I have done my share of waiting this past fall and winter. I have been waiting for things on human time; sometimes I forget that I also live on God's time clock and God's time is not always our time. What is it I am waiting for? I am waiting for the electrician to come. I am waiting for the plumbers to arrive. I am waiting for the carpenters to show up. I am waiting for the sun to shine and the snow to stop or the rain to happen on another day. I know we need the rain and we need the snow and we need to stop trying to be the controller of the weather and the world. Maybe sometimes we really do just need to wait.

There are over 100 references in the Bible telling someone to wait: Wait on the Lord; wait for me (Moses) as I go up the mountain; or, in a bit different context of waiting, Martha and her sister Mary waiting on Jesus when he came to visit. Often we are frustrated by waiting - we want our exciting new meeting space, Johnson Hall, to be ready right now. Hey! Isn't that maintenance building ready yet? How much longer must we wait to get the State's approval on our new sewage disposal system? There are always things we want NOW.

There are gifts in the waiting times. Maybe we need to step back and look at these times of waiting from a spiritual perspective. What is happening in these times of waiting? How are we waiting on (serving) God and others in these in-between times? What does the difference between our worldly chronos time and God's kairos time mean in our lives? It is this moment, this day, that is important now. We do need to be strong and take heart as we wait, but most importantly, we need to celebrate, for THIS is the day that the Lord has made. Each day is God's gift. Perhaps we need to stop fretting about the gifts to come and just joyfully unwrap the present!

- Tom Eshelman, Executive Director

At the annual meeting of the Board of Directors held in December 2002 Jack Haile was elected to fill the term of The Rev. Jim Dannals who moved to a new parish in Massachusetts. Jack and his wife Leigh are members of Holy Cross Church in Valle Crucis and live on Beech Mountain. They are originally from South Carolina where they both were active in their parishes before moving to North Carolina as full time residents. We welcome Jack to our Board of Directors!

In March we received word that our final septic/sewer system plans had been approved by the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources in Raleigh. We will now work with our engineers to put the project out to bid and hopefully begin construction sometime this summer. If you have not given money to the worthwhile project there is still plenty of time to purchase your very own piece of septic field by sending in your tax deductible donation today!

The Bishop Robert Johnson Hall meeting space building will be completed this summer and we welcome your gifts to complete this project. We will need rocking chairs for the porches, hymnals, prayer books, bibles, a piano and AV equipment to name a few items. Please make your tax deductible contribution TODAY!

In October 2002 Betsy Barber Hawkins of Deland Florida stopped by the Center with some wonderful and exciting artifacts for our archives. Her great grandfather, The Rev. Richard Wainwright Barber, was one of the original six seminarians at Valle Crucis in 1845. Betsy left us a copy of the diary of the Rev. William Glenney French as edited by his son H. Glenney French. William French was the first superior of the order of the Holy Cross established at Valle Crucis by The Rt. Rev. Levi Silliman Ives in 1847. We will share portions of this fascinating look at the early life in Valle Crucis in a future issue of Good News.

At the annual meeting for the Episcopal Camps and Conference Centers, Inc. held at Trinity Episcopal Center in Salter Path NC in January VCCC Executive Director Tom Eshelman was elected to serve a three year term on the National Board of Directors.

Our special thanks to these individuals & organizations for their generosity in giving to the Center in recent months:

The mission of the Valle Crucis Conference Center is to inspire, by loving example and service, those who break bread with us and share in the quest for spiritual renewal, Christian community, and stewardship of this sacred place.

The Right Reverend Robert H. Johnson
Bishop of the Diocese of Western North Carolina

David Yates, President
Ralph Tilden, Vice President
Brenda Binning, Treasurer
The Rev. Brian Cole, Secretary

Diana White
The Rev. Tim McRee
Billy DuBose
Tom Eshelman (ex officio)
Jaan Ferree
Jack Haile
Nina-Jo Moore
Judy Teele