the mountain because the road is closed. We arrive at the Inn.
Barbara greets us in her bathrobe and waddles upstairs to show us our room for the night. Oh god, the bears. There are Teddy Bears All Over The Place. Like people. . .they’re spooky. I can’t look at anyone for fear of busting up right there so I mumble something like “this is great” and go to the car to get my things and laugh and roll my eyes outside where no one can see. This is an attack, an assault of enchantment, and I must prepare. We will be aggressively enchanted by Teddy Bears all night long. And downstairs there are snowmen, teapots, doilies, decorations ALL over the place and twinkle lights too because it’s winter, which means Christmas. This is decoration with Meaning. There is two of e v e r ything downstairs. Is this stuff for sale, I'm confused? It dawns on me that we have stepped into one woman's Fantasyland. It is also her Ministry. The book “Breakfast with Billy Graham” is thoughtfully placed on the bed. On the nightstand is “How to Find God” and a CD called “Balance.”
And the bears chant:
Pray when you’re Busy
Pray Like You Really Mean It
Pray Like You Really Believe It
We shower long and hard to clean off the clutter. Then after politics and talk of high school chicks, and the perfect age for boys (17) because you can legally date 15 year olds (news to me) and how you haven’t really lost anything by the tender age of 21 I say, Yes, but I suffered more abstractly. Through religion.
With the Inn absolutely crammed I’m mainly thinking two things:
How does she dust everything? That in and of itself makes me nervous. And why doesn’t it smell more stuffy? Maybe this place IS a miracle.
The Inn Keeper clearly gets meaning through building Fantasyland where others can join her. I wouldn’t enter knowingly, but on a snowy night we have fallen down the rabbit hole and arrived in the soft comfort of Barbara’s enchanted Teddy Ministry.
Don’t forget: Pray often, with intent, with real heartfelt intent, on your knees, pleading, pleading, you must plead. Pray, never cease praying.
And the bears chant:
Pray when you’re Busy
Pray Like You Really Mean It
Pray Like You Really Believe It
"You know," says Billy Graham:
“Jesus had only three years of public ministry, yet he was never too hurried to spend hours in prayer. How quickly and carelessly, by contrast, we pray. Snatches of memorized verses hastily spoken in the morning, then we say good-bye to God for the rest of the day until we rush a few closing petitions at night. This is not the prayer program that Jesus outlined. Jesus pleaded long and repeatedly. It is recorded that he spent entire nights in fervent appeal. But how little perseverance and persistence and pleading we show! The Scripture says, “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thesslonians 5:17). This should be the motto of every follower of Jesus Christ. Never stop praying no matter how dark and hopeless your case may seem. A woman once wrote me that she had been pleading for ten years for the conversion of her husband but that he was more hardened than ever. I advised her to continue to plead. Then some time later I heard from her again. She said that her husband was gloriously and miraculously converted. Suppose she had stopped praying after only ten years?”
Suppose she used all that pleading energy to enjoy her husband as he is or put it toward the good of her community and help make the world a better place? Ten years of incessent pleading that someone might convert? Billy please, is that really necessary. Religion is many things but it is more often than not a Distraction with a capital D. Barbara remains Mrs. Clause-like, sweet and welcoming without a word of Jesus. She leaves the dirty work to the teddys.
Stop Teddy, Stop.
Barbara greets us in her bathrobe and waddles upstairs to show us our room for the night. Oh god, the bears. There are Teddy Bears All Over The Place. Like people. . .they’re spooky. I can’t look at anyone for fear of busting up right there so I mumble something like “this is great” and go to the car to get my things and laugh and roll my eyes outside where no one can see. This is an attack, an assault of enchantment, and I must prepare. We will be aggressively enchanted by Teddy Bears all night long. And downstairs there are snowmen, teapots, doilies, decorations ALL over the place and twinkle lights too because it’s winter, which means Christmas. This is decoration with Meaning. There is two of e v e r ything downstairs. Is this stuff for sale, I'm confused? It dawns on me that we have stepped into one woman's Fantasyland. It is also her Ministry. The book “Breakfast with Billy Graham” is thoughtfully placed on the bed. On the nightstand is “How to Find God” and a CD called “Balance.”
And the bears chant:
Pray when you’re Busy
Pray Like You Really Mean It
Pray Like You Really Believe It
We shower long and hard to clean off the clutter. Then after politics and talk of high school chicks, and the perfect age for boys (17) because you can legally date 15 year olds (news to me) and how you haven’t really lost anything by the tender age of 21 I say, Yes, but I suffered more abstractly. Through religion.
With the Inn absolutely crammed I’m mainly thinking two things:
How does she dust everything? That in and of itself makes me nervous. And why doesn’t it smell more stuffy? Maybe this place IS a miracle.
The Inn Keeper clearly gets meaning through building Fantasyland where others can join her. I wouldn’t enter knowingly, but on a snowy night we have fallen down the rabbit hole and arrived in the soft comfort of Barbara’s enchanted Teddy Ministry.
Don’t forget: Pray often, with intent, with real heartfelt intent, on your knees, pleading, pleading, you must plead. Pray, never cease praying.
And the bears chant:
Pray when you’re Busy
Pray Like You Really Mean It
Pray Like You Really Believe It
"You know," says Billy Graham:
“Jesus had only three years of public ministry, yet he was never too hurried to spend hours in prayer. How quickly and carelessly, by contrast, we pray. Snatches of memorized verses hastily spoken in the morning, then we say good-bye to God for the rest of the day until we rush a few closing petitions at night. This is not the prayer program that Jesus outlined. Jesus pleaded long and repeatedly. It is recorded that he spent entire nights in fervent appeal. But how little perseverance and persistence and pleading we show! The Scripture says, “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thesslonians 5:17). This should be the motto of every follower of Jesus Christ. Never stop praying no matter how dark and hopeless your case may seem. A woman once wrote me that she had been pleading for ten years for the conversion of her husband but that he was more hardened than ever. I advised her to continue to plead. Then some time later I heard from her again. She said that her husband was gloriously and miraculously converted. Suppose she had stopped praying after only ten years?”
Suppose she used all that pleading energy to enjoy her husband as he is or put it toward the good of her community and help make the world a better place? Ten years of incessent pleading that someone might convert? Billy please, is that really necessary. Religion is many things but it is more often than not a Distraction with a capital D. Barbara remains Mrs. Clause-like, sweet and welcoming without a word of Jesus. She leaves the dirty work to the teddys.
Stop Teddy, Stop.