Liza and her partner from England

On Thursday, as I was finishing up a walk, I stopped at a place that rents beach chairs with umbrellas so you can enjoy the sea and still have shade. I was checking the prices and met Liza and her partner. 


I will find her name, but it is eluding me right now. These two women were so much fun! They are here on a holiday to celebrate their third wedding anniversary. Marriage is legal in England. They’ve been together for 8 years, married for almost 3. They love this place and have been here before. We started talking and one thing leads to another. They liked the idea of The Divine Spark, so I told them I’d find them later and bring them a copy. Well, later... got away from me and by the time I went to find them on the beach, they were gone. But with modern technology, we exchanged emails so I wrote to them and they wrote back. They ended up coming to my hotel and I wanted to show them my groovy room with sea view. Then we talked for about 20-30 minutes about a whole bunch of stuff.

When we first met earlier in the day, we talked about God and spirituality. Can you believe this? Both of these women had a Billy Graham story! Billy Graham had a crusade in England. Liza’s partner attended it and she fell in love with Billy Graham. She can still close her eyes and remember the power of the crusade. She went forward to accept Christ and it was a wonderful experience for her. Liza’s grandmother was at that same crusade and also felt touched by Billy. The grandmother had some mental illness but that is beside their point! Ha.

So, when we three got together later and when we were chatting on my little balcony, I had to ask a question. I wish I had a tape recorder and maybe I can get more accurate words if we see each other today, but here is how the conversation went to my best recollection.
“Tell me, how is it that you could feel so touched by God through Billy Graham, when, the high probability is that Billy Graham most likely thought that it was a sin to be gay? His son Franklin surely does.” I’ve got to find her because her words were so perfect and beautiful and this is my best rendition of what she said. Without really even having to think much, she was quick to say, “Well, in my heart, I know that God is love, I know God loves everybody. I know God loves me. So that is all I need. For those who see it otherwise, I do not give them the time of day.”
She still has fond memories of Billy Graham. Crazy and wild to me, and sweet. 

 Then they told me that not Liza but the other whose name I’m forgetting, had a brief relationship and got pregnant, so she has a grown daughter who has two children. These two children are something like age 12 and 10 or so. The 12 year old is usually shy. All of these folks live in England. 
"We are the grandmothers. And we love these kids, and the kids know it. So one day in school, our granddaughter who is usually quite shy got into a discussion about gay people. Negative things were said and our shy granddaughter, spoke up boldly and loudly saying that she had two grandmothers and they are wonderful. Don’t talk negatively about people I love and who love me.” 
 She came home and told her grandmothers and they were so proud of her. Speechless and proud of how firm this young 12 year old was. 

 Yay!