Don’t follow the crowd, follow the leader. This leader has never voted, has always judged justly, and will always be the Chairman of the Board of the World. I am talking about the Triune God. He appoints leaders, and takes down nations. He will come to judge the living and the dead. (2 Timothy 4:1)

Gone With the Wind

All meaningful discussions are gone with the wind. Unless you agree with the mindset of liberals, you are considered a racist. I understand that change is needed, but it takes time to do it justly. You can’t be a newborn and expect to walk on the same day; that’s not how it works. The changes are long overdue, but if they are done with prayer and good leadership much can be accomplished. Destruction of public property, like toppling  the statue of Christopher Columbus, engenders misunderstanding for those of us looking from the outside. All I see is years of pent up anger. Christopher Columbus is a part of American history; whether you agree with it or not, he will always be a part of our history.

My favorite movie is “Gone With the Wind.” It’s a novel made into a timeless movie that I will always watch. Hattie McDaniel was nominated and won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She was the first African American woman to win an Oscar. She attended the awards show and was praised for her great talent. The people in the audience did not protest her win; rather they celebrated in her victory. Are you going to take this award from her as well? She portrayed a fictional character; the language and demeanor of  “Mammy” though now considered an offensive racial stereotype, was an acceptable narrative of the Antebellum South. I will always love this movie because of its powerful message of perseverance, and redemption.

I will continue to support what is right in the eyes of my Leader Jesus Christ. When you serve a just God, He will see the matters through. I have prayed for years for certain things to change. With age comes wisdom. Now I fully understand why I had to wait for the answers. The Lord was teaching me patience and perseverance before I got the response. More importantly, He was teaching me to trust Him. Trusting God has been one of my greatest challenges  during trials because when I didn’t see change immediately, I would revert to disbelief. I’d ask why? I’d cry out to Him in anger, and felt no relief. Then one day it happened: I prayed about a situation and waited. I saw things in the supernatural change for the better, little changes that made a huge difference. The anger that once turned into pain was being lifted from me. It was durning this epiphany that trusting God was finally cemented in my spirit.

Defunding the Police

This is an extreme measure that is going to create a culture of disrespect for authority. Before you know it, police will be required to ask, “Excuse me, but you broke the law. Do I have your permission to arrest you?” There are other ways to fix this problem. Leave it to the Police Unions, there will be changes, and we will all be informed. Stop demonizing all police officers. For the most part they are decent human beings who took an oath to protect us, and they deserve our respect.

Social Media

God created all of us in His image; this means we are all His children. A father only wants the best for His children.  No one will ever hold a gun to your head and force you to think as he does, right? But if you don’t agree with these demanding absurdities on Social Media, you are opening doors to great criticism. You will never win with the critics on Social Media; they rule the airwaves. The diabolical attacks are relentless because their arguments are loaded with half-truths. Half-truths are what the media thrives on, twisting and turning the truth to make it appear favorable to the  listening public. They feed the lies to the ravenous wolves; this is the meat they crave.

I took my grandchildren to help with an outreach, in South Gate, which is located in Los Angeles County. They wanted to listen to “their” music, I could not believe the comments of political propaganda playing out before and after every song. These messages are no longer subliminal; they are in your face, and it’s always what they want you to believe.

In the words of the President of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast:

Racism permeates every structure in our society. As our nation confronts the COVID-19 pandemic, which is disproportionately ravaging Black communities, we must address the public health crisis that racism presents. Public health by definition is built on the principle of saving lives.

There has been no greater threat to Black lives than violence being inflicted at the hands of the state — through the blatant violence inflicted by police and through centuries of policy that have systematically oppressed Black people since before the founding of our country.

PPGC pledges to lift our voices and to work alongside our partner organizations to demand justice for the victims and their families, and to fight racism.

In solidarity,

Melaney A. Linton
President & CEO
Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast

The blatant lies of supporting Black Lives Matter is almost comical. African Americans represent only 13.3% of the American population; yet more black babies are aborted than any other race. 36% of all abortions are by black women. The number one killer of black lives in the United States is  Planned Parenthood through its legally sanctioned abortions. Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state that abortions kill more black people than HIV, homicide, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer combined. So why is Black Lives Matter aligning themselves with Plannned Parenthood?

Jesus On the Cross

When the Jews and the Romans joined forces, their unity was hatred of Jesus. We as Catholics will never take Jesus off the Cross because this is our reminder that His Crucifixion  was the price he paid for our atonement! We believe in the crucified Christ because we want that image to be sealed in our hearts. It depicts God’s love, and what He sacrificed for us. We can’t change history because it will aways be a life lesson. Sometimes it’s painful.

Antifa

The mainstream media introduced this organization as an ideology, but ask the citizens of Seattle.  Capital Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ ) has taken over six city blocks. Some of their demands include to abolish the court system, and release all non-white prisoners so that they can be retried. How can you do that if there is no court system? If you do not believe these radical leftist really exist, google Gabriel Nadales, a former member of Antifa.

I know the God I serve, even with all this craziness, God will see us through.

Ecclesiastes 3:15 New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)

¹⁵ What now is has already been; what is to be, already is: God retrieves what has gone by.

We have all suffered these past few weeks, I’m brokenhearted that we cannot get this under control. I can’t stop thinking of all the lives that were lost, including George Floyd. I often wonder, in this unbalanced world we live in, if we are ever going to get it right. I can’t watch the news any longer. I wanted to hear the names of the innocent lives that were lost during the protest/riots but the media disregarded them. In my opinion, they are the sacrificial lambs. I give honor to those whose lives matter just as much any other human being. I spent severals hour searching for their names on the internet: David Dorn, David Patrick Underwood, Chris Beaty, Italia Kelly, Calvin L. Horton, Jr., James Scurlock, David McAtee, and Dorian Murrel. These were the only names I could find; the others who lost their lives were simply listed as persons shot and killed. Forgive me for not being able to find their names. Please say their names and pray for their families. Pray for the police officer Shay K. Mikalonis, who was shot in the head in Las Vegas; he is on life support. Please pray for his recovery. All I have in me is prayer, and I’m struggling with that as well. I want to make sure that we all realize that these Black Lives Matter too!

Saving My Sanity

We are still spending most of our time at home. So I decided to take up birdwatching to clear my head of all the unavoidable anguish.

Mike first spotted the hummingbird’s nest on April 22nd. I cannot express our excitement with this discovery, so I immediately went outside to take a few photos. Each day we both carefully watched the mini bird’s nest. Since I am a novice at birdwatching, I watched a few YouTube videos and instantly elevated myself to an expert. I learned that soon two tiny hummingbirds would be hatched. Both Mike and I did everything in our power to keep our grandsons away from the little family.

Memorial Day

We had already put off the house painting but we were hesitant to invite the family over for a barbecue because of the nesting hummingbird. The two chicks hatched on May 20th, so we warned the boys to stay clear of the nest. Instead the boys found a lizard to occupy their time. Before torturing the poor thing, they baptized it in the St. Francis fountain. They also lathered it with sunscreen so that the creature could breathe better. I watched as they performed the baptism and thought that I could rescue the lizard, but by that time their actions were irreversible. Even though they freed the little guy, I doubt that it survived their impish hands. The boys swam, and, thank God, they never disturbed the nest.

The Birder

I named the bird Hadassah because it is the Hebrew name of Queen Esther. Malachi and Judith were the names I gave the chicks. I became a birder, a term used for a serious bird watcher. Hadassah knew my every move and was annoyed to see me; she would fly to a nearby bottlebrush tree and watch me from a distance as I took one shot after another of her adorable chicks.

Three O’Clock Prayer

Ever since the pandemic I’ve been praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet with my grandchildren. I have also, on a daily basis since March 13th,  been posting a prayer reminder  on both Facebook and Instagram. I asked the Lord for a sign on how much longer I had to do these postings. I prayed about the situation and guess what? The Lord answered me. He said that as soon as I see the bird leave the nest, I could stop reminding everyone to pray the 3 o’clock prayer. For eighty-three (83) days I posted reminders for everyone to pray.

Malachi

Malachi was the only bird left in the nest. I never doubt God, but I questioned how in the world was I actually going to see Malachi fly away. Any birder knows the signs of the hummingbirds; as soon as they are perched on the edge of the nest, they are ready to fly. I never saw Judith leave but Malachi was hesitant; he was uncertain what his future would be like after leaving the nest. Who could blame him? On Tuesday I noticed that he was flapping his tiny wings more than usual. I told Mike that I was going to witness this event. A serious birder has to work around the bird watching. I took several photos of him striking a commanding pose. I prayed that I would witness the blessed event. On Wednesday, Lucas and Jacob stayed with us while Sonja got a much-needed hair cut. After lunch I felt that this was the day Malachi would leave. His mother, Hadassah, came to feed him on four different occasions. She was fueling him up for the flight. Sonja and the entire family thought I was overdoing my birdwatching, but I didn’t care. They stayed for dinner but after they left I took one of  the kitchen chairs, sat on the small porch and observed, taking over 20 videos. When I got the notification that the battery on my phone was low I ran inside to get a portable charger. Mike came by and, nodding his head in doubt, called me “Lindooties  (my nickname) why?’ A birder is never distracted, so I gave Mike a broad smile and continued the watch. I checked to see when the sun would set and felt certain that he would take off right before sunset. I went back inside to clean the kitchen, but I had my phone ready to film this historic event. At 7:54  p.m. I grabbed my cell phone one last time and I captured Malachi flying toward the bottlebrush tree. It was a miracle. You can watch the flight of Malachi by clicking here: IMG_4001

The Small Miracle

All week long I have been praying for a miracle – that all this violence would stop in our country, for people to respect each other, and that they would walk in the love of God. The Lord used the smallest bird to reassure me that He is in control. I also asked the Lord to reveal truth in every situation in our lives. The change has to start from within; only then can we make our country just. The Lord allowed me to see Malachi flying away; this represented that nothing is impossible for Him.  God is always giving us direction. We need to pray with expectation that He will answer our plea. Never give up, because He is still the miracle worker.

The following day Mike carefully took down the nest before the tree people arrived. We cut back all the branches of the bougainvillea to prepare for the painters. We all could use a new coat of paint, not only to cover-up the old but to start afresh.

Micah 6:8 Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)

⁸ He has showed you, O man, what is good;
    and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
    and to walk humbly with your God?

To do justice has to do with our human behavior toward others; treat everyone fairly. To love kindness is to be gentle, sympathetic, and gracious toward others. To walk humbly is to listen to the revealed will of God.

No one in his right mind condones the death of George Floyd. He was murdered for the entire world to see. We are all aware of evil and how it prevails, but what took place on this dreadful day was inexcusable. No human being should ever suffer this type of heinous death. When we ignore these actions, we are sending a message that we do not care. I am not black, but I know what racism is about. I’ve experienced it a handful of times. It has never been a constant in my life, but I understand it exists. When we first moved to Orange County, I went to the elementary school to register my children into the public school that was in our district. As soon as I walked into the office I was greeted by an unfriendly woman. She asked me, “And why do you think you can register your children at this school? Who told you this was your school?” My answer was, “The realtor did.” I was not from this city, and I had no idea that this school was predominantly white. That woman was a racist, and she was going to do her best to make me feel uncomfortable. I never liked her because of her condescending behavior, but I never had anger toward her. Though this happened almost 40 years ago, I never forgot about this cold, unwelcome reception. I learned early in life not to allow this type of person to dictate who I was. I told myself that I would never make an individual feel inferior. Now imagine if this type of racist behavior happened to you on a regular basis. It’s hard to turn the other cheek if this is a constant. Think before judging, because unless you’re black, you will never really understand their plight. Black people need to be heard, and we need to listen to what they have to say.

Lesson in Serving the Homeless

In the twenty years of feeding the homeless on Skid Row in Los Angeles, the one thing that I learned is to respect the person at whatever stage in life they are. Respect is a small word with a profound meaning: from Webster’s Dictionary,

Verb

REGARD, RESPECT, ESTEEM, ADMIRE mean to recognize the worth of a person or thing. REGARD is a general term that is usually qualified.

If we as a ministry had not recognized that a person who lives on the streets had worth, we could never have shown them love. I have come across the hardest-looking dudes on Skid Row, but when we showed them respect, they opened their hearts to receive. I have always trained the others helping us that at no time are they allowed to touch anyone without first asking that person’s permission. This is their personal  space, and we learned to respect them because they have worth. We were all created by one God, and each of us has a special purpose and calling. We are all called to love one another.

United We Stand

We are all in this together. Just as during the pandemic, we should unite for the betterment of humanity. This last incident has hit all Americans in the gut; I can’t breathe either. It took the actions of one mindless officer to make us aware of the need to re-evaluate how we treat other human beings. This unjust treatment has got to stop! I, for one, will become more cognizant of my actions. To love is to always place the needs of others before your own. Become a servant and you will understand what love is really about. Jesus took the role of a servant by washing the feet of His disciples. He knew what suffering was ahead for Him, yet He took the role of a lowly servant. Why do you think Jesus did this? It wasn’t because the disciples’ feet were dirty; he was teaching them to be servants. If you do not learn to serve, you develop a spirit of entitlement. Our country suffers with a slew of entitled people, and they come from all races and economic backgrounds.

The Perfect Storm

I was already upset with the stay-at-home order, and anger was taking hold of my daily dialogue. We were never without; Mike works from home so our finances remained status quo. It was the inconveniences of staying home that was making me crazy. Now imagine if you did not have food or income – how much more would the pandemic affect those individuals? This was the perfect storm: restlessness meets anger, and all hell breaks loose. How do we fix this big mess? People who have experienced hurricanes and tornados understand the aftermath. They started anew. They cleaned up the mess the storm had left behind. They built stronger homes to withstand the coming storms. Most importantly, they drew closer to God. Only God can see us through this storm, and only by turning our anger into love can we withstand the upheaval. We need to rebuild our spirits in order to withstand these attacks. We need to put on the armor of God to dodge the fiery darts that are being thrown our way. These assignments are from hell, and they are meant to rob, kill and destroy. We need to remain in constant prayer.

The Police

A dear friend of mine called me Saturday, asking me to pray for her brother who is a lieutenant with the Sheriffs Department. He was gearing up to face the angry mobs in Los Angeles. If you think for one moment that these officers were not apprehensive, you’re kidding yourself. They had nothing to do with the murder of George Floyd, yet they are going to be held accountable. Their lives have value, and they, too, matter. You want to talk about restraint? These officers have to put up with bottles of urine and feces, M-80’s thrown at them, and strangers yelling obscenities right in their faces.

We are all accountable for our actions, and as I watched this news unfold, I became angry because of all the looting and destruction taking place. But what angered me the most was the manner in which the media covered the story. It was more of an incitement to violence than reporting it. When there is lawlessness, it must be contained with the intention to stop the actions of the mob. Another friend texted me a flyer with information on a rally of solidarity. The strange thing about this flyer was that there was no mention of George Floyd. It started with F*** the police, mask up, wear black and bring your Homies. The people inciting this type of behavior are self-serving individuals who care little about the real problem. I will never side with rioting because it cultivates violence and portrays all protesters as criminals. You lose the ear of the masses when this happens because there is no excuse for lawlessness.

Matthew 24:12 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

¹² Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. 

“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great of a burden to bear.”  Martin Luther King, Jr.

“In a gentle way you can shake the world.” Mahatma Gandhi

“Only when we have become nonviolent toward all life will we have learned to live well ourselves.” Cesar Chavez

1 Peter 4:8 New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)

⁸ Above all, let your love for one another be intense, because love covers a multitude of sins.

Lord, heal our land!