Virginia

Chapter Fourteen - Virginia

In the process of looking for a place to live in Virginia, we had, coincidentally or not, found some friends of my family with whom we could stay. They were the Browns and again, coincidentally or not, Bill was the new Dean of Communications at Regent University.

Unbeknownst to me, my family had a long history with the Browns. It went back to the mid-seventies when our family had lived in a house with a bunch of young ladies in Hawaii. These were the young ladies from which my brother, Samuel had derived so much pleasure in terrorizing. Bill’s wife, Nancy had been one of those young ladies. Later on, when Bill and Nancy were married, they had spent some years with my sister and brother in Hong Kong with FEET. Still later, Bill had been a professor at the University of Hawaii in Oahu where my brother was now living.

The Browns had a large FROG available in their house which is Virginiaese for a Finished Room Over Garage. So we had arranged to stay with them and their two young daughters.

When we had decided to move to Virginia, somehow I got a picture in my head of a place that was still a very Civil War-era countryside with very minor development. When we arrived, I discovered the normal suburban American sprawl. It was also very flat where we moved to but at least it was near the ocean. Later on, when we visited the town of Charlottesville, I did find the Virginia that had been in my head.

The Browns agreed to a three-month trial period to make sure we were all going to get along. The next day, Nancy told us they had talked it over and that, if we wanted, we could stay with them for the rest of our lives because we felt like family. That wasn’t going to happen but at least it was reassuring. We ended up staying for a year and a half.

For transportation, we were borrowing a car. It also “just so happened” that a lady from Virginia Beach had moved to Hawaii just before we left. She was going to be staying for a few months and agreed to loan us her Ford Focus that was just sitting in her driveway. All we had to do was get insurance coverage as she had dropped hers while she was away.

She put us in touch with her insurance agent who got us the coverage which we held for several months before we could buy our own car. Fortunately, we didn’t have any accidents because we discovered that, because we did not own the car, the coverage was actually not valid. Somehow the agent thought it was.

For money to live on, there was a preschool right at the end of the street from the Browns where Laura found a job. I started my internship but found myself just sitting around most of the time. I wasn’t learning anything or growing in any skills. I quickly decided to call CBN to ask them if they still had a spot available. That turned out to be a decision with positive ramifications for years to come.

I had never been a televangelist fan or even a fan of “Christian” TV. I had only ever seen it on TV in passing on the way to something else. I had seen and heard of the gaudiness, the excesses, the falls from grace, the corruption. I was wary of the Christianeze atmosphere I thought I would find at CBN. So I went in with eyes wide open. But if I could get what I needed at this place, so be it.

CBN’s main product is the 700 Club, an hour-long show with a mix of news and commentary, interviews, feature stories, music and Christian ministry. But CBN also has a multitude of other projects, including charities and an international department designed to reach the world outside of the U.S.

My internship was to be with an international news program called Christian World News, working with Nigerian producer and host, Victor Oladukon. It was the opposite of the other internship. I hit the ground running with plenty to do and a lot to learn. I had to interact with a lot of people at CBN and found that my stereotypes were incorrect - at least at this organization.

I found most of the employees to be genuine, everyday people. Most were Christians involved in local churches and believed in the mission of the ministry. Some were just there to do their jobs well. There were definitely a few gaudy fakers but even with them, if I got a chance to know them, I found that they were just people with their own struggles, trying to make it in life.

The FROG


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