BJ Lee

Baha’i since 2006
Eloy, Arizona

I was confirmed a Catholic — my mother’s doing. My father was Jewish and an agnostic. Both raised me to question things and to accurately interpret information, which is what I did when searching for a religion starting in the ‘70s.

Everything was cooking. There was Transcendental Meditation, Taoism, this ism, that ism and hypocrisy everywhere. Most of the religions I investigated were talking the talk, but not walking the walk.

Nevertheless, I kept my eyes and ears open, getting my heart broken and becoming more cynical every day. On top of it, I was recovering from a terrible divorce and feeling down and sorry for myself. I needed to surround myself with people and link up with God.

So I kept investigating and moving around. In Gallup, N.M., I called a local Baha’i number and chatted with a member of the Faith, who gave me copies of Baha’u'llah and the New Era and The Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys. Pretty esoteric stuff!

Victory and BJ Lee

I met a Baha’i woman on a train to Oregon, and in Oregon I continued to study the Baha’i Faith. I found it intellectually satisfying, but it wasn’t opening up my heart. Then someone handed me a prayer book, and I read this prayer by Abdu’l-Baha:

O God! Refresh and gladden my spirit. Purify my heart. Illumine my powers. I lay all my affairs in Thy hand. Thou art my Guide and my Refuge. I will no longer be sorrowful and grieved; I will be a happy and joyful being. O God! I will no longer be full of anxiety, nor will I let trouble harass me. I will not dwell on the unpleasant things of life.
O God! Thou art more friend to me than I am to myself. I dedicate myself to Thee, O Lord.

When I read “Thou art more friend to me than I am to myself,” I knew Baha’u'llah was Divine and that the Baha’i Faith was what I was looking for. I was absolutely “loved into” the Baha’i community. And in turn I loved the Faith’s beliefs about the equality between men and women, the oneness of humankind and one God.

I also loved that Baha’is believe in progressive revelation — the concept that the world’s major religions are part of an ongoing process through which God reveals His will to humanity through Divine Messengers such as Abraham, Moses, Christ, Zoroaster, Krishna, Muhammad and Baha’u'llah. I had had that idea in my head, but didn’t know it was already defined.

My becoming a Baha’i is ironic, because my grandfather, Benjamin B. Shapiro, was one of the structural engineers who worked on the Baha’i House of Worship in Wilmette, (The Baha’i House of Worship for the North American Continent, located outside Wilmette, Ill., north of Chicago.) It took me many years to realize how special that was.

It also took finding the Faith to know I had worth. I’m a Vietnam vet, but I didn’t know I was noble in God’s eyes until I found the Faith. My wife, Victory, has been a wonderful support. She became a Baha’i more than 40 years ago and is stronger than ever in the Faith.

I have finished doing the study circle books, and Victory and I teach the Faith all the time. She and I write Baha’i songs and use food and music to build unity and interest in the Faith.

We recently moved from New Mexico to Eloy, Ariz., home of the Desert Rose Baha’i Institute, where I am the new food and beverage director. In my career as a chef, I have always taught my staff that “food is love.” Being at Desert Rose, I can put that into practice as I go deeper in this loving Faith of Baha’u’llah.

This Cause of God is all about moving forward. It is about action and deeds, not tradition or empty words. I am so blessed to have such a dynamic relationship with God. Every Baha’i I have met walks the walk and is a living example of Faith in action.