Brothers and Sisters,

Last Sunday, April 13, I sang the song "I Need to Wake Up" by Melissa Etheridge at service for the church I attend.  We are celebrating Earth Season and the song was made famous by the movie "An Inconvenient Truth".  So why should I find it surprising that Mother Earth did exactly what is spoke of in the song?  The words go like this:  "I need to move, I need to wake up, I need to change, I need to shake up, I need to speak out, something's got to break up, I've been asleep and I need to wake up now."  This morning, at 4:37 (Illinois time), there was an earthquake in the Midwest.  Epicenter was Evansville, IL but tremors were felt for 100s of miles around.  I woke up at 5:40 with my bed moving and everything shaking in my room.  Now, having lived in California for 4 years, I sure knew what an earthquake felt like, but thought that it must have been something different.  But, sure enough, the morning news was reporting an earthquake.  That's something I've never seen in my lifetime; an earthquake in the Midwest.  Here in Michigan, a lot of us believe that we are sheltered from this sort of thing.  Sure, we have some of the worst winters in the country, but at least we don't get earthquakes and hurricanes, and seldom tornadoes.  I guess no one on earth is safe from the wake up call of Mother Earth.  And she did exactly that to many this morning just as the song says; she moved us, woke us up, shook us up and I'm sure there are many things that were broken up and now (more than before) I feel the need to change and to speak out.

Please hear her call.  She needs our help.

Namaste,

Lisa

Is anybody else irritated at the song choice for the beginning of American Idol tonight?  "Shout to the Lord" was the song that all the idols sang together at the beginning of the elimination night.  Here is a sample of some of the words:

My Jesus, My Savior
Lord there is none like You
All of my days, I want to praise
The wonders of Your mighty love
My Comfort, My Shelter
Tower of refuge and strength
Let every breath, all that I am
Never cease to worship You
 
Shout to the Lord, all the earth Let us sing.

Power and majesty, praise to the King.
Mountains bow down and the seas will roar
At the sound of Your name
I sing for joy at the work of Your hands
Forever I'll love you, forever I'll stand
Nothing compares to the promise I have in
YOU!

At the risk of offending some people, here is why I'm irritated.  If you watched last night, then you will have seen the "Idol Gives Back" show on which American Idol raises money for charities (highlights were Annie Lennox and Carrie Underwood...and Jimmy Kimmel...he's a funny guy).  This is an amazing thing they are doing and they raised over $60 million from home viewers!!!  Wow!  People from all around the world called-in or donated online.  The Prime Minister of Great Britan, Gordon Brown, donated $200 million on behalf of his country!  All in all it was a wonderfully uniting, world-connecting night...so why in the world, after showing highlights of that evening, would they kick off tonight's show by singing as their group song, one that's so blatantly a Christian worship song?  It's almost like they are saying "Look at all the wonderful things we've done.  This could only be of Jesus' doing."  I'm sure that out of the $60 million donated from home viewers, there had to have been quite a mix of religions.  What about the Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, the Atheists?  I don't know, I just think it was a tacky choice of songs.  Am I alone in this?

Now to be fair, I have to ask myself if I would have felt the same way if they only sang a Jewish song or Hindu or Buddhist chant...the answer is no.  I'm not sure why.  I would have been pleasantly surprised, but think that would have also been a wrong choice.  I think I've just been around enough "shove it down your throat" situations with Christianity that I don't want to hear it anymore.  It just seems to be one of the most arrogant of all religions, aside from the radicals from each.  The truth is, I actually like that song, even though I'm not a Christian (in the traditional sense) and I think the idols did a great job with it.  I just think they should have picked a more neutral, non-affiliated, positive-message song.  There are plenty out there.  Anyhow, that's just me being irritated.  But as always, everything is as it should be and always will be.

"Can't you see it's all perfect?"  -  Neem Karoli Baba

I had a great time in California.  I miss it so much!  But more than the landscape and beautiful energy, I miss my friends; my spiritual family.  But as much as I miss it, and as much as Heather (my best friend) tries to talk me into moving back, it's just not the right timing.  I can feel that.

I was busy but I did almost everything on my list;  Group meditations with my spiritual circle, energy healings and Crystal bowl meditations with my beloved Gurus, MaDar and Trikaya;  Santa Cruz - bunny shoes!, World Bazaar, Indian food, I was disappointed that we didn't see the pink parasol guy but we did see a man in a leopard print unitard with a boa and cat-eye sunglasses playing guitar and singing loudly in the town square under a banner that read "Dyke March".  Call me crazy, but I thought "dykes" were female, ya know, lesbians?  Maybe he wants to be one.  We also saw a guy dressed from head to toe like a blue lego dinosaur.  Oh yes, Santa Cruz is always interesting.  That's why it's one of my favorite towns;   San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district - Ambience, Love of Ganesha, and Amoeba Records - they now have a stage where live bands play to promote their CD while you shop!;  My friend Vicki picked me up and we went hiking in my favorite place, Henry Cowell Redwood State Park - through the redwood trail, across the train bridge, down the tracks to the river where the beach is called The Garden of Eden.  We followed the river down a bit and found a rock to sit on to do a meditation...ahhhh...the rush of the water, the wind in the trees, connecting with nature;   Heather and I went to the M.A. Center to see Ammachi (Mata Amritanandamayi).  They call her the hugging saint because that's how she gives her darshan.  Thousands of people wait in line to get their hug from Amma and I'm proud to say I was one of them.  I LOVE her!  And I'm so lucky I got to see her.  She's usually there a week later in June;   I went with my friend Sharon to see MaDar's daughter Karen who had a brain aneurism.  She's only a year older than me and was always so full of life and now she seems trapped inside a body that won't let her be free.  We met some of our circle there and sat around her and did an energy healing; Then me, Heather and her daughter Elise went to a place called Safari West.  It's 170 acres of privately owned land in Santa Rosa where they have 100s of African animals.  We went on a safari tour and spent the night in a safari tent.  It was so fun!  I wish they would've had elephants, but it was great to see the giraffes, antelope, impala, cheetahs, ostriches, and tortoises (LOL, see the picture).  After that, we drove to the San Francisco airport to drop me off to come home.  We made a stop for lunch in Sausalito on the way.

It was a great vacation!  I can't wait to go again and see everybody.  In the meantime, I will continue my practice of meditating twice a day and will continue to practice my didgeridoo and soon...I think...will buy a set of crystal bowls to do group meditations.