"Chapelgate" is a true story by Angel Isaacs about following God to the peaks of ultimate prosperity and then into the depths of suffering and loss. Angel calls it following God through the "Daytime" and the "Nighttime"...and says that both are very special and beautiful when you are walking there hand in hand with God.
Preview...
Angel's husband, Robin Isaacs, was a genius, and the first person to ever use a computer to monitor the drilling of an oil well. He spent his lifetime as the leading technology expert in the oil drilling industry, worldwide. He created "The Data Center" which monitors oilwells all over the world in real-time, simultaneously, using satellites. His foundational technology is used by Exxon-Mobil today and became the international standard for all oil drilling companies.
Exxon-Mobil in Dallas, Texas with the Data Center Satellite.
Robin at his "Drilling Data Center" in Dallas.
One day Angel, while driving her son to his private Christian school in Houston, Texas, where Robin worked as Staff Engineer for Dresser Industries, made a decision. She looked at her normal "Christian" life and she simply decided to try to "be a better Christian".
She decided to pray to God to help her and then do three things herself. First, she decided to stop listening to her favorite music and start listening to music she didn't like at the time, Gospel Music. Second, she promised God she would read the Bible every day. Third, she decided to follow better, following and obeying God when she didn't really want to.
God responded by helping Angel discover Contemporary Christian Music on the radio, that day while she was driving, as well as Gospel Music, which she soon loved. She began writing her own songs about God on her twelve string acoustic guitar, for the very first time. As she wrote she began to capture insights about the life she was living and experiences she was going through.
Her very first song, "Eagle Wings" said...
Eagle Wings
A long time ago I made Him mine (God)
And when I did he led me to a mountain
There everyday we climbed,
Step by step,
His hand in mine.
Sometimes he'd lead me to a chasm,
That I didn't want to cross,
So I'd just sit down,
Or try to go around,
And I would not look in his eyes.
And that is when I'd stumble,
And that is when I'd fall,
And though he'd reach down
And lift me off the ground,
The chasm stayed in our way.
Then one day while we were walking,
He led me, once again, to a chasm.
But I looked in his eyes
And I finally realized - He would not lead me astray.
So I jumped out over that chasm
And I began to fly.
He lifted me up,
He gave me "Eagle Wings" -
He led me to the sky."
Copyright 1985 Angel Isaacs
About the same time that Angel wrote her first Christian song she also asked God to "look down from Heaven and find a home for their family."
"When I prayed that prayer I had the distinct feeling inside of me that God said, "I already have." I had been buying "Unique Homes" magazines for months. So I went back to my old stack of magazines and looked again. That was when I found "Evins Mill." I know that God gave this property to us because everything just fell into place perfectly. Robin and I made a leap of faith - just like I wrote about in my song "Eagle Wings" about looking God in the eye and trusting that he has good things planned for you, and leaping out over a thousand foot deep "chasm" only to fly instead of fall - Robin left the job he'd had for twenty-three years at Dresser. We founded a tiny company, just him and me. Then we bought "Evins Mill" and I renamed it "Chapelgate."
Robin kept asking God, "Are you sure you want me to leave Houston (his home of 50 years) and go to the middle of Tennessee?!! He was sure God said yes because he kept opening his Bible and it kept opening to verses that said "pack up your tools I'm sending you into exile. (Ha! Robin thought that was funny.)" So we did. We packed up all his computers, all our furniture, and the kids, and drove our bright red Corvette behind the moving van, with my parents following, to an old grist mill we had bought over the phone, in the hills of Tennessee." (and the next thing we bought was an old pickup truck!)
God had responded to Angel's prayer by first leading her to Christian music and by giving Angel and Robin and their children the beautiful home she had asked for..."Chapelgate"
"I've always felt like God was using me like a pen to write the story he wanted to write for the world to read. I think that's why he led me to Christian music and why I started writing down all the experiences we were having in the form of songs and poems."
Chapelgate's Mill and Millpond.
Chapelgate (Evins' Mill in Smithville, Tennessee, close to Nashville - Angel named it "Chapelgate") was the former property of Senator Edgar Evins of Tennessee. Senator Evins had given it to his son, Congressman Joe L. Evins, and it had been in their family about fifty years. "I named it Chapelgate because to me it was so beautiful and perfect that I thought it must look like a tiny little perfect Chapel to God and it must be like a gate into his presence."
Chapelgate is a magical place of 40 acres with waterfalls, a canyon, a dam and an old grist mill, and a log mansion hidden on top of a cliff looking down on the millpond.
The tall waterfall in the canyon after a rain. There are two waterfalls, a tall one, here, and another cascading one beside it. The tall waterfall is about 15 stories high. The cascading waterfall is about 6 stories high. We owned both waterfalls and the canyon they were in as part of Chapelgate.
Looking at Chapelgate's Millpond from the Mill area.
Chapelgate's old grist mill Evin's Mill. The Mill was unique because it could grind both corn and wheat.
Chapelgate's log mansion called the "Lodge" is hidden here in the trees on a cliff looking down on the Mill and Millpond.
As Robin created his multi-million dollar drilling software like a recluse in the log mansion, the Lodge, Angel restored the old pioneer buildings, which had fallen into disrepair between the death of the Senator and the donation of the property to Vanderbilt University, from which Angel and Robin bought it. Angel made Chapelgate beautiful, often dragging Robin away from his computer, to help her build a bridge or to fix the old waterwheel.
The old overshot Waterwheel and a bridge Angel and Robin built.
As she worked she cared for their children and also wrote beautiful poems and songs about the God she loved and adored.
She and Robin made friends with Dwight Liles, who has written 18 number one Contemporary Christian and Gospel music songs, 40 top ten songs, won 2 Dove Awards from the Gospel Music Association, and has been nominated for Dove awards seven times. Robin built a recording studio in the Lodge for Angel and Dwight came out to produce two albums of her beautiful songs of insight about God.
Angel's first album was called "Degrees of Glory"
Angel's second album was called "Spiritual Tapestry" but it wasn't available for a long, long time (in a minute you'll find out why)
When Angel was finished restoring the property Amy Grant and many other contemporary Christian music and Gospel Music recording artists began to come to Chapelgate as a secret hideaway. She would hold Christian events and Christian music concerts in the old grist mill and on the front porch of the grain storage building where she and Robin built a stage.
Amy Grant filming the "Lead Me On" video at Chapelgate's waterfalls. Michael Blanton, her manager, is watching.
Amy Grant and the crew who filmed her at Angel's waterfall.
Angel Isaacs and Amy Grant.
A FCCM (Fellowship of Contemporary Christian Music) concert on the front porch of the "Store" - the building that originally held the grain for the mill. Dwight Liles is in the background.
Another concert at Chapelgate. This is a band called "Illustrator."
Angel would often sit at the top of her 100 foot high waterfall and sing and play her 12 string acoustic guitar as she wrote songs and poems about God.
"Queens & Maids"
"I want to be a Queen for you
I want to change the world for you
I want to be powerful and wise
Oh, I want to be a Queen for you
I want to change the world for you
Give me riches, give me time
"Ah, but would you be a maid for me?
Scrubbing floors down on your knees
Give your all for pennies
Be unknown
Ah, but could you be a maid for me?
Living day by day for me
Hungry, tired, and tattered
Growing old?"
"I want to be a Queen for you
But, Lord, I'll be a maid for you
I know that you are powerful
And wise
Oh, I want to change the world for you
But, Lord, I'll scrub the floor for you
Take my riches, take my time."
"Ah, if you can be a maid for me
I'll teach you how to reign with me
On your knees is where the power lies
Ah, if you will be a maid for me
We'll change the world, and you will see
Eternal riches are disquised...
Eternal riches are disquised...
Copyright 1989 Angel Isaacs
Then one day tragedy struck, Robin died of a sudden heart attack on a snowy Christmas Eve.
Chapelgate's driveway during a big snow storm on Christmas Eve.
Nighttime came to Chapelgate.
Nighttime Chapelgate.
Soon Angel found herself sitting in Federal Court fighting the biggest oil companies in the world over Robin's technology, a lawsuit worth $690,000,000, (almost a Billion dollars).
The Drilling Data Center's Satellite Dish. Angel was in Federal court in Austin, Texas fighting for Robin's lifework for many years.
But, the totally unexpected happened as God himself, once again, stepped in and intervened...
...Angel knelt down on the floor of the courthouse bathroom and prayed, "Dear God, you know I love you and I value you more so much that even a Billion dollars doesn't have the power to tempt me. God, I love you, you are everything to me. If you can use this Billion dollars for your glory somehow then you can take it, God you can have every penny...
...and that's just what happened.
Angel not only lost the husband she adored but also his legacy to their children, Robin's technology profits from his life's work. She also lost every penny she had, their business, their furniture, and everything she owned and loved, including Chapelgate. But with the same child-like heart that had followed a beloved Father into the heights of prosperity, Angel now followed God into poverty and sadness and loss, writing her beautiful poems about the God she loved more than anything else.
God took care of her and her children himself day by day, lovingly, and in ways that let her see him like her best friend and companion.
Deuteronomy 8:15 "(God) led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint; 16Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;"
So Angel followed God, with a child-like heart, writing her beautiful, insightful songs and poems until the cycle was complete...Daytime and Nighttime
....this is the story of Chapelgate.
Angel Isaacs today.
"Chapelgate" is Angel's true story. She has written it as an Ebook (an electronic book she can email to you that you read on your computer). The EBook contains the story itself - "Chapelgate" - and as an additional bonus it also contains poems about God, that Angel actually wrote, while living through these amazing events. Angel likes to think of it as writing about God from the peaks of prosperity and happiness and the depths of sorrow, loss, and despair.
Angel's story and poems capture amazing insights and thoughts about God because they were written as she walked hand-in-hand with God through this incredible story. Her story and poems are totally unique and beautiful beyond compare. They capture the complete cycle of what it is like to follow God with a believing, child-like heart through the "Daytime of Prosperity" and the "Nighttime of Loss."
Angel's "Chapelgate" Ebook makes a beautiful gift of insight to give to yourself. You can also give it as an emailed gift to Christian friends and family walking with God.
"Chapelgate" by Angel Isaacs can be purchased here. She will then email the book to you when she receives notice of your purchase from PayPal. To buy it for a friend simply use their email address on the PayPal form or email your request to Angel here. Blessings!
Excepts from Angel's book, "Chapelgate"
Chapter One
Angel was standing in the book section of the grocery store, again, looking at the fancy house magazines. The magazines that had million dollar estates. She loved looking at them, adored looking at them. She could feel the desire well up inside her and send her brain spinning in directions that searched fervently for ideas that would give her a million or two million or ten million dollars so that she could buy one of these homes. The more unusual home, the more she liked it.
Chapter Two
The moving van was carrying all their furniture and they were driving with two of the kids with them in their bright red Corvette, behind it. Behind them, were Angel's parents with the other two kids...In their last Sunday School class at their big Houston church they had excitedly told all their friends and classmates about their move. One lady, had taken Angel aside after class and told her, "I have spent the last ten years living with my aging mother and taking care of her. That is probably how I'll spend the next ten years. I'll never have an adventure like the one you are about to go on. So write about it. Write about it so that people like me can read it and experience it through your eyes." Angel had never forgotten and had determined in her heart that that was exactly what she would do..."
Chapter Two
"Inside, it was dark and dusty. They all eagerly stepped inside, the kids eager to see their new home.
"Is this a haunted house? Cara asked with big eyes.
Chapter Three
"I'll need one of the rooms to set up my computers, too, and real soon. I need to check in with the Data Center as soon as possible."
"Why don't you use that other back bedroom for your computer room."
"That's fine..."
Chapter Five
Robin said that he loved a good puzzle. He said that restoring Chapelgate was like figuring out the solution to a difficult puzzle. Take the coal furnace, for example. Not only did he have to figure out what the thing was, a coal furnace, but because only half of it was left, since the other half, the bottom half, had rusted away decades ago, he also had to figure out not how it worked but how it must have worked. Parts were simply missing...
...Angel wanted a bridge. She was being totally and insanely unreasonable about it. She wanted a bridge and she knew that her genius husband could figure out how to do it. The Lodge was separated from the Mill area by the pond and dam. There was absolutely no way to walk from the Lodge to the Mill without first walking all the way down the long driveway, out onto the county road, across the county bridge, up the road into the Mill area and to the Mill. But when you stood on the Lodge's porch you could see straight across to the back of the Mill. It wasn't that far. It just wasn't accessible. Angel wanted the two halves of the property to be joined. She wanted them joined by a bridge. She could see in her mind a bridge going from the top of the cliff on the Lodge side to the other side of the pond and creek on the Mill side. She tried several ideas, which Robin rejected for their impossibility and expense one by one.
"What about a suspension bridge," she pushed. "Why couldn't we build one of those?"
"The dirt is extremely soft on the Mill side, by the pond, which would make it hard to anchor. Besides that, do you realize how long it would have to be?" We'd have to hire a crane with an arm that could reach from the driveway in front of the Mill, the only solid ground, all the way across the back of the Mill area, and the creek, to the cliff on the other side, so that we could moor the thing and put it in place. A crane with an arm that long would be blocked by the electric lines. We'd have to get the electric company to take down the lines so that we could use a crane to put the bridge in place. It's simply too much, Angel."
But Angel knew that Robin could do it. Robin could do anything. So she kept trying, "What if we built a staircase going down..."
Chapter Five
God had heard Angel's prayer for a home and he had handed her not just a home but a paradise on earth. She decided to name it "Chapelgate." For it was priceless, a jewel beyond description, the most beautiful little gem in the whole world. But to God, in his vastness and glory, it must seem like a perfect, tiny little chapel. She determined in her heart of hearts that this priceless gift would become a gate to her father, a gate that would lead his children to an understanding of his glory and goodness and magnificence and living presence. Chapelgate. She named it Chapelgate...
