| They call it Meditation Rock, I call it | | | | me and in the meantime life wasn't giving me |
| Miracle Rock. Beautiful, serene and the | | | | any breaks. That special young man got |
| perfect place to sit quietly, read and pray. | | | | engaged (and not to me), my grandfather |
| That's just what I did - until I fell off it. | | | | passed away and my uncle committed suicide. I |
| It was a twenty three foot drop with a | | | | was a wreck. Totally and completely |
| rock-solid landing. Ten broken bones, three | | | | depressed. I did find a job I had wanted |
| broken teeth, four years and a whole new life | | | | all my life - a youth director. But, I was |
| later I'm ready to tell my story.Long ago I | | | | so discouraged that I couldn't keep it up. I |
| knew I wanted to be a camp counselor in the | | | | had no idea what to do with my life. Once |
| spectacular mountains of Colorado. I wasn't a | | | | again I found myself questioning God.I began |
| big fan of my college. The only thing I | | | | to make lists of things that I loved. A funny |
| liked about it was the giant bean bag chair | | | | thing came to mind. Bean Bag Chairs. I was |
| that I crashed on in my dorm. I had to get | | | | infatuated with the huge bean bag chair I had |
| out of there. I applied to the perfect camp | | | | in college. I even got a job selling them my |
| and sat by the phone for weeks waiting for my | | | | sophomore year. Every time I thought about |
| acceptance call. Rejection was not what I | | | | what I wanted to do for a living the word |
| expected, but it is what I got. Angry at God | | | | bean bag popped into my head. Though it felt |
| I begrudgingly headed to a smaller camp in | | | | crazy, I decided to call my old boss and tell |
| Maine - a state I hadn't heard of since my | | | | him how I was feeling. He suggested that I |
| 6th grade geography class. Little did I know | | | | start selling his bean bag chairs in Maine |
| I would fall in love...with Maine, with Matt | | | | for a 20% commission. I gave it a try. That |
| and with the Lord. Let's start with the | | | | Christmas I decided to sell the bean bags at |
| Lord. We met at Chop Point camp. We had been | | | | a small strip mall. I set up a tiny little |
| acquaintances for a long time, but it was | | | | business in a back corner. The business |
| there that our true relationship began. I'd | | | | consisted of one employee (me) and three bean |
| wake up early, drudge my way up a windy path | | | | bag chairs. Then Matt came along. Again. |
| and crawl under Meditation Rock. There were | | | | He just happened to be an artist and somewhat |
| a lot of jagged rocks under Meditation rock | | | | of a perfectionist. He encouraged me fix up |
| but there was one smooth, flat rock that was | | | | the corner, build print business cards and |
| perfect for quiet times. That is, of course, | | | | pricelists. He also began (or maybe I should |
| when the tide was out - otherwise it was | | | | say continued) to pursue me relentlessly. |
| covered in water. It was there, on that | | | | Over time I noticed some pretty amazing |
| special rock that I discovered the Word was | | | | qualities in Matt. These qualities won my |
| living and active and that, it applied to my | | | | heart. We have been married for two years now |
| life! I visited this special spot regularly | | | | and I'm still not sure when the honeymoon is |
| over the next four years. Speaking of | | | | going to end. As our love grew, Heavenly Bean |
| special, a particular young man caught my eye | | | | Bags also blossomed. Eventually we started |
| one summer at Chop Point. One that I just | | | | making the bean bags in Maine and adding all |
| knew was the one for me. I'm told I called | | | | sorts of new features (like removable, |
| his name out over and over when they found me | | | | washable covers). We set up at the same |
| broken beneath the rock. He wasn't the man, | | | | little strip mall every Christmas Season. |
| however, that drove an hour every day for a | | | | Although the business venture kept us |
| month to visit me in the hospital. No, I | | | | incredibly busy, we knew that Matt's art was |
| broke up with that man long ago. He wasn't | | | | a talent that we did not want to let go of. |
| the one for me. I knew best.So there, I lay | | | | Matt and I saved some money and made prints |
| beneath Meditation rock bleeding and | | | | of his work. We rented 40 feet of space from |
| murmuring this other young man's name over | | | | the same little mall and started something |
| and over again. I'm told I whispered "help me | | | | totally new. We gathered the work of local |
| sweet Jesus" a few times between the | | | | Christian artists, including potters, |
| painfully embarrassing displays of emotion. | | | | photographers, jewelers, painters, stained |
| Over an hour later I was life-flighted to the | | | | glass artisans, and furniture makers (bean |
| Central Maine Medical Center where I under | | | | bags included) and sold them on consignment. |
| went 18 hours of surgery. I remember none of | | | | We fell in love with the idea of supporting |
| this. The first thing I remember is my friend | | | | Christian artists and now we are going to |
| Matt, the one I'd broken up with long ago, | | | | pursue it full time. Tomorrow, we're signing |
| sneaking me a sip of water when the doctors | | | | a contract with the biggest mall in Maine, |
| were looking the other way. I was dying of | | | | the Maine Mall. We are opening our own store, |
| thirst and they would only give me ice chips! | | | | Genesis Guild. Genesis Guild will specialize |
| I spent more than a month in the hospital. I | | | | in Maine Crafted Home Decor items made by |
| was blessed to be alive. Somehow, | | | | Christians!So here I am at two o'clock in the |
| miraculously, I did not land on the | | | | morning thinking over what God has done in my |
| dangerously jagged rocks, but on the one flat | | | | life over the past four years. I had it all |
| rock I had spent so much time on. Not only | | | | figured out. I was going to a camp in |
| that, but the angle of the rock I landed on | | | | Colorado, working with youth and marrying |
| leaned toward the water. I managed to roll | | | | "the man of my dreams". But God had a |
| up the rock. I should have rolled off and | | | | different plan. I went to a camp in Maine, |
| drowned. I did however, shatter my knee, | | | | fell off Miracle rock, married a wonderful |
| break my femur in three places, destroy my | | | | (but real) man, started a bean bag business |
| hip, crush my wrist and spit out a few pieces | | | | and am about to open a store in the biggest |
| of my back teeth (into Matt's hands). But, I | | | | mall in Maine! Although it was incredibly |
| was alive and had no damage to my head, neck | | | | hard at times, I thank God that I fell off a |
| or back. The recovery period was still quite | | | | cliff and into my life!Valerie Lecher's life |
| the process. It took years. People thought I | | | | changed dramatically when she fell off a |
| would get depressed right away, but I didn't. | | | | cliff a few years ago. She now owns and |
| I was surrounded by loving family and friends | | | | operates and has her own store at the Maine |
| for months. Then my world began to fall | | | | Mall in Portland, Maine. |
| apart. The reality of the recovery time hit | | | | |