“The Knowing –Awake in the Dark” is a true story that will take you on an unexpected journey into the mind of a clairvoyant child as she navigates the harsh and painful realities of her life.
Psychic abilities are no guarantee for a happy life, as Nita Lapinski’s life story powerfully reveals. When family life lacks a foundation of love and support, too often girls seek love in some very wrong places. Nita’s desperate choice of Aaron Goddard set her on a life path of abuse and drug addiction from the time she hit puberty. What I found so fascinating about this tale wasn’t so much the paranormal elements, but the fact that Nita managed to grow into a mature, wise woman. Of course, it was largely through the help of her spirit guides that she was able to rise from immaturity and near-fatal fantasies to mental clarity.
Putting faith into action is certainly exemplified by Homeboy Industries, founded by Father Gregory Boyle. Father Greg is the long term priest for the Dolores Mission in the gang center of the world, Los Angeles. Seeing a dire need for jobs to short-circuit the cycle of violence and prison sentences, Father Greg began putting gang members and ex-cons to work. As he relates in the excellent TATTOOS ON THE HEART: The Power of Boundless Compassion (see my review), having rival gang members work side-by-side often fostered a kinship that led to a life beyond the barrio.
“Homeboy Industries has been the tipping point to change the metaphors around gangs and how we deal with them in Los Angeles County. This organization has engaged the imagination of 120,000 gang members and helped them to envision an exit ramp off the “freeway” of violence, addiction and incarceration. And the country has taken notice. We have helped more than 40 other organizations replicate elements of our service delivery model, broadening further the understanding that community trumps gang — every time.” – Father Greg
The Homeboy Bakery and the Home Girl Café produce wholesome food, while employing and training marginalized members of the community. Other businesses Homeboy Silk Screen and Embroidery, Solar Panel Installation Training and Certification, Homeboy Farmer’s Market, and Homeboy Merchandise. Services to the community include tattoo removal, job counseling, mental health, substance abuse, and domestic violence counseling.
This week the Los Angeles City Council voted to prepare an ordinance to outlaw the use of a bullhook on elephants. Are there a lot of pet elephants in LA? The City Council Chambers were crowded the night of vote with PETA members and animal activists. Lily Tomlin put her celebrity status into action on behalf of our pachyderm friends.
This is a move against circus practices of training elephants to perform across the country, including Ringling Bros. A video was played for the Council of elephants screaming and being hogtied in training sessions. After a few minutes, the video was cut short and the Council unanimously voted for the ban.
Huh, you mean those elephants don’t love the circus life? Don’t like riding train cars, living in cages, marching around in circles, and standing on top of each other? Seriously, I’d never considered the elephants’ feelings before that moment. What’s a circus without the elephants, right?
Then, I thought–what’s a plantation without the slaves? What’s a Gladiator Contest without a fight to the death and maybe a few Christians and lions thrown in for fun?
Elephants may not look much like people, but they are highly intelligent mammals, just like us. They live in family groups. They develop complex relationships, even with other species. And, yes, they can get damn mad and can go on a rampage, just like humans.
Would I find it entertaining to see a bunch of people herded into a tent with whips and forced into silly positions? No, definitely not. Would I care if they had been ripped away from their family and homes? Absolutely.
Suddenly the elephants in the circus seem more travesty than fun tradition. The Greatest Show on Earth? Not so much.
As we become more spiritually aware, cruelty once accepted as the “norm” becomes a call to action–even for the elephants. If you don’t think elephants have feelings, watch this video.
On the same page is an article about mentally ill inmates being subdued with canisters of pepper spray. After watching videos of naked, incoherent prisoners blasted with pepper spray, the state is re-evaluating their discipline methods. Crazy people don’t feel much, right? Dr. John Lindgren, California’s senior prison psychiatrist, was quoted as saying, “he believed psychotic prisoners would have no memory of the incidents and that they ‘have a higher than average threshold for pain or noxious stimuli.'”
Dr. Lindgren would probably make a good elephant trainer.
Sister Antonia Brenner passed away this week at the age of 86. She lived a life putting her convictions into action. A new wave of “Spiritual Activism” appears to be afoot. In the next few articles, I’ll be focusing on people putting their spirituality into action. Sister Antonia is a very good place to start.
After living a full life as a well-to-do California woman, mother to seven children, twice divorced, in 1977 she sold all of her possessions and moved into a cell in the La Mesa penitentiary in Tijuana, Mexico, to serve the inmates. For over thirty years, Sister Antonia Brenner would counsel, feed, clothe and show Christ’s love to the lowest, meanest, and most forgotten. She brought light into the darkness.
NEW release from Stacey Stephens–her third book of channeled messages. On special at Kindle right now for only 99 cents!
Welcome to a Remarkable Collection of Timeless Wisdom in this published
collection of the third full year of public communications from The Ancient
Ones.
Introducing, The Ancient Ones:
“We are eternal beings of
non-physical form. We make up a group of three, forming a council, for the
guidance of Mankind, back to their original design as men and women. Our purpose
is to assist everyone who is interested to develop their divine inner guidance,
to direct themselves toward a humanity that is once again sacred and connected
as One, in true camaraderie.”
One day last week as I was about to begin my meditation time I felt led to go look for something to read in my husband’s book closet. His theological books were his treasures, but they don’t make for easy reading. As I stood before the open closet looking at the shelves filled with boxes, I thought, Now what? The answer came quickly, Pull the third box. A powder-blue book cover grabbed my attention—The Heavenly Man: The Remarkable Story of Chinese Christian Brother Yun. That was the one.
While The Heavenly Manis one family’s story, it is also reveals a glimpse of the amazing birth of the House Church movement in China. Brother Yun was born in 1958 in a remote farming village in China. His family had a sliver of information about the existence of the Son of God named Jesus. His illiterate mother remembered a few Bible verses she’d been taught as a child before Christian missionaries and their message were eradicated by the Communist Revolution.
When Yun is 16 years old, his father becomes terminally ill. Facing starvation, the mother prays to Jesus for help–loudly, desperately, continually. Her prayers are answered. The father makes a miraculous recovery and the family is the first Christian outpost in their village. Yun becomes a fervent follower of Jesus, calling in heavenly guidance, and begins a movement of spirit akin to the tales of Paul and the first followers of Christ as told in the Book of Acts. Like those earliest believers who faced the wrath of the Roman Empire, the House Church Christians of China suffer the persecution of the Communist government. But from the crucible of suffering comes strength and determination to follow the path of Jesus.
Encouraged by continual divine intervention, Yun evangelizes wherever he goes, often in prison. Despite cattle prods and beatings, he never denies his faith, although he admits spiritual pride occasionally sends him on a rough road. His wife, Deling, and their two children also endure hardships beyond the imagination of most Westerners, all for the sake of the gospel. The ripple effect of their faith and others like them has inspired tens of millions of Chinese to meet secretly in House Churches and continue pursuing the Great Commission.
This is an unfolding story of Spirit working in our midst. In the darkest places, among the cruelest regimes, the Light still shines. If you’re looking for real inspiration, and perhaps a life purpose, pick up a copy of The Heavenly Man.
“The Knowing –Awake in the Dark” is a true story that will take you on an
