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November 2009 Newsletter
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November 2009
“Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’ “ Luke 10:25-30
Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ,
I recently taught on the above passage. It was not the first time I’ve enjoyed this truth-filled section of Scripture, but the thoughts God placed upon my heart were brand new.
It’s the account of a Jewish citizen, businessman, being accosted, stripped, wounded, robbed, and left for dead as he made his way between Jerusalem and Jericho, on the Jericho Road.
As I thought about this deserted stretch of road I was reminded that somewhere along this road, where the population was heavier and the traffic more brisk, was a well. It was at this juncture of the Jericho Road that Jesus met a mature girl drawing water from the community well. He knew everything about her. Yes, even the questionable relationship with her latest man! She needn’t tell Him; He knew.
Jesus also knew her deepest needs and quenched her thirst with the Water of Life. But another drama was unfolding a ways up the Jericho Road, on a remote and dangerous cart path. A thief was lurking in the shadows to catch a traveler unawares, attack, wound and rob him. Our passage tells the story.
I was slowly ambling up the dirt road that ascends from the asphalt of RT 149 and snakes its way in and through the various buildings making up the His Mansion community; the dining hall, chapel, barn, sugar shack, men’s and women’s dorms. But as I walked, my heart was thrilled as I rejoiced for the remodeled, renovated, regenerated, and redeemed girl at the well.
At some point, my heart was struck! It was not Wolf Hill and Isaac Lane I walked upon, but the Jericho Road! I envisioned along the roadside the dozens of precious men and women who had been accosted, broken, and dumped into the ditches of life, shoved and pummeled by The Thief.
They had been stripped, wounded, and robbed. Stripped of their dignity and self-worth. Wounded by jealousy, beatings, drugs, alcohol, and abandonment. Robbed of their purity, and youth. Robbed of parents through violent, nasty divorces. Robbed of educations and careers. Robbed of moms and dads, and grandparents.
Jesus scrambled down the dirty slope and laid His hands upon the broken souls, lifted them up, and transported them to the safety of an inn. Oh yes, we know who the Samaritan really was!
The road running through the Mansion campus is a Jericho Road! The Chapel, Dining Hall, Maintenance Building, the barn, and the dormitories are filled with broken, hopeless victims of the Violent Thief, who have been scooped up by the Savior and dropped off at a place called His Mansion.
There is no further word regarding the thief. He has been defeated and sentenced. Justice. We need not spend time looking back over our shoulders at whatever version of the Thief worked us over and lumped us up. We look face forward—toward the future, at Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.
It is so fulfilling to be a “Good Samaritan” on the Jericho Road. We are praying that several young men and women might hear the call of God to serve here for a year or more. There’s a great need and your courage and availability would make a difference in broken lives.
Here is an account of such a rescue written by a young woman serving out an internship here prior to starting at Harvard College of Arts and Sciences in September 2010.
“I HATE PEOPLE,” she shrieked, “THEY NEVER COME THROUGH FOR ME. I DON’T WANT RELATIONSHIPS ANYMORE!” And perhaps we would find her radical resolution childish and irrational, until we discover the world from which those words were formed. Before arriving at His Mansion, she eked out an existence with a stripper mother and a sexually abusive father. Or, she herself was a prostitute whose body was enslaved by her appetite for heroin. Or, she spent months pleading with urban pedestrians with a cup in hand, or years starving herself to maintain a career. What choice does a wounded heart have, but to despair?
Every human being possesses core longings that seek to be fulfilled, and I’ve seen so many women shamed by those longings because of where they’ve led. And shame is only part of it; what follows is the denial that those desires even exist because the result of pursuing an answer has only rendered pain. If I seek love, I’ll get hurt; if I seek affection, I’ll be abused; acceptance, I’ll be rejected; relationships, I’ll be abandoned; approval, I’ll be criticized; purpose, I’ll be told I’m useless; distinction, I’ll be forgotten. If I seek to be deeply known by someone else, they will only misunderstand me. If I desire to be truly beautiful, I’ll be revealed as truly ugly.
Yet, to a woman with this very mindset, Jesus says, “Go in peace.” He says to more than one sinner, “Go in peace.” Where is one to go when told to go in peace?
Where in the world can we find better responses to our deepest desires, where we will find something other than hurt, abuse, rejection, abandonment, criticism, uselessness, and insignificance? It must be the Body, it must be the Bride. It must be to those whose love comes from the Father—a love that overlooks the mess we’ve inflicted and that has been inflicted upon us, and reaches to hold us. It is in the arms of the Body, the true church that our wounds are healed, and it is in the arms of the Father where our core longings are met. To every tired soul tempted with despair, go in peace.” By Daisy Lin Shih
Our Hallelujah story for the month relates to the harvest. Each year we rejoice with the account of all the produce we have grown. This year we were faced with the prospect of sharing a “woe is me” report. The extremely wet summer ruined everyone’s surface crops around NE. We depend on these to feed the large family and to reduce costs. There are not many choices. We’ve got to eat!
Someone heard of our plight, knew the owner of a big produce dealer in Connecticut, and the connection was made. The dealer, moved by what we do, sold at cost, and the Mansion friend put up the money. One day last month an eighteen-wheeler rolled onto the property with 20 huge pallets of peppers (red & green), broccoli crowns (on ice!), fresh-picked Connecticut corn, tomatoes, and squash!
This was a blessing, but only if it got processed and frozen before it spoiled. Everything came to a halt. Hank & Cathy Van de Berkt and Nicole Bruss took charge and seven very long days and four new freezers later it was finished! A week later we killed four hogs and in less than four hours had them processed, and sent hams and bacons off to smoke.
The Annual Harvest Party signals the opening of the holiday season at His Mansion. For days the Long-term staff (LTS), mentors, and residents scurry about putting together their costumes to be judged that night. On the Monday prior, small groups of Residents gather in the kitchens of LTS homes to design, build, name, and bake their entry for the Pie Baking Contest. Most of these folks have never boiled water before! The guys are the most inept but have the most fun.
The night arrives. Costumes fall into three categories: (a) objects found around HM, (b) Bible characters, and (c) people on the hill.
In the middle of the gym floor laid a humped up pile made of a large brown tarp with colored cutout waste vegetables attached. Through holes in the tarp four heads could be seen. The Hilliker family had come as the compost/manure pile!
The crew of men who baked an apple pie at our house won second place with “Righteous Pride Apple Pie.” The mess was cleaned up and the Square Dance, called by Diane Hultgren, began. Just imagine a crew of recovering addicts, alcoholics, and eating disorder ladies subjecting themselves to the embarrassment and humiliation of Square dancing! They loved it.
A highlight of the evening is the unveiling of the harvest numbers. Rejoice with us. - Beef, Pork and Turkey : 4, 131 pounds
- Fruits (from apples to raspberries): 770 two quart bags
- Jellies, jams and fruit butters: 204 one quart jars
- Potatoes and Root vegetables: 3, 364 pounds
- Maple syrup and Apple Sauce and Cider : 138 gallons
- Tomatoes: 2,133 one quart jars
- Vegetables (from broccoli to zucchini) : 4,707 Two quart bags
Thanksgiving is next. Little committees are busily preparing for Thanksgiving Day. This day is a highlight for the family here on the hill. Once again, on Thanksgiving Eve the family arrives at Griggs Hall (dining room) only to discover that the meal consists of peanuts, oatmeal, and water! Finally, they are told about the “early days” when that is all we had for meals—for long periods of time!
After the “remembrance feast” I show slides that are anywhere from thirty-seven years old to recent. Each slide holds great memories and tales, which are commented on by Dave and Diane Hultgren (30 year veterans), and Joan and I. This night will give the “rookies” an appreciation of our roots, and begin their inclusion in an ongoing history. I’ll share the details of the “real” Thanksgiving feast, in the next newsletter.
There are many victories and heartwarming testimonies I should share this month, but our hearts are heavy. A year or so ago, a young man entered our program and captured our hearts. Kevin had served in Iraq as a medic. He had ridden in a Humvee that was hit by a roadside bomb. He survived; others did not. Later, in the Green Zone” a mortar hit the Mess Tent, a table tipped over shielding Kevin, but others died. The young man returned home to parents who had adopted him and began to soak his tortured brain with alcohol.
Kevin came to His Mansion and found peace and safety. He also found Jesus here and his dad came up to baptize him in a brook nearby. Kevin graduated and returned home. The horrors and demons were too much, and he relapsed. He turned himself into a VA hospital program, where he held Bible studies for the men. They dismissed him and Kevin swallowed his prescriptions, drank hard liquor, and died. Representatives were at his memorial where many testimonies of Kevin’s impact on others were shared.
This story repeats itself from time to time. When you work with as many broken men and women as we do, day-after-day, year-after-year, you are bound to live through these setbacks. They are mysteries to me. I sit back numbed by the pain and finality of it all. At night we lay our heads down on pillows stuffed with the certainties of a Sovereign God. We loved Kevin.
As the year races to an end I encourage you to include His Mansion in your year-end giving. Nearly a third of our annual budget is met in these three months. We are praying for a special outpouring in order to complete the new dormitory free of debt, and to renovate the vacated building into the new His Mansion Institute. This all at a time when everyone is feeling the pinch.
Another prayer is that you remember those who serve at HM full time. They, all of us, do so without any salary, health insurance, or retirement benefits. We are only able to serve this way as our churches and friends support us. It is a crazy system, I know, but God has, and will, meet our needs. Here is a list of LTS:
Stan & Joan Farmer (38 yrs) Founder & CEO
Dave & Diane Hultgren (31 yrs) Counseling and Finance. Two kids home
Diane Weber (15 yrs) Women’s teacher and Discipler
Dennis & Frances Coulombe (5 yrs) Michigan Growth Center
Fritz & Gretchen Maurer (5 yrs) Director of Counseling
Paul & Robin Atkinson (4 yrs) Incoming CEO
Cliff and Linda Buxton (3 yrs) Men’s Program Administrator
Seth & Karen Hilliker (3 yrs) Director of Women's Program. Three kids at home
Dwayn & Brianna Merrill (2 yrs) Wood lot and Roads. Three kids at home
Ryan & Jacci Miranda (1 yr) Building and Maintenance. Two kids at home
Michael & Emily Tso (1 yr) Chief Training Officer. Four kids at home
Todd Battles (2 yrs) Pubkic Relations/Recruiting
Ron & Alice Donovan (2 yrs) Connecticut Growth Center
Don & Annie Fuller (1 yr) Operations
Bill Kurtenbach (1 yr) Office Manager
Cathy Martin (1 yr) Women’s Program Administrator
Hank & Cathy Van de Berkt (1 yr) Agriculture
There are also many short term men and women mentors. If you are aware of a friend, relative, or colleague serving at HM, please consider them in your missionary giving.
It has been a wonderful year so far all in all. Several have come to faith out of each new intake, and the retention rate is very high. Financially, we feel the pinch, but also make every effort to stay within our means. You have all stood with us this year despite your own hardships. I thank God for that—and thank you.
Again, all our bills are paid, and we owe no debt, save to Christ Who paid it all!
Joyful in His Service,
Stan Farmer, CEO
His Mansion Ministries, Inc. www.hismansion.com
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