In the drivers seat of an out of control car speeding backwards down a mountain with no breaks

 

 

That’s the dream I had just two weeks before my fifth major move in less than one year. This time I was leaving France and returning to the U.S. after mistakenly thinking I would be living in the country of cheese and wine for a good long time.

After all; I shipped at great personal expense the last remaining items from the sale of my home in Pennsylvania so I could have the familiar idols around me I just couldn’t bear to give up; the folly of which now had me trying desperately to sell everything I couldn’t fit in my new families basements or scatter into the possession of new friends where it would hang on their walls or stand in their living rooms until heaven knew when. Pulling my attachments across the Atlantic like a ball and chain wasn’t such a great idea after all. Now it was just more baggage I couldn’t afford along for the ride.  I got in the unmarked car and closed the door.

Suddenly none of it mattered, I had work to do for Orchid and I needed to be in the U.S. for that to happen. I couldn’t do it from France. I didn’t have the talent or imagination necessary to connect our missions to philanthropists I hadn’t even met yet in a virtual relationship. I had determined I needed to meet people and congregations face to face, share the stories of the men,women and children from around the globe who were praying for miracles and try to do for them what the world would not. I noticed the car begin to roll backwards

This would be no easy task but miraculously my dear friend and mentor offered me a position in his company that would cover my new families needs and still leave time for Orchid. I could work and feed my family while I tried to line up the connections necessary to one day put Orchid on auto pilot and then take a breath while God managed the rest. It seemed like a worthy goal. After all I wasn’t trying to be some mega charity; I just wanted to help in a seemingly small way some people who truly needed a voice to shine a light on their work. I began looking for the brake but the car didn’t have one.

There were some formidable obstacles, not the least of which was that the IRS hadn’t yet reviewed Orchid’s 501C3 tax application even after eight months had passed since its submission. This left seven of Orchid’s twelve missions in a tight spot with no way of rewarding a sponsor with a tax deduction for 2013 and in spite of my sending the IRS a request to move up our review explaining that children were dying while money could not be raised to save them all Orchid received back was a rejection letter stating I hadn’t made a case for escalation consideration. Children dying evidently didn’t qualify. I started looking over my shoulder as the car sped down the twisting road at very high speed.

I was now left with having to try and raise money for missions without being able to give potential major donors something they could get from virtually any other charitable institution in the world; a tax write off. I was going to have to suggest people give up some of their hard earned treasure and expect nothing in return. As the car raced backwards I couldn’t imagine how I was going to keep from going over the cliff.

In spite of all this  there was hope in the air. I had made a key contact while in Paris and now Orchid had a Director of Global Development on it’s team. Six months in France had gotten me closer to finishing the book I hoped one day might tell the story of the genesis of Orchid and raise some money to support the cause. Our message was better focused and our social media reach was poised to get out the word. There was a crazy video game initiative that might catch fire. We had wonderful success stories to share from 2012 and some friends had stepped up and offered to sponsor some events in the fall. We didn’t lack a plan just the men and women who could help implement it. The grant requests were modest and achievable if only a few people would add their hands to the mix and their voice to the narrative.

Could you be a set of those hands?

Is your voice aching to sing a new song?

Are you interested in helping Orchid wrestle the car under control?

Are you a good story teller?

Would you like to help?

If you are please contact me.

All we have to do is get this darn automobile under control or better yet have the faith to hand the wheel to someone who can.

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