“Where is God in all this?”

My uncle, a pastor with the Disciples of Christ, had a favorite question he always used to ask, “Where is God in all this?” I have been thinking of him a lot these days. And I have been reflecting on his favorite question.

If you turn on the news or check out social media, it seems that chaos reigns everywhere you turn. It is easy to get caught up in the physical and emotional chaos an the war of opinions. But where is God in all this?

I’m reminded of the time that Elijah was running away from Jezebel’s persecution and hid in a cave up on a mountain. His life was certainly chaotic. I’m sure he was asking, “Where is God in all of this?”

And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. ~1 Kings 19:11-12 (ESV)

This is one of my favorite passages. It is appropriate for our time, because God doesn’t speak to us out of chaos, the wind, earthquake or fire, but through the low whisper of our conscience. We need to take time to reflect, like Elijah, in his cave, so that God has a chance to catch our spiritual ear through our conscience.

Here is my recommendation for reflection. Mother of Peace, the memoir of Hak Ja Han Moon

Mother of Peace

Epic Dreams

Epic dream:
Dreaming of work again, but with a difference. Instead of tedious dreams of financial spread sheets, my company was being retooled to let all employees play computer games, and not just on breaks.

We had a lively discussion about our favorite 1980s computer games. The company was developing games based on epic fantasy literature like The Lord of the Rings or The Eye of the World. I was making a passionate case for my favorite epic fantasy, The Hero and the Crown, by Robin McKinley.

I always thought of it as my favorite example of the hero’s journey as taught by Joseph Campbell in Hero with a Thousand Faces.

Bernie Van Winkle

Bernie reminds me of myself at 15, raptly listening to my Maoist polysci teacher in a hippie free school as he extolled the glorious workers paradises in China and Cuba.

He was really cool, with his “Che” beard and black beret complete with little red star.

He took us on field trips to communist book fairs in Berkeley and to anti-war protests in Union Square SF.

We got to see first hand how radicals in masks threw Molotov cocktails at police motorcycles. Mounted police jumped hedges, swinging batons to disperse the crowds. It was like the scene in Doctor Zhivago when the Cossacks ran down the innocent protesters.

More masked protestors threw bricks through Bank of America windows.

Bernie seems frozen in time, that time., like Mel Gibson in Forever Young.

But I saw first hand, Lenin’s strategy of attack first, then blame the establishment. “Did you see how the cops just attacked us?”

My Polysci teacher and his whole cool crowd lost credibility with me that day.

The bill of rights protects our right of peaceful assembly, but Molotov cocktails are not covered by the first amendment.

Since then I watched the fall of Vietnam with subsequent waves of Vietnamese boat people.

I made friends with a Hungarian chef who fled over the mountains to find a life of freedom in America.

I drank countless cups of Cuban coffee and listened to Cuban refugees in North Hudson NJ tell their stories of how Fidel Castro betrayed their revolution when he came out as communist and how he locked up countless relatives for speaking out against injustices.

Their only recourse was to flee to Florida on whatever barely seaworthy craft they could find or raft they could build.

I drank more Cuban coffee with more refugees in Miami and Hialeah shortly after the Mariel boat lift.

125,000 more refugees from Cuba streamed into Florida. Castro took that opportunity to empty his jails of the worst criminals, and emptied mental hospitals of the criminally insane, dumping them on the USA, specifically Miami.

I marched in Atlanta with Afghans protesting the Soviet Occupation of Afghanistan.

I marched is support of the Polish Workers Union (Solidarity) that was struggling to break the yoke of Soviet domination.

We protested Soviet backed Cuban guerrillas fighting to destabilize Central America and Africa (Angola).

We watched in horror as the truth came out about the Killing Fields in Cambodia under Pol Pot.

We celebrated as Gorbachev disavowed communism and set the Soviet Union free. We cheered when the Berlin Wall came down.

But Bernie seems to have been frozen in his time capsule and missed all of that. He’s like Rip Van Winkle just waking from a nap.

My generation lived through all that. We have parents that remember even further back to the Cuban missile crisis and the Berlin Airlift.

I say, let Bernie get back to his nap while we all say, “Never again!”

The Keys to Heaven or Hell are in Your Own Hands

We find what we are looking for.

Look for racism, hatred and intolerance. You will see it everywhere. This is Hell.

Look for love, kindness, beauty and miracles. You will find those too. This is Heaven

The key to heaven and hell is in your own hand.

This is what Jesus meant when he said, “Ask, and it will be given to you;

*seek*, and you will find;

knock, and it will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?

Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

~Matt 7:7-11 ESV (free Kindle version)

Telo-Mind Dreams

I’m astounded by the deep sleep and vivid dreams I get when taking Telo-Mind, the rejuvenating supplement from Life Designers. If I take them before bed I get a profoundly deep sleep. That’s very important since I have sleep apnea. Even with a CPAP I don’t always get a deep enough sleep. With Telo-Mind, I get a good, long segment of REM sleep with vivid and positive dreams.

I have been taking 14 capsules per day since I discovered that each individual ingredient has a positive effect for protecting kidney function. (Stayed tuned for a future post.)

I was dividing the dose evenly between morning and evening. I experimented with taking more of the daily dose st night and less in the morning. I started taking nine at night and five in the morning.

The quality of my sleep and vividness of my dreams increased dramatically with this change.

Last night I dreamed that I was walking through a neighborhood of rundown and vacant apartments that were scheduled for demolition. Only two buildings owned by CARP would remain standing.

I was looking through the buildings searching for residents who hadn’t evacuated. I started at the top of the first building. There were three section the roof of the building that were full of rainwater, almost as deep as swimming pools.

The walls around these pools were weak with age threatening to collapse. I pushed out on one wall. It cracked and the force of the water pushed out and broke the wall allowing the large pool of water to spill out and down off the roof. I moved on tho push on the other two walls so that all three pools of water were set free to spill over the edge of the roof.I started to work my way down from the top floor, searching for residents left behind after the evacuation. I opened doors to each apartment checking for furniture and other signs of habitation.

Most apartments were bare with an occasional chair in a room or clothes hanger on the floor of a closet. I wasn’t expecting to find any money or jewelry, but I kept hoping to find abandoned books.

I began to hear music drifting up from downstairs. At first I thought that someone may have left a radio playing. It sounded like classical music that I may have been familiar with. I started thinking that it could be someone was playing a piano or other instrument.

I went through the rooms more quickly hoping to discover the source of the music. The music got slowly louder as I worked my way downstairs. It also became clearer that it was from multiple instruments, like an orchestra. It must be a recording.

I came to a floor where the music was very clear, coming from a single apartment. I knocked on the door. An elderly woman opened the door. The music was coming from her stereo.

I asked her several questions to see if she had any family nearby or anyone who could help her move. She couldn’t speak but mutely responded with gestures and shakes if the head. No family, no friends, no place to go.

I told her what was happening and urged her to contact CARP members to help her move. I explained that she could stay with the CARP center until we worked out some solution. She seemed very lonely with no one to comfort or help her.

I regretfully left her and continued searching. On one floor I found the library. A lot of books were already gone, but some very nice books were still there. I couldn’t do anything about the sets of encyclopedias or sets of Great Books, but I did find a shelf of illustrated classics. I looked through them and found a couple of favorited that I really wanted to keep.

I showed the books to another member who was supervising the search. She said she would assign the task to another member of the team. Even so, I wanted to be sure to save the books I chose.

I started down the staircase, but I was flying. I held on to the banister and jumped from one landing to the next, just lightly touching the banister in the way down. After the first couple of landings I stopped touching down but swung around at the bottom of each flight of stairs and kept going. I flew all the way to the bottom floor this way.

Check out TeloMind here: Telo-Mind

Lost and Found

A Dog and archery. An irresistible combination. As a kid I wanted to be an Indian. (Dad told me that I was kidnapped from the Indians. Some joke, huh?) I tried so hard to learn archery with my 10 pound bow from Kmart.

There were no lessons nearby, so I made do with my cheap bow and a bale of straw.

I’ve had a couple dogs, even though I’m allergic to them. I wish I could have been a better person and appreciated them more while they were alive.

My penance is spent reading dog books like Lost and Found by Jacqueline Sheehan. I feel like I’m borrowing these fictional dogs on my way to becoming a better person.

I loved Cooper-Lloyd, and Rocky is pretty cool too. I rooted for Melissa, but Cooper was the one who came to the rescue. Great story. Looking forward to more in Picture This, Peak’s Island Book 2.

Peace Starts With Me

Something to think about, regarding loving our enemies.

Jesus spoke more than once about loving our enemies. Here is the most famous passage from Matthew Chapter 5:43-48

Love Your Enemies

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?And if you greet only your brothers,ⁱwhat more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

I also found this great quote from Mrs. Hak Ja Han Moon:

“Being persecuted is actually a secret method of inheriting the enemy’s right of possession. In this way, the person whom God Love is always under the protection of heavenly fortune. Even if God has an enemy whom he wishes to overcome, God will not punish that person because God knows that person has parents and a wife. as well as sons and daughters who love him. Since God also has crossed the valley of tears, when He experiences the heart of His enemy’s parents, wife and children, who love him more than anyone else, He simply cannot eliminate this enemy.”

~Mrs. Hak Ja Han Moon, Women Will Play a Leading Role in the Ideal World, May 21, 1992.

I really like her perspective. It is a paradigm shift that makes it seem more personal.

This amazing woman will be speaking at Nassau Coliseum on November 12, 2018, on Healing America: Peace Starts with Me.

I think that is a message we could all appreciate in these turbulent times.

Improve your sleep, boost your energy and feel younger all around with Telo-Mind.
Find out more at https://curtismartin.lifedesigners.com/

Easy Saurkraut

I recently started making my own sauerkraut. Wow. I never imagined how easy and delicious it could be.

After a couple tries slicing my own cabbage, I discovered this five pound bag of coleslaw mix at Smart & Final. Using this saves a lot of time in prep. It includes some carrots and purple cabbage to give the sauerkraut more color. It comes out a little pink. you can add more purple cabbage or even a julienned beet for a darker purple color.

I put this in a large plastic mixing bowl. a ceramic or glass bowl would be the best, but I don’t have one large enough. It has to be big enough that a ceramic dinner plate ca fit inside to press down on the cabbage. Metal is not recommended for anything fermented. I’ll add a picture later.

Then sprinkle three tablespoons of plain sea salt. Iodized salt will inhibit the fermentation process. Using your hands, toss the cabbage to mix in the salt. Water will start to come out of the cabbage due to the salt.

Continue tossing the cabbage, pressing and kneading it to squeeze out the water. This takes about five minutes until the juice covers the cabbage when you press it down. If the juice doesn’t cover the cabbage completely, I put a ceramic dinner plate on top of the cabbage, cover the entire bowl with a towel and let it rest for a bit, about a half hour to an hour. This gives the salt time to work.

Come back and squeeze more water out until the cabbage can be submerged in its own juice. This prevents spoilage and mold from growing on the exposed cabbage.

Put the plate back on top of the cabbage and weigh it down the something. I use a 32 ounce jar filled with water. Cover everything with a towel and let it sit at room temperature for at least three days.

Check it daily to be sure it is still submerged. You can taste it to see how the fermentation is coming along. Three days is enough to get a nice sour taste with a good crunch texture.

Once it is ripe enough, pack it into jars. I use two 32 oz jars. Pour in the juice to cover the cabbage. Then they can be stored in the refrigerator.

One pack of coleslaw mix filled these two jars.

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Four Levels of Prayer (#dream)

I need to give a little background before sharing the dream. Every evening we take some time for devotional reading and prayer. Unificationists refer to this devotional practice as hoondokhwae.

In the evening before I had this dream we were reading True Mother’s speech on The Mission of Eve given in Japan on September 18, 1991. One particular section struck me deeply when she spoke about True Father’s heart of prayer toward the Japanese church leaders.

“True Father is very strict when he gives out a command to the Japanese leaders. He does not budge or give in. However, when he comes back to his room and prays, he weeps as he thinks about the difficult situation of the Japanese members. One by one, he calls out the names of the leaders who are responsible for Japan’s providence of restoration and prays for them in tears. He offers unending devotions in support of the Japanese members.”

That same night I dreamed I was kneeling and praying in tears. I felt so lonely, missing True Father (Rev. Sun Myung Moon, who passed away in 2012). While I was praying, I felt someone kneeling next to me. I looked and saw True Father praying beside me.

Later in the dream, I was at an American Clergy Leadership Conference (ACLC) meeting. Rev. Mark Tengan passed around a handout on the Four Levels of Prayer.

1) Prayer about God’s creation & daily life

2) Prayer about the Providence of God (Divine Principle)

3) Prayer about True Father’s life course

4) Prayer that is connection of heart and direct communication to True Father and God.

While still in the dream, I understood that my loneliness stemmed from being stuck in the first level of prayer. I was unconsciously lamenting the loss of the fourth level of Prayer.

After I woke up, while reflecting on the message in this dream, I realized that God was calling me to a deeper level of prayer. I have experienced that fourth level of prayer, but many years ago. I felt that our lonely God is also longing for that deeper level of prayer. He doesn’t want us to be complacent in settling for less.

Mother of Peace, by Hak Ja Han Moon

As a Peace-Loving Global Citizen

Inquisition: The Persecution and Prosecution of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon

Prayers, A Lifetime of Conversation with Our Heavenly Father

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Dream—Pure Water

I dreamed that I was attending a church conference in the spirit world. It was held in a large upscale hotel. True Father was there, directing things from behind the scenes.

Every evening Father asked a different True Child to give a testimony. This evening’s testimony was given by a handsome young son that I didn’t recognize. He was very soft spoken.

Many people in the auditorium were looking at their phones when he started his testimony. The first thing he did was to ask everyone to put their phones away unless they were going to record his talk.

He started by talking about his life. He spoke so softly that I couldn’t hear well, so I moved up to the front row. He began to talk about some of his current projects.

He was working on some new technology that would provide pure water to the entire world. It was very exciting.

The second project was a trip to Iran to meet with a secret group of people who believed in Mohammed, but were not Muslims. I mentioned that UPF in Los Angeles had met a group calling themselves Messianic Muslims.

(A Wind in the House of Islam)

As he ended his talk he told us abou a new song he wrote about love. We got the lyrics of the first verse and he ended his talk. I tried to follow him out to the elevators, but He disappeared.

The members all went out to the cafeteria. Some sisters were passing out Halloween masks. I thought it was a little weird because it was still September.

Messianic Beliefs and Imperial Politics in Medieval Islam: The al~Abbasid Caliphate in the Early Ninth Century

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