Born John James Brown

Born John James Brown (pen name: James Lachard) in 1923 in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, England, Jim experienced the German bombings in early World War II. He enlisted in the British Army in 1942 and served in Burma until he was injured south of Mandalay in 1944. After spending six months recuperating in a hospital in India, he returned to England. From this wartime association, he was a member of the Burma Star Association, a group of men and women who served in the Burma Campaign of 1939-45. Following the war he worked in the Bahamas as a newspaper editor. From there he moved to Toronto where he worked in the greeting card industry. He married, had three children, and has three grandchildren.

In 1965, James joined a newly formed Christian organization, World Vision Canada. Beginning in the warehouse, he eventually became Interim Director and CEO from 1969-1973. In 1978 he oversaw the construction of a new building in Missassauga, Ontario. In his years as Director, he traveled extensively around the world, occasionally accompanying Dr. Bob Pierce, World Vision’s founder.

In 1982 he traveled back and forth from Toronto to the World Vision International Office in Monrovia, California, now referred to as the Partnership Office. He organized Directors’ Conferences around the world, Council and Board meetings, and served as the right hand person to the International President. He re-married and located in Glendale, California with his wife, also a World Vision employee.

Though he officially retired from World Vision in 1990, he continued to volunteer for ten years, including five years with the AD2000 Unreached Peoples world evangelization movement. He also served as interim Missions Coordinator for La Canada Presbyterian Church from 1994-1996. Begun as a hobby, Jim became an accomplished, published writer of short stories including Beauty for Ashes, A Handful of God, Treasure in the Sand, Flowers for the Living, and A Message from the Trees. Jim was also writing a mystery, The Charity Murders, which he was unable to complete before his death.

"An Interview With God", along with several other short stories, were submitted to several publishers, but were not published. However these words could not be suppressed and eventually found there way onto the internet.

Jim wrote the "Interview" several years ago now and sent it, along with other short stories, to about 5 publishers. It was never published, so we don't know how this story "leaked." Ironically, the "Interview" was forwarded to Jim by a friend. Jim read it, then said, "that sounds so much like my story that I can't believe it's a coincidence." By this time, Jim's disease, Scleroderma, had taken its toll on his strength and ability to sit at the computer, even to breathe (he was on oxygen the last year of his life). He asked his writing mentor about how to pursue where/how the story leaked out from those publishers, but he was too weak to do anything about it, and finally said, "If God can use it, then so be it."

AN INTERVIEW WITH GOD

“Come in,” God said. “So you would like to interview me?”

“If You have the time,” I said.

God smiled. “My time is eternity. That’s enough time to do everything.
What questions do you have in mind?”

“What surprises you most about mankind?”

“Many things.”
“That they get bored of being children, are in a rush to grow up,
               and then long to be children again.
That they lose their health to make money and then lose their
               money to restore health.
That by thinking anxiously about the future, they forget the present, and
               live neither for the present nor for the future.
That they live as if they will never die, and die as if they had never lived.”

God took my hands in His. We were silent for a while, then I asked,
“As a parent, what are some of life’s lessons You want
Your to children learn?”

God replied with a smile.
“To learn that they cannot make anyone love them.
               They can only let themselves be loved.
To learn that what is most valuable is not what they have
               in their lives, but who they have in their lives.
To learn that it is not good to compare themselves to others.
               All will be judged individually on their own merits,
               not as a group on a comparison basis.

To learn that a rich person is not the one who has the most,
               but is one who needs the least.
To learn that it takes only a few seconds to open profound wounds
               in persons they love and many years to heal them.
To learn to forgive by practicing forgiveness.
To learn there are persons who love them dearly, but simply do not
               know how to express or show their feelings.

To learn that money can buy everything but happiness.
To understand that two people can look at the same thing
               and see it totally differently.
To appreciate that a true friend is someone who knows everything about
               them, and likes them anyway.
To learn that it is not always enough that they be forgiven by others,
               but that they have to forgive themselves.”

Then God replied, “Anytime, I’m here twenty-four hours a day. All you have
               to do is ask and I’ll answer. People will forget what you said.
               People will forget what you did. But people will never forget
               how you made them feel.”