Isaiah 58:7-8 New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)
7
Is it not sharing your bread with the hungry,
bringing the afflicted and the homeless into your house;
Clothing the naked when you see them,
and not turning your back on your own flesh?
8
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your wound shall quickly be healed;
Your vindication shall go before you,
and the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

Sonia Donaldson is a 6th grade teacher at Nohl Canyon Elementary School in Orange, California. While my kitchen was being remodeled I needed a new venue to make sandwiches for Skid Row. Sonia came to my rescue and offered her classroom for the preparation of the meals. For over 11 years we have worked together to serve the homeless community.  Along with her 6th grade students, we have made over 300,000 sandwiches for the poor. Since I can no longer go to Skid Row due to a medical condition and Sonia wanted the children to continue with an outreach to the homeless community, she came up with the idea of making blankets. Her students have made over 30 blankets for the displaced. She is teaching them the value of giving and a lesson on servanthood.

Later this week I will meet with the Garden Grove Police Department to hand out these beautiful, custom made blankets created by the loving hands of Mrs. Donaldson’s sixth-grade class. God smiles down on the little faces of these servants. Great is their reward!

Eye Contact

Serving the homeless has taught me to always be aware of my surroundings. If I have eye contact with a stranger, I smile; if the smile is not reciprocated, I say a short prayer for that person. I do not read minds, but through their eyes  the Lord reveals a small window of what that person is going through. To the homeless community this is a constant; their world is always a foretaste of what lies ahead in their day. Their hope is distorted because they are surrounded by so many challenges. Things that are normal occurrences to us bring great trials to them. A change in weather contributes to their distress.  If it rains; they must look for  shelter, if it is too hot they have no place to seek refuge. They are the modern-day Israelites, wandering in the desert of life.

The Journal

I was cleaning out my nightstand and found an old journal with this story:

Both of our children have picked up my mantle of staring at people. This is not a good habit, but, nonetheless we suffer from it. I once missed a flight home because I was so intrigued by staring at a large family. I watched as their mother tried to bring order to the family, but it was the dad who they listened to. I thought for sure that they would miss their flight because with all the commotion they had not lined up; instead I missed my flight because of all the staring. I was sitting in the wrong section and, by the time I made it to the right gate, I saw my plane taking off into the clear blue skies.

My son Mikos would occasionally go with me to feed the homeless on Skid Row in Los Angeles. It is an enigma not to be alarmed  when  all of your senses are aroused; your eyes, nose, and ears are on high alert when you are surrounded by the  displaced. Mikos, like me, stares. The homeless population, for the most part, are hyper-sensitive, and anything could set them off. They need everything but sometimes pride gets in the way of their thinking. Our ministry has developed special skills of sharing the love of Christ with them. We would always arrive mid-morning to hand out the meals. This is strategically planned because the citizens of this God-forsaken community are just waking up, so there is a calmness in the air.

Within a radius of five  blocks, there can be as many as 5,000 displaced persons. When we turned the corner onto Towne Avenue, two women were about to get into an altercation. The women were either inebriated or high on drugs. The fight was over a tank top, one woman accusing the other of stealing it. While the thief was attempting to take off the shirt, her arms got all tangled up. The owner of the shirt took advantage of the situation in what seemed to be a slow-motion fight. She threw blows that softly landed on the other woman. Mikos could not help but stare; the other woman was still all tangled up in the shirt, and when she tried to defend herself, like a T-Rex, her arms were too short. I have learned from experience how to intermittently stare and quickly turn away. Honestly, developing this skill to serve the homeless is most useful. I had to tell Mikos to look the other way. We never knew the outcome of the tank top brawl; sadly these are everyday occurrences on Skid Row.

The displaced are broken souls, and somewhere in their lives trauma made its way deep in their spirits. We are all wired differently, but the way we handle our pain is what makes us or breaks us. Harsh words spoken to someone who is already wounded can develop into an internal scar. Through the mercy of God this can be healed; the love of Christ can bring them out of this mindset. Just like the rest of us, the people on Skid Row all have a special calling. God did not intend for them to end up on the streets, but until they understand that they are loved, the transformation cannot occur. Our Father in heaven is waiting for them to turn to Him for direction. In the Lord we find the loving example of a father. The Lord will neither leave you nor forsake you. We must be near Him in order to hear Him.

Proverbs 15:1 New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)
Chapter 15
1
A mild answer turns back wrath,
but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Mental Illness

If  20-25% of the homeless population suffers from mental illness, this is a clear indication that the rest of them are broken souls. I see more and more substance abuse as the main problem. Families are ill-equipped to deal with this, so they disassociate from the abuser. Another growing concern with the homeless is the transgender individuals; they are mistreated on the streets because the homeless have no empathy or tolerance for them whatsoever.

Please continue to pray for the special needs of the displaced, and that we find solutions to stop this growing crisis.

Matthew 18:10 New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)

¹⁰ “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.

The battle to save our children from the propaganda of the new sex education laws rages. In order to win over more CSBA (California School Board Association) members this organization has hired Justin Massey as a consultant. Do you know who he is? Well, let me enlighten you. He is the co-chair for the Lavender Democrat OC, in other words the LGBTQ + Democrats of Orange County. If the CSBA is a non-partisan organization, why would they hire an individual with such biased views. Before a consultant is hired, is it not customary to do a background check? How can the CSBA believe that this person can represent the best interests of the parents of Orange County?

Without the support of the parents, the CSBA will make headway and bulldoze all of your beliefs and bury them in the playgrounds of your childrens’ public schools. March 3rd is a perfect opportunity for you to get involved and support candidates like Dr. Ken Williams, Tim Shaw and Jim Palmer for the OC School Board. These men will fight for our children because they represent parent’s rights. Dr. Ken Williams’ opponent, Andy Thorburn, has already spent over $650,000 dollars. Wonder where he got the support?  He is on the board of Planned Parenthood. We are in an uphill battle with evil. I am a grandparent of four students who attend public schools in Orange County. I do not want my grandchildren to be exposed to subject matter that only a parent should teach at home. In reviewing some of the information  that is already approved for ten-year-old children, it is very apparent that this is an open door to pornography. This sexually explicit propaganda is public information: Porn: Fact or Fiction on youtube.com. You can see for yourself how confusing and misinformed this video is. This is just one of many teaching tools that are currently being used in the Fremont School District in San Francisco. This is propaganda  that parents need to be aware of.

Ted Bundy

Ted Bundy committed over 30 murders of innocent women. What drove him to kill? Before his execution he granted Dr. James Dobson (founder of Focus On The Family) an interview. Bundy said that he first discovered “soft porn pornography”  in a grocery store. This porn consumed his young mind, and gradually he was compelled to watch a more explicit form of porn.  From the interview words of Ted Bundy: “I’ve lived in prison for a long time now, and I’ve met a lot of men who where motivated to commit violence just like me and, without exception, every one of them was deeply involved in pornography. Without question, without exception deeply influenced and consumed by addiction to pornography,”he said. Do you as parents really want to open these doors to your children? The agenda is clearly diabolical; the CSBA is working in a frenzy to blind the eyes of not only the parents but the teachers as well. I can guarantee that most teachers are unaware of these closed-door meetings and know nothing about Justin Massey.

Of the three school board members  I mentioned earlier, I have no idea about their political stance; school board members should never show sides on the political spectrum. They represent the parents’ and the students’ best interests; they were not elected to indoctrinate students but to protect them. Why then did the CSBA hire an LGBTQ democrat to consult on their behalf? You do realize that our tax dollars are paying for this consultant. I imagine his fees are pretty steep, but  most parents and teachers don’t know a thing about him.

Vote 

I pray that most members of my reading audience attend church at sometime or another or  have a faith based in Judeo-Christian beliefs, or follow other organized religions. How can we just sit back and watch this happen? If you truly serve God, do what He has called you to do. Stand up for the rights of our children/grandchildren, defend the laws of God. Don’t become that Christian who only votes for what best for your race, but become that Christian voter who defends what our religion calls us to do. Stop playing the sitting on the fence game! God hates that! Stop supporting candidates who do not defend the rights of our children/grandchildren. Investigate all the candidates, find out what they stand for, and vote for the right person.

Revelation 3:16 New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)

¹⁶So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

We cannot allow the CSBA to radicalize other members to think as they think, to create confusion and cast a dark cloud of deception over our children. These kids haven’t even learned the fundamentals of math, and they want to fill their pliable minds with garbage? We not only need to take action, we need to get rid of all the contamination that’s rotting our school districts before it’s too late. I am asking every registered voter in Orange County to pray and ask God to guide you when you vote. Pray for the elections, and ask God for a sign to make the right choices in the voting booths. I promise if you choose to do the right thing before God, we can all make a difference in this world. It can’t just be a handful; we need an army to fight this blinding battle. The truth needs to be exposed, and I, for one, am not willing to waste one cent of my tax dollars on a consultant who will never represent the needs of most of us. Call the California School Board Association and ask them how much of our money is being used to manipulate a vote on their behalf ? I did call the CSBA, but they refused to divulge any information. What more are they hiding?

Why Plannned Parenthood?

Why are they so vested in the School Board Elections? Planned Parenthood’s goal is to be invited into the school’s new Wellness Center as counselors and instructors. Santa Ana Unified School District recently opened 57 new Wellness Centers and signed a contract with Planned Parenthood, as did the Los Angeles Unified School Board.

Who’s Hiding Behind the Curtain

If you are not aware of who is behind the curtain of this well-orchestrated program, it is the same groups that in reality have become one: the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, LGBTQ and a slew of others. When these groups unite, it’s to destroy our beliefs, nothing more. We have an agenda too; we have rights and will no longer be bullied by these groups. We also have a not- so-secret weapon; we have God on our side. And guess what? He always wins!

You’re Next

Orange County Unified is a testing ground, and, if we allow this to come into our districts, it will only be a matter of time before we will be fighting this nationwide. The next target will be private schools. They will stop at nothing to gain support.

Kobe Bryant did not plan to die on January 26th, but he did. His short life impacted many, myself included. I attended the 5:30 p.m. Mass on Sunday, and our Pastor, Fr. Moneypenny, said that he received information from the priest in Newport Beach, California. He was informed that Kobe and his daughter Gianna had attended the 7:00 a.m. Mass on the day of his tragic accident. Kobe and Gianna prayed the Apostles’ Creed and before receiving Communion recited the prayer from:

Matthew 8:8 New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)

⁸ The centurion said in reply, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof; only say the word and my servant will be healed.

The Eucharist

The Eucharist is the body of Christ, so when Catholics confess their sins we are absolved of our transgressions. When we receive the Communion wafer, we really receive the body, blood, soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Kobe and Gianna were in the state of grace, prepared to leave this world with a clean spirit after receiving Communion. I am a Eucharistic minister (EM), and I take this position with great reverence. I am not only saying, “The body of Christ or the blood of Christ,” I look into their eyes so that when they receive the Eucharist they can feel the holy presence of God. This is one of the reasons I attend daily Mass; I do not want to be denied this special blessing, and I want to start my day with a clean slate. The Eucharist brings healing to your body, whether emotional or physical; it works on our inner being. We are free to go on with our day with the blessings of the Eucharist because it is the Real Presence of God. Kobe understood what the Eucharist represented because on several occasions he was seen attending daily Mass at Holy Family Catherdral in Orange, California. my hometown.