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Out of the Rubble
By Jennifer Jill Schwirzer
Women of Spirit Magazine
 "I
can remember it as if it were yesterday, and yet a lifetime away...one of those pauses in life
when it seems the sun stands still and time is no more. Words whirl around and around in my
head. They begin to take shape and I can hear, faintly at first, "No survivors, no survivors,
no survivors' coming and going, louder and softer, fading in and out. Another voice, of a different
tone, wells up, pushing through the noise: "No! There are survivors, Adel and Andy and
I!'"
Actually, "survivor" is not an adequate description of Pat Arrabito. Some merely survive
tragedy, while others let its pain catapult them into ministry. These few channel tragedy's
dark, devastating energy into creativity. This is the case with the slender blond who is the
driving force behind The Seventh Day; Revelations from the Lost Pages of History, a five-part
documentary series on the history of the seventh-day Sabbath. Pat refused to let the dream die
with the rubble of the plane crash that took her husband and two young sons in 1990.
Man of Her Dreams
When Pat Gott married James Phillip Arrabito in 1976, she began the life she'd always wanted.
Married to the wildly creative, adventure-loving Christian man of her dreams, she birthed four
children over the next several years. Loving her role as housewife and mother, she home-schooled
their kids and wholly supported Jim's work and dream.
An extremely gifted artist, Jim put food on the table through his skillful paintings and drawings.
But his passion was evangelism. Searching for a way to combine his art with his gift for speaking,
he created slide shows that complemented and enriched his sermons. Doors of ministry flung
themselves open for this lay evangelist. His energetic young family found joy in every challenge
they faced.
"I was very happy to be in the background," Pat says, describing those early days.
"Jim had tremendous energy and drive." For several years the family lived in a 35-foot
fifth-wheel trailer, traveling to accommodate his appointments. Other times they were alone
for weeks—seven weeks was his longest trip—praying for his safety and success, and
awaiting phone calls from faraway places.
For many women, soloing with four small children would have proved too much strain, but for
Pat it was just part of the joyful package of being married to a man with a mission. Mom and
kids pent their days learning from books and from nature—dissecting bugs and animals, even
skinning fresh road kill and tacking the hides to a board to cure.
Gradually Jim's mission obtained a sharper focus. He wanted to travel to the uttermost parts
of the world and unearth its mysteries concerning the seventh-day Sabbath. A committed Seventh-day
Adventist, he was convinced that the biblical Sabbath had been kept by various groups through
the ages. His first trip on the Seventh Day project was with three homesick guys, piles of equipment,
and a traumatic adjustment to driving on the "wrong" side of the road in Great Britain.
Later, from Britain to the Waldensian valleys, to Greece, Patmos, and the Middle East, the secrets
of history opened up to his camera and his frantic pen. The years passed, and he logged trips
to China, India, Russia, Armenia, Turkey, Spain, and even East Berlin before the wall came down.
In Jim's own words:
"I want to travel the whole world...to every place where Christians down through history
kept the Sabbath. [I'll] fit this whole program together in a fast-moving, hard-hitting documentary
to show the places where God's people lived, suffered, and died, and where they passed the
torch of truth on in every country of the world. Nothing in the world is going to stop me!"
But something did stop him, and it could not be undone.
After a blissful family rafting vacation down Oregon's Rogue River, Jim scheduled a trip to
Alaska to film a story about a Sabbath-keeping Inuit. He had enough mileage on his travel bank
for two extra tickets, so took along his two oldest boys, 13-year old Tony and 11-year old Joey.
Pat packed up three of her favorite men in the world and sent them off with hugs, kisses, and
a smile.
Ten days later one of the ministry's volunteers went to pick them up at the Los Angeles International
Airport. It was Monday afternoon. When the volunteer called Pat to say they were not on their
scheduled flight, Pat began a frantic series of phone calls to Alaska. That's when she learned
that Jim and the boys—who'd taken a small plane to Anchorage from their remote destination—had
not reached Anchorage. A native pilot and a missionary were also on the plane. There was either
a forced landing or a crash.
Monday night with still no answers, Pat knelt by her bed and asked God to talk to her. Opening
her Bible, her eyes fell on the promise of Job 23:10: "But he knoweth the way that I take:
and when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold."
"Why are You telling me this, Lord?" she asked plaintively. "Jim and the boys
are safe, aren't they?"
Pat slept peacefully, trusting that all would be well. But the next evening brought a visit
from Pat's brother, who'd been in contact with the search-and-rescue team. He flew his own
private plane from Sacramento to Angwin, California, to tell her in person. Pat's house was
filled with friends and relatives waiting for news, so he took her by the hand and escorted
her outside to speak the piercing words, "There are no survivors."
Caught in a storm, the plane was blown off course and crashed into a 4,000-foot mountain. Pat's
beloved husband and her two oldest sons were gone.
The Gift Goes On
How does one keep from sinking beneath a wave so powerfully cruel as the death of three loved
ones? How does a wife come to terms with the now-empty space in her bed? How does a mother
deal with the bicycles and balls that lay dormant in the yard, with shirts and jeans still
folded in drawers? On top of it, then, how does she comfort her surviving children—as bewildered
and aching as she?
"I learned what it is to live one moment—one single moment—at a time," Pat
says. "In the first moments I just wanted people to read to me from the Bible. God's promises
became my sanity. My community—my friends, my family—were God's arms, wrapped around
me, carrying me and my children." Through the care of those friends and her family and
the tender compassion of God, Pat carried on with her life. Within six months she began to go
into the ministry office and work on the Seventh Day production.
"I didn't have Jim's visionary gifts to do this project," this widowed mother of
two says, "but I didn't know anyone else who knew and loved the dream and would be willing
to bring it to reality. I felt like I was it, at least until God sent someone else who knew
better how to do it."
What she did not realize was that God gives people gifts whenever He pleases—some at birth,
others later in life. At 39, this grieving woman, who would have much rather washed pots and
pans that speak publicly, began to go into the office to fill the shoes left empty by Jim's
death. Who could imagine a richer, more exciting, yet lonelier life than one of fulfilling a
dream that was etched out between two hearts, one of which had ceased to beat?
"I knew God would accomplish The Seventh Day project," Pat says. "There had been
so many answers to prayer, so many divine interventions. I decided I could do the obvious—compile
research according to the storyboard Jim had laid out shortly before leaving for Alaska.
It was a slow, tedious process, and at times I could not figure out what to do next. But again
and again—in answer to prayer—problems were resolved. Piece by piece I drafted a rough
script, often claiming the promise 'Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the
Lord of hosts' [Zechariah 4:6, KJV].
In the mid-1990's the script was finished, and Pat sent it to a number of key people. The comments
she received were discouraging. "Too long." "Too much." "Needs a professional
touch." Pat knew she was not a formally trained scriptwriter, but the information depicted
in the storyboard, along with proper documentation, was there and she'd created the very best
manuscript she could. 1
Then in 1998 media producer Jeff Wood 2 read part of the script and responded with enthusiasm.
Pat and Jeff arranged a meeting—a turning point for The Seventh Day project. Jeff agreed to
take it on as producer, with his brother Jim writing.
"God took it into His hands," Pat says, "and we've been in production ever since."
Three of the five parts of the series have been completed. Hal Holbrook, an actor known for
his adept impersonations of Mark Twain, was hired to narrate. The videos are designed for commercial
TV—which is where Pat hopes they will eventually air.3 Moving effortlessly through a grand
sweep of church history, the story of the Sabbath gradually unfolds in all it's awesome significance
while thumbnail skits of illustratrious Sabbath-keepers bring viewers into intimate connection
with Saint Patrick, Count Zinzendorf of Moravia, and others of great faith.
First, a Mom
In the final reckoning Pat's greatest accomplishment may be how she kept her fractured family
together emotionally and spiritually. Grief takes many forms, and a sudden, violent death is
the hardest to comprehend. Pat and Jim's 9-year-old daughter, Adel (now a registered nurse),
felt abandoned by her father. When Pat went to work part-time, young Adel felt abandoned again.
It was at boarding academy that Adel gave her heart to Christ and, feeling safe in His arms,
finally was able to grieve. Now she says of her mom, "She's an amazing woman. More and
more I appreciate her sacrifice, and I'm amazed by who Mom is and all she's done. Dealing with
grief, trying to be both mom and dad, and through it all moving forward with The Seventh Day
project. Stepping into Dad's place, she met criticism and resentment because she was a woman.
Despite her natural modesty, she had to learn to lead and give orders."
And—Pat and Jim's youngest—was only 7 when his dad and brothers died, and he has had a difficult
journey. Raising a strong-willed boy who lost his predictable, comfortable world in a heartbeat
was not easy for Mom, either. Yet her mother's love rose above the struggle.
Andy is currently training with the Navy SEALs in San Diego. Pat speaks to him in "guy"
language, telling him, "I want my love to be a kick in the pants when you're being a butt,
a push when you're being stuck in the ditch, a fence to keep predators out, and a barn when
the weather's too cold.
"I want it to be a bolted door when danger comes knocking, a narrow path when the big
road is rocky, ropes when you're rock climbing, and a helmet when you're biking. I want my
love to be the wind beneath your wings, the kayak in the rapids, the launching pad that rockets
you into space—as well as music and laughter, and the source of an unending flow of everything
you need. That's how much I love you. And more."
And love awakens love. Andy recently sent his mother a card, saying, "You're the best,
most cool mom a guy could ever have. Thanks for raising me the way you did."
Together again
Pat rejects the adage that "time heals all wounds." She does not expect the pain
of loss to go away until Jesus comes. "Did death make a gash that will close over, as
though my husband and children had never been? Not for me. Their death was amputation. I lost
major parts of myself, important parts. The sun keeps rising. How can I survive? Thank God
that He is coming again to put us back together with the ones we love."
I want to be there when the Arrabito family reunites. Happy tears will fall, hugs will encircle,
joy will overwhelm, love will flow. A long conversation will begin, including every detail
of three lifetimes missed, interrupted by tragedy. Then the fruit of tragedy will emerge, burnished
and beautified by God's hand as Pat pulls out five videos, saying, "Oh, and Jim, remember
The Seventh Day project?"
_______________
P. Gerard Damsteegt had worked with Pat since 1996, reviewing her sources and checking documentation.
Jeff Wood was then the director/producer of LifeStyle Magazine for the radio/TV ministry Faith
for Today. Currently he is a freelance producer.
Pat's goal is that the series will be aired on the Arts and Entertainment Network or the History
Channel. There is every reason to believe that these productions can be viewed by the masses,
just as Jim Arrabito imagined. They are that good.
_______________
Jennifer Jill Schwirzer enjoys the challenge of Michael Ministries, in which she produces and
performs Christian music, writes, and presents seminars. She's a regular at Christian schools,
presenting Pure Love, a series for teens on chastity. She says that her "day job"
is running the Expressly Vegetarian cafe located in the Chestnut Hill SDA Church in Philadelphia.
She and her husband have two teenage daughters.
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