Whenever I go to write about this issue of environment and food, I always get overwhelmed with the task. There is so much to say, so much to share, and the importance of it weighs heavily. Beyond informational or medical, it is a deeply practical spiritual problem and solution. 

This blog is a place to start. And so is this petition to say no to genetically engineered salmon. Please consider signing one of these. 
Over 1,500,000 signatures at Avaaz: 
Sign here
Over 59,000 signatures at Center For Food Safety:
Sign here

When it comes to the issue of food and food safety, there is not a single person on this earth who is not affected. 

We all eat.

When it comes to the stewardship of the earth, there is not a single person who is exempt.

We are all inhabitants of this planet.

It is inevitable that we are each going to put a carbon footprint of some size on the planet- just like it is inevitable that a house with children is going to get dirty. This isn’t about living invisible lives so that the earth does not suffer. It is however about cleaning up our messes, the way we  keep daily/ weekly upkeep of a home, so that we can co-inhabit a planet with a sense of wellness, order, kindness and health.

One of the major disconnects as a human race today is our disconnect to the environment and our food. Everyday moms, schools, families, singles are buying food that has been sprayed with toxic herbicides and insecticides: milk, dairy and meat pumped with bovine growth hormones and antibiotics, and now genetically engineered corn, soy and canola products unlabeled; a myriad of practices ranging from unhealthy, destructive to ethically unjust. 

Women unknowingly buy cotton tampons riddled with DDT-like poison and put it in their bodies. They buy cotton diapers and put it on their children. We buy chemicals and spray it on our toilets and counters. We spray our lawns that our children and dogs roll around in. And then, we wonder why cancer is an epidemic. 
Food and environment are huge preventatives as well as causes to cancer: 

We buy food with an assumption that it is “just fine” simply because it is sold to us. Meanwhile the contamination taking place on industrial and factory farms is so great, that conventional farmers have the highest suicide rate of any profession on the planet… often killing themselves by drinking or injecting the very chemicals they use.  In 2010, the numbers of suicides in India alone had reached close to 190,000.

This is a tragedy.

And largely silent.

This is the news none of us wants to hear: that there is no mommy and daddy of food watching out for us. And that the people growing food in conventional methods are hurting and dying, as are the consumers eating the food they are producing. 
The trust we have placed in our supermarkets goes about as far as a food supplier doing their best to not sell you something that will give you food poisoning today or tmrw, but is in fact poisoning you over time.

Six of the largest chemical companies in the world (Monsanto, Syngenta, Bayer, Pioneer, BASF, DOW), have tremendous influence over the decisions the FDA makes. It's these companies who are at the helm of genetically engineered food experiments, creating and selling herbicides and insecticides, and patenting seed as ownership.
They are doing everything in their power and pocketbook to keep foods from being labeled. 

Labeled food means choice for the consumer, and since most people don't wake up in the morning saying, "I can't wait to go eat some genetically engineered food," it's understandable that these companies don't want you to know that what you're eating is not what you think it is.

Yours and my knowledge and interest in our food is a huge profit loss for them. And while the majority of us support growth and progress and financial abundance, there are moral, ethical and practical standards to be withheld. And the standard that crosses the line of our human health and the health of the planet should be nonnegotiable.

Since food is a human necessity that's never going to go out of style- it has become a billion dollar per year industry- a 'cash cow' so to speak. Unfortunately, it seems everyone is making money... except the farmer. And beyond environmental, it's not a healthy economical system either.
We can no longer afford to eat just what is in front of us on the supermarket shelves. It is the time to become more conscious consumers. 

And this is where it gets exciting! There IS GOOD NEWS! And it's not hard!
Food is one of the few things we can really change in regards to environment and social justice today, right now. It is not too late, yet!

The best way to begin is by literally changing what we eat, and therefore what we buy. We  guide companies to create what is good and just, by speaking with our  pocketbooks. 

Here are some ways you can do that today: 

1. Buy organic whenever you possibly can. Organic ensures food has not been genetically engineered and has strict regulations regarding the use of harmful herbicides and pesticides. 

•  Anything but organic dairy, eggs and meat products should be nonnegotiable in your family! (same with fruit and veggies- but start with the dairy and meat due to all the growth hormone, antibiotics and inhumane animal treatment that are in nonorganic practices).  Nonorganic milk is a puss filled, growth hormone nightmare that you are feeding your children.  (A dramatic presentation of a sad reality: watch here.)
• Nonorganic eggs come from chickens who have been injected with antibiotics, whose feet have never touched ground. The deformation of these chickens is appalling. (This is one of the non horrific pictures).
  

• Eating out at fast food restaurants should be a non-existent option. Seriously. Fast food = Fast death for your body, animals, and planet. Assume all meat and dairy found in fast food chains come from the worst factory farms you can imagine. Because they do.
  
• If you buy soy, make sure it is organic. Soy, corn, cotton and canola are some of the largest genetically engineered crops in the world. This means genes from another species have been injected into the original food, in essence making it a different food altogether. The long term health ramifications are unknown. The farmers are dying...

2.    Buy cleaning agents that are non toxic. Whole Foods and other green markets sell some really great ones. Post on this blog or email me and I will give you some great recommendations!

3.    Women, make sure the cotton you are buying is organic. Buy organic tampons, diapers, etc.

4.    Start signing petitions and refusing to buy genetically engineered foods (soy, corn, canola). Once food that has been genetically altered is released into the wild, like the pending salmon bill with at the FDA, it cannot be recalled. It is in nature forever. By buying it, we are supporting it and are complicit in our own destruction of body and planet. 

Jer. 2:7 from the Bible says: I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and you made my inheritance detestable.

We have been given a land to steward, to care for, to give thanks for, and I am afraid that in all our busyness, the majority of us are failing this simple but profound duty. Like brushing our teeth, it ultimately benefits us to take these simple actions. To not do it is to our own destruction- and yet like resistant, tired little children, we turn our head, fight the simple directions and say no. In an attempt to feel better in the short term, serious problems are created in the long term.

In December 2012, the FDA decided genetically engineered salmon wasn't such a bad idea. 
(The European Union and other countries around the world have all banned the selling of genetically engineered foods in their countries- we are one of the only developed countries to even consider allowing the contamination of these sciences into the wild).  

A GE salmon released into the wild would in time destroy the species of salmon indefinitely forever.

This past Monday, I had the privilege of joining my brother with his company Avaaz outside the FDA (above photo). They made a huge “frankenfish” to stand with in peaceful resistance to this pending approval. The fish looks a little weird... but I think that's the point.

This Friday, April 26th, is the last day for signatures to say no to genetically engineered salmon. Again, I hope you will take 30 seconds to add your name and email to the petition.

Over 1,500,000 signatures at Avaaz: 
Sign here
Over 59,000 signatures at Center For Food Safety: 
Sign here

This blog is only a tiny taste and overview of what is happening in, with and to our food. There is a ton of information online, as well as some incredible documentaries that go into all of this in greater detail.  I can’t encourage you enough to read up on what is taking place in the food movement and to start buying food differently for yourself and your families. 

God has given us a beautiful place to call home while we are here on earth. From the first pages of Genesis He has instructed us to care for this home. He has declared for us to take delight in it. 

Nature is not a God within itself, and we are not Gods in ourselves to do with it as we please. We have been given gifts to steward in thanksgiving for all we have been given. Let’s enjoy our gift through thoughtful and grateful stewardship, so we may pass our inheritance on for many generations yet to come.

Ezekiel 34:2-4. Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should not the shepherds take care of the flock? You eat the curds, clothe yourselves with the wool and slaughter the choice animals, but you did not take care of the flock! You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally.

Ezekiel 34:17-18. As for you, my flock... Is it not enough for you to feed on good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of your pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet?

Quotes like this used to scare me- I thought they meant I had to go do something amazing, 
like... right now. 

I was a doer longing to rest and now I felt pressured to go DO one more thing! No!

But today, I believe standing up to live can often look like sitting down and being still; that living has more to do with being alert and responsive then necessarily participating in a grandiose action. 

That being said, every once in a while I do find it refreshing and exciting to do something lavishly out of the ordinary and BIG. Daily living and routine becomes that much more extraordinary when we break from it and live differently for a bit. 

This weekend I head to NYC to see three Broadway/ Off Broadway plays in 24 hours. I have been brainstorming writing a musical for a long time and it has been on my heart that I need to refresh myself in the presence of musicals and LIVE theatre this season. 
Before I can write a musical, I must go live, watch and learn others living out the musical life. Something I did for many years, but have not done intentionally in a long while. This weekend, I get to let their ordinary be my extraordinary; I get to stand up and be changed by what I see- so that change can be used to talk/ write/ live through me. 

Yes, it's costing me a bit more money then I am comfortable with, and yes, it is a risk... you never know how great a play is until you see it... But that's not the point. The point is to respond to a call to grow, to be refreshed, to be opened to something familiar yet unknown. And to be primed to a position where I can give from what I have lived and experienced; seen and processed. 

In entering times of heightened experience, saturated in something exciting that inspires the divine, creative joy and spirit in you, the richness of God's wonders are revealed. In the experience, we have the opportunity to realize how blessed we are and in return bless others with our own thanksgiving.

Whether this is a weekend of quiet living, or loud, taxi honking, broadway house-clapping theatre living, may we all be thankful that we have chosen not a moment of isolated comfort, but wild, untamed, staggering grace in the life of our Father.

Anticipating hearing God's wisdom come through you ...,

Kaiulani

The one common thread I have found between myself and all my girlfriends who seem prone to developing unhealthy soul ties with men, is a parent who was emotionally, mentally or physically unavailable and/or a parent who was an alcoholic, workaholic, or addiction prone in some way.

Most often the scenario is having two parents where each fits one of these roles, creating a very confusing dynamic to the developing child. The thwarted definition of intimacy that results leads to extremes in relationships in the child’s eventual adult life and identity.

As children with an addicted parent, intimacy is primarily expressed through indulgence, guilt and little boundaries. The child learns to associate closeness with an unrealistic burden and sense of responsibility for the well being and saving of their parent.

With a closed off parent, the child has a natural longing for closeness with the parent, but is met with an ice wall, a coldness. When a child is not received physically or emotionally by her parent, it can lead to severe insecurity and a growing belief of un-lovability, and poor development of having core value.

And since both parents are clearly struggling in their own spiritual battles, love in the entire family system is based in earthly dependency, not eternal dependency- which always leads to dysfunction.

Overall, the child never learns how to be intimate- and this essential skill and experience creates an immature (inexperienced) approach to relationships, as they get older. Again, dysfunctional earthly love, not following the principles of heavenly love, creates distortions in how we give and receive love.

This often comes in the form of developing unhealthy soul ties with another person. 

A friend recently spoke this term soul tie to me over a phone conversation. I’m used to terms like codependent or love addicted, but this idea of a soul tie made so much more sense. Here is a definition of a soul tie (found in Mastering Deliverance):

A soul tie is like a linkage in the soul realm between two people. It links their souls together, which can bring fourth both beneficial results or negative results.
A soul tie can serve many functions, but in it's simplest form, it ties two souls together in the spiritual realm.

Between husband and wife, or in a conscious and intimate friendship, a soul tie is a precious and beautiful gift – a longing of the heart fulfilled.  But I feel strongly that when we miss a healthy experience of a intimacy with a parent in childhood, we seek a premature connection in relationships (fantasizing or becoming infatuated with someone- having a relationship with them in our minds but not in reality), or we continually tend to transfer our desire for that soul connection to a person that is not right for us (we have a broken picker so to speak). We end up “marrying” men and women in our heart, who are not ours to “marry” in the flesh… and thus the countless stories of broken hearts and unhealed attachments unfold.

It took me a year after ending a relationship to wonder why I COULD NOT let go. The day I realized I had “married” this man in my heart (without a ring on my finger in the flesh) brought so much understanding to my pain and crazy levels of attachment. It has also made me much more careful and even respectful in moving forward as I meet men. Soul ties are serious and real, and not to be played with. They are sacred.

When we are not centered in any sort of biblical principle of relationship, these soul ties can destroy a life with addiction and extreme highs and lows, heightened in hope and crippling in despair.

If you find yourself in a soul tie with a man (or woman) – you will know because you will be in excruciating pain and probably feel like you are literally dying without that person. (Sadly enough, this other person is usually unaware or unreciprocative of your level of emotional and spiritual attachment). Here are some things to help:

• Acknowledge that you are in a cycle of dysfunction.
  
• Notice how your attachment mimics the need of a child. There is not really love so much as      need.
  
• Acknowledge that the desire for the meeting of a soul in a heavenly realm is beautiful and natural.
  
• Clearly identify and get honest that this healthy desire has mutated into a soul sickness and distorted projection of love.
  
• You are looking to heal the unfulfilled bond of a mommy (or a daddy), not a lover. Don’t confuse the two. 
  

I believe and have found, that until we address the soul wound that took place in childhood, we cannot healthfully receive the gift and meet the awesome challenge of being in a healthy soul tie with a partner.

The unfulfilled needs of our childhood get healed by an intimacy with God, not a man. From this healing, true intimacy and healthy soul ties with a man can occur.

Not that we will be fully healed before we can experience love and partnership- but we must be conscious of the difference between need and love and accountable to the temptation and habit of thinking we’re in love when we are in need.

This is one of the most painful and one of the most profound transformations that can take place in a wounded adult child. I know it all too well for myself. 


You have my respect and empathy as you grow through the fire and grief to a state of renewal and true love with your Creator. 
We must know Him before we can know ourselves. And we must know both Him and ourselves as a foundation before we can grow in healthy love with another person.

Peace and blessings my sisters and brothers…

It had been awhile since I sat in Pampered Hands on Melrose in Hollywood, Ca. 

It had been a while since I was back in Hollywood, period, not to mention getting a manicure and pedicure. 
But there I was, on a day trip back in my old stomping grounds. And the physical beauty that literally surrounded me everywhere was striking. There was not an unattractive person. Everyone looked very important and wealthy, (although I’m sure many of them were not). 

It took a little bit of extra effort to pierce through people’s protective glares and break a smile, let alone a conversation. But it was possible. I tried. I succeeded.

Always possible... to look deeper.

All these women, so many women. Beauty and upkeep seemed to be their practice… their religion. I looked at my nails, with cuticles a quarter of the way down. Toenails painted three different colors layered over each other, chipped and ugly and I watched women come in with nails that look like they have just been done, getting their polish off and redone. Not that my lack of pampering makes me more spiritual… I just couldn’t help but wonder, who has the money and extra minutes in a week to do this?

The place was packed. There was a sense of hurry and urgency… impatience, and oddly a sense of community, even though no one was really talking- just more like staring and checking each other out with a curious or critical glare before averting their eyes, before being caught looking. Caught for a moment without power. 

But the funny thing is, I think all these women are Christians. Absolutely. Without question… unknowing Christians. I think we all are. Perhaps, especially the ones that don't know it. In fact they are the most evangelical. They have just forgotten. 

(For the sake of this blog I am defining Christianity as a practicing belief system of FAITH) … and what I was witnessing was a life of such devotion and faith… but a faith not in God, but in themselves. 

Like a car following a broken GPS down the wrong highway, each has gotten hijacked down a road of devotion to the finite and away from the infinite; devout to the visible, disconnected and futile, away from the Invisible, True and Everlasting. 

It’s a backwards, upside down faith. 

An empty, lonely, never-full-kind-of-faith.

A cultish "me" kind-of-faith, that ultimately gets exposed as a life of lies kind-of-faith… where we believe external beauty, power and prestige will bring us a wholeness, security and purpose. 

These women are deeply devotional. The way they treat the care of their nails with such religiosity… I see their faith, present and devout--- but severely misdirected.

I say this not to judge…. I say this, because I have been one of them. 

Not all women place their devoutness on their nails and beauty regimes… some place it on their sports or their jobs or projecting dreams onto their children. Some are devout to their fears and their chemical addictions and their depression and intensive TV watching and food eating. 

And many in Hollywood are devout to the studios and the lots and the prestige of community on film sets and location.

It doesn't matter so much the thing we choose to put our faith- what matters is that if the spirit of faith is on something of this world, it will always fail us and always keep us hungry and discontent, searching for our identity, looking for the Spirit or “the high” in all the wrong places. And we become food addicts, pot addicts, shopping addicts, sex addicts… the good girl, the bad girl, the pretty girl and on and on. We remain and increase in our separatism, judgmental thoughts and loneliness.

Despite all you see, hear and read, I believe Hollywood is a wonderful place in many ways. The greatest of which is its potential in devotion. It is one of the most faith filled, hope filled, devoted to a passion places I know. 

Whether it be in the lives of the young talent that moves there, or in the core of many Hollywood films themselves, both sets of stories center in the biblical promise of a redemptive ending- that no matter how bad life gets for the protagonist, they too can be redeemed. 

In many ways, this speaks to the truest calling of our hearts, which is a calling of faith and hope… that our lives matter and have meaning. Our hearts secretly and quietly hunger for this hope. It's in our emotional, physical, soul DNA. But somewhere in that, the faith and hope gets perverted and distorted onto self rather then on the One who made us.

We have become devout not to a kingdom of God, but to a kingdom of self.

Like the misguided GPS, we have naively been carried off by all the short term, visible powers of the world. And we have pointed our devotion to self and personal power rather then to the Power of a God that created all that we are and that we see. We have forgotten where we come from. 

What if our story as devotees of our bodies, our things, our titles, and ourselves got redirected to the true Healer, Helper, Counselor, Friend, Star of the story? What if the father of Hollywood power known as casting directors, studio heads, beautiful actresses, and the now deceased father of show biz, Jack Warner at Warner Bros turned to Father God??

What if the final voice of authority turned from the human elite to Jesus who came as the God man to be our gateway to Infinite God? And what if our big break wasn't a new pilot on television, but was in the renewal of our minds in recognizing the love of a great God; a great Creator who made us to rejoice and be glad with Him, to love one another and live for each other?  

I’m sure some of the women at Pampered Hands on Melrose were in the light of the Spirit. Just because you go to a salon doesn’t mean you're not in active relationship with God. I mean, I was there and God is the center of everything for me today.

But there are many of us women who are suffering, caught up in a seductive false religion of the idolatry of self and image… it’s not a new problem… and the answer is as old as time itself… but perhaps the new twist of perspective in this age old affliction, is that the sanctity and devoutness of any true follower does in fact live in that salon… it just needs to be refreshed and pointed in a new direction, where pampered hands of this world, transform into whole, healed and sanctified souls.

Dear friends,

I was shaken up this past weekend when I heard about the suicide of Pastor Rick Warren's son. 
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/04/06/son-of-pastor-rick-warren-commits-suicide/ …

I am writing this email because Ann Voskamp, one of my favorite authors wrote a blog today that is speaking directly to all of this.
What Christians Need to Know About Mental Health: shar.es/dBbAn 

As a woman who has suffered intensely from depression and a myriad of internal mental agonies throughout my life, I have found myself on my knees at the alter of God and the church (after many failed attempts elsewhere), praying with every last bit of hope for relief, answer, direction, a miracle of transformation, to be changed and healed from the inside out. I have felt that if I could understand God, know Him truly, I too might be saved from the treacherous hell of myself and my internal thought process. A spiritual awakening was my final and only hope.

So when one of the more famous pastors in our country loses a son, a son who grew up in prayer and church family, but was still conquered by his own despair, a worried (and self absorbed) mind and timid faith like mine got staggered to the core in fear and doubt. If he lost hope, if the church wasn't enough for him, is there really hope for me? A selfish question, but there it is.

But amidst this fear and doubt, I believe there is hope. I often seek God's direction in the predawn hours of the early morning. Yesterday morning as I sat in my arm chair listening for His voice, I heard Him say to me that I can never know someone else's path with Him- and to not compare my seeking of the Lord to any other person's seeking- whether it's a pastor's son or not. 

My heart breaks for Matthew Warren, and his family. It breaks for the man or woman who knows the despair of living... who doesn't want to die, but also doesn't want to be consumed by the inner torment any longer.

I think that those of us who battle this internal demon must unveil it not only for ourselves, but for the sake of others who are quietly, secretly hiding and suffering. It is safe and okay to come out from the shadows and join the walking wounded. We are God's wounded healers. Ann talks about this in her blog. 
In the hope that it can help you or someone you know... I wanted to pass it on.

What Christians Need to Know About Mental Health: shar.es/dBbAn 

Blessings & Love,

Kaiulani

On his desk Dr. Bob, cofounder of AA, had a plaque defining humility.

Humility is …

Perpetual quietness of heart.
It is to have no trouble.
It is never to be fretted or vexed, irritable or sore; to wonder at nothing
that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me.
It  is  to  be  at  rest  when  nobody  praises me, and when I am blamed or
despised, it is to have a blessed home in myself where I can go in and shut
the  door  and  kneel to my Higher Power in secret and be at peace, as in a
deep sea of calmness, when all around and about is seeming trouble.

I have been seriously blessed to meet some great artists over the years. Living in Hollywood was a creme de la creme of so much discovered and undiscovered talent. I have spent countless nights in local venues not only performing myself, but also listening to other singer/ songwriters sing their songs to crowds of all sizes.
Every once in awhile, someone hits home in a deep way. They are clearly anointed with not just a gift, but a deeper purpose in their work. When I heard Lauren North's single When Mercy Finds Me two weeks ago, that's how I felt. 
It's a God song, which to me makes it all the better. 

You can hear When Mercy Finds Me above or watch the music video here, which just released today. 

I love this video. I love the words and the voice saying them. I love the wisdom. This isn't about being careless, it is about being wise. When we put our trust in what the Lord has given us- and make a life of the spirit filled gifts within each of us, life becomes LIFE. We become the light carriers that ignite the Spirit in others that ignites the Spirit in others and so on and so on...

Thanks Aaron Black-Schmidt for posting first. 

Have you ever gone through a season of life where you feel you just can’t keep up? Where the list of responsibilities and “to-do’s” is so ginormous that a large part of your life goes on hold? 

Starting A New Awareness Media, has been a huge task with a job description and load I both could and couldn’t have anticipated. We’re working on many things, (gratefully), and I find my small team and I are wearing many hats and often worked to the bone trying to fit all the roles that need to be filled. First things first has unfortunately put some things I love, like blogging, last. And so my presence on A.N.A has been more absent then my heart desires. I have missed the moments of writing that go into this site. I have missed taking the time to put into written word the daily reflections that are the juice and joy of my days.

There are mornings I wake up and wish- even pray I will hear that little voice that tells me to stop doing the work I’m doing- to move on to something else. To go be a farmer a doctor, a full time writer, anything other than what I’m doing. The challenges, worries and daily failures I am experiencing as a director/ producer/owner of this small media company, has my first response be one of  wanting to fall back, retreat, give up, say “See- this just wasn’t for me.” My tendency is to make the failure personal and about me, rather then keep my eyes focused forward and on the team and projects as a whole. My response is to resist failure- rather then letting it mold, grow and mature me, which is its job to do. 

But despite my desire for a scapegoat to set me free from the daily grind of failure, I don’t hear that voice telling me to stop. In fact, all I hear is to keep going. Keep going.

Bummer.

While stress is awful- the burden of living a stressful life also has a way of driving me back home to God and community with others, the same way an illness can. (Stress in most ways is an illness). We can either let stress take us into greater destruction, out of God and into further isolation OR stress can be a stinging bee chasing me back into the arms of loving, non-chaotic Yahweh (God).

We can fall backwards into the world of the walking dead with our busy but empty lives that aren’t lived for anything but ourselves (to me that’s the definition of hell), or fall forward, chased by the stinging bee that has us praying throughout the day, “God, I can’t do this alone. I need you. Your will, not mine be done. What would you have me do? Who would you have me be? How can I be a loving and beneficial presence to others today? Please reveal yourself to me. Let me know your face- your character. Please help me be more like you. Please restore the personality you gave me and kill in me the unnatural parts of myself I have used to control my own life separate from you. I am thirsty for rest- for home- will you take me there?”

I was talking to a friend of all this and she mentioned the idea of falling forward.

I liked that. With Super bowl Sunday last weekend, it made me think of how a football player being tackled on the field always strives to fall forward, with the goal of getting that first down by falling an extra foot or sometimes just inches to that first yard line.

It’s the same with starting a business or any new endeavor. Getting tackled is inevitable. It’s part of the game of living and working and being in relationships. It’s part of the building of character.

When you get tackled or even trip yourself, can you strive to fall forward each time?
Not for self-gain, but for the benefit of the Whole, of something Greater, for the belief in something Bigger, for the love of simply doing well, of finishing what you started. Lots of seeming failures can lead to a bunch of first downs. One tackle forward at the beginning of a game can lead to a super bowl trophy at the end of a season. 

Here though we are not speaking of a trophy of human accolades, but of the unseen spiritual trophy of joy and freedom found in this world but not of this world.

Being willing to fall forward is a new way of living where life is no longer about YOU or ME. It’s no longer about self-preservation, isolation with an empty, meaningless and lonely story. Falling forward is a life of surrender that says- your will, not mine be done, BECAUSE I Know and I trust that no matter how hard, weird, lonely, awkward, uncomfortable now is, you came to save me God from MYSELF, showering me with grace, love and a new beginning and I trust YOU.

Oswald Chambers describes the faithfulness to one's call beautifully in My Upmost For His Highest, “… Woe be to the soul who tries to head in any other direction once that call has come to him… Beware of competing calls once the call of God grips you.” 

My prayer today is that you  hear the voice of God in your life, get quiet enough to listen and then once in the movement of it all, have the courage and trust to fall forward again and again until more is revealed.

Falling forward with you,

Kaiulani

Some great links these past couple weeks. I’ve been absent while on location shooting, but I’m home now and ready to jump back in with ya!

Vimeo link to a sneak peak of what we were shooting in Hawaii:
Raise Awareness, Inspire Change with Vandana Shiva / No GMO March & Rally at the Hawaii State Capitol

The gorgeous Ann Voskamp. Seems she makes the cut every week. Her blogs are just so good. Here’s a beautiful love letter to her husband:
How to be a Better Lover

What makes a good leader? I read this hungrily- as I grow and struggle with my very imperfect leadership. Great insights into leadership through Lincoln and General McClellan, revealing to me much to work towards:
5 Characteristics of Weak Leaders (and How Not to Be One)

Women needing a reminder of the potential of a mate. Men needing a reminder or lesson of a woman’s heart. Diane Comer really shares it well here as she writes a letter to her college aged son:
Letter To My Son: Protect Her Purity

Beautiful Live In Studio Recording Session:
All Sons & Daughters Performs "Spirit Speaks" at RELEVANT

Hope your weekend has been blessed and that you have a wholly holy week ahead!

Much love,

Kaiulani