The Words of the Grodner Family
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The Words of the Grodner Family |
1. Thank you for that really warm, warm welcome and greeting!
2. I want to greet you, and convey to you a message from Las Vegas, that it was a great success! We had 3000 people at the Caesar's Palace. Many Korean War veterans who fought in the Korean War, of course there are not that many left, but they were sitting there. Father was sitting in the front row with them. And In Jin Nim gave an incredible welcoming and also testimony to True Parents – testifying to them.
3. Afterwards Father came up to the stage and greeted all the Korean War veterans and the Little Angels gave them these Korean hero awards, and of course they gave them a kiss – you know those little kisses that come from the Little Angels. I'm sure these Korean War veterans will never forget the love that our True Parents gave, and concerned themselves with those who really paid the ultimate price.
4. Next, the Little Angels are going to Las Vegas and San Diego. They were here, right here downstairs. Last summer we had four shows of the Little Angels – it was tremendous. It's Father's way of saying thank you to the world, the 16 nations that offered and sacrificed themselves for the sake of this little nation that no one knew about, Korea.
5. But today people are knowing a lot about Korea. We know about Korea. And we know that it's a very special nation. It was the nation that produced our True Parents. It's the nation that we call our Fatherland or our homeland. And so I wanted to give a shout out to Las Vegas and say thank you! Let's all thank Las Vegas for the work they've done there.
6. And they gave out 120,000 autobiographies of our True Father, and they have been really trying to maintain this vigilance to change Las Vegas and they need our help. And of course Las Vegas really needs God's help. It is the epitome, it is the Achilles' heel, it is the representation of all that is not good in our culture and in our society.
7. As we talked about, with our Second Gen and the Blessing coming up, and for our First Generation, – this is our way, our statement, by which we can change the world – by changing ourselves. That's the key point – we have to change ourselves.
8. When I think about Lovin' Life, and I think about what In Jin Nim is doing and what she has done for all of us – is basically helping us to change our lives. Amen?
9. We have been following our True Parents. We have been doing many wonderful things for the last 30 years, or almost 40 years. The 1800 couples had their anniversary this past week. But in being obedient to our True Parents, and sometimes doing the heavy lifting – we're kind of copying them or trying to emulate them, but often times we didn't have the same heart or same content or same experience in our life. And so, at the end of the day, many of us were really challenged because we haven't learned to love, we haven't lived for the sake of others, we haven't done exactly what True Parents have done. We were trying to, what's the saying, "you fake it until you make it?"
In
Jin Moon July 17, 2011
10. In Jin Nim is reaching down into each of us and grabbing a hold of the heart that really needs to be processed and loved. I want to share a story – to understand our value, especially the Second Generations value. This was a real story that I experienced firsthand. Sometimes we don't know who we are around. Sometimes everybody looks the same and we can't differentiate.
11. But, many years ago I was asked to find a camp. And so I did, I found the camp at Harriman State Park. We signed a contract. There were 30 camps in the park and they knew that the Moonies were in town. I'm sure it was really a shock. I was shocked that they actually gave us a permit to be there. It's the second largest facility in Harriman State Park. Out of 30 camps we were the second largest property. I knew it was God and I knew that God was doing something different.
12. We were looking for a place for our workshops, a place to do seminars, a place to bring our young people, our Second-Generation to, so they can have camp, have workshops, and be educated. I will never forget, the second year we were there I heard about this thing called a regatta. Does anybody know about that regatta? I know some of you around the country were at that regatta. It's where we race boats.
13. Our camp was never into boating. Our boats, we timed them – this boat was good for 15 minutes before it sank, this boat is good for 30 minutes. We had some really old boats. It depended on how thick the tar was on the bottom of these boats. We heard about this regatta and we decided we really needed to go. And so we trained – the day before.
14. Some of these camps trained the whole summer. This was their summer. This is what they do. They compete to win to be number one. We didn't know that, we were just going to have fun. And so we went there. We got our boats and we got there and they give us a slot, "here's where your camp goes." We had to make logos for our boats so that in case they were close to first place we would know which boat – but they weren't. We had songs and we had cheers – and I just want to tell you about an amazing story.
15. After we had watched our boats race, most of them lost – except for one. We had one boat that flipped over. Usually when you learn about canoeing and paddling, one of the first things you learn is how to flip a boat back over. Well, we didn't have time for that, to teach them about flipping it back over. I will never forget. Some of our Second Gen were on this boat – there were two of them. There were four men, two men, and one man races, and 4 woman, two woman, and one woman races. This was a two-man race. The boat flipped over while the race was going on, and there at the end of the race were our 2 Second Gen. on top of the bottom of the boat. There were 800 participants. There were a couple thousand people there. They had never seen that before.
16. We were singing, we were cheering – and every race we were looking to the front, hoping our boats would be there. I remember my head was going here, then here, then here, looking to the end of the race – but our singing was spectacular. It was so good that some of the other campers came over to sing with us. We didn't have the same spirit – that we are going to destroy you and beat you. They really liked our spirit, although we did want to win.
17. At the end of this entire regatta a gentleman came over and said to me, "Hi my name is… I'm the director of two camps here. You don't know about me and you don't know about our camp. But the reason you are put in this slot here was because nobody wants to be next to us. Our spirit is so dominating and our singing is so loud that the moral of the other teams that are next to us becomes depressed." We didn't know that. He said to me, "Who are these kids?" I said, "These are the children from Rev. Moon's mass weddings." His jaw totally dropped. He looked as though he just took a big bite of a big watermelon. He couldn't say anything. He knew we were members of the Unification Church, He knew, like everybody else, that the Moonies had come to town. But he never met Second Gen. He never saw that kind of spirit. He said, "if any of these older kids want a job at my camp they are hired!"
18. Sometimes we don't realize that we are so different. But I think In Jin Nim realizes it all the time. When she went on a listening tour around the country she really wanted to hear their messages. She wanted to hear the Second-Generation stories, their passions, what they wanted to do – and she is committed to making that happen.
19. So, for many of us this whole idea of the Lovin' Life Ministries is so foreign to some of us First Generation – we are desert rats living in the desert wandering aimlessly trying to build the kingdom of heaven. I told my wife this, "I'm convinced I can help build it. Living in it is another story. I'm not sure I could live in the kingdom of heaven." But how do we do this if we just build it but can't live in it, what happens? And so In Jin Nim has looked at us and said to the First Generation, "I'm so grateful, because you saved our True Parents. Because of you True Parents are alive."
20. I am so grateful to In Jin Nim because she has come at a time in which, it is a time of settlement, the age of settlement. We have to learn how to settle. We have to learn how to build real ongoing relationships, because the kingdom is a place of relationships. It's a place of deep and profound relationships with our Heavenly Father, with our parents, with of course our True Parents, to be filial sons and daughters of our parents which aligns us so that we can be good people. And, as Father has said many times, we have to look at our elders as our parents and our grandparents, and people who are middle-aged as our uncles and aunts, and younger people as our nieces and nephews.
21. We have to build this kingdom of heaven. We have to build this one world family that is centered on God. I want to say, personally, how grateful I am that she has completely retooled our movement in America. When I had a chance, and all 12 of the District Pastors (we were called District Directors, now we're called District Pastors), when her ministry began she called all of us from all over the country, "please come to New York I would like to meet with you." When I sat there and I listened to her vision of what she wanted to do I thought – this is so profound.
22. Last week she talked about, that this is not about her. And it's not about her. It's about imparting and sharing the love of True Parents with America. But who better than True children can teach about their parents? Who better than the sons and daughters who are absolutely filial to our True Parents – to teach America about the love of their parents. They have suffered a lot. They have suffered because our Parents lived for the sake of the world. And so, not only did the True Children have to process their pain, but they had to come out the other end and they had to see their parents as being great. That's not easy. From pain, often times you get stuck there. From Hyo Jin Nim down – how much they went through.
23. I remember seeing Hyo Jin Nim many times at Barry town. He would be just by himself on a motorcycle or a horse. I was in the 120-day workshop and he would take his motorcycle and make a lot of noise by our windows. And we were like, wishing "we were out there on your motorcycle with you, but we are here." He was so lonely. Because, he had the father that could love more than anybody else. He had the parents that could give and embrace more than anyone else in the world. But each one of these children, they missed out on that.
24. Father said, "If I could have spent five minutes a day, five minutes a day, with my children we would have none of these problems. There would be no problems." So I understand when I read Father's words about how he had to live his life in the world of restoration, and the world of wandering, building the foundation so that someday we could actually live properly in the way that God had originally designed. Father knows so clearly the original design.
25. When we heard the Divine Principle, many of us heard the Divine Principle many, many years ago – when I heard these principles it was over my head. I was not religious. I didn't believe in God. I didn't believe in Satan. I didn't believe in an ideal world. And here I was sitting in a workshop trying to understand, trying to understand, because I knew I was looking for something of value and virtue, like all of us. All of humanity is looking for something of incredible value. But we come from so many different angles.
26. The angle I came from – I honestly didn't believe there was a God. I asked questions, "If there is a God how could this world be so divided, so suffering?" But I met these really wonderful people; I met these great people who believed in these ideals and these principles. And every one of my questions began to get answered, even the fact that God exists.
27. I knew something exists, because I had a profound experience before meeting this movement. I had one of those out-of-body experiences. My spirit was gone out of my body. Wherever I was or whatever was happening, it was so powerful and so real and so good. But could I call this being God? No I couldn't. I couldn't believe in evil or Satan, but I had an experience that Satan existed.
28. And I had an experience that there's a possibility of an ideal world. I was driving my car, literally, by 43rd St.. (And I was born here, I am a New Yorker.) I was driving from 43rd St. around – all of a sudden I was stopped at a red light, and all of a sudden it seemed like something changed the channel. I was there but I wasn't there. I wasn't sleeping but I wasn't dreaming. I was in another zone. And I had a question, a nagging question, "Is it possible to build an ideal world?" Because I had been studying about this but I never believed it was possible.
29. All of a sudden I was at this place. I never knew this place existed, but I was at the New Yorker Hotel. I saw this building as clear as day. I saw and I heard people laughing, a joy and a laughter that was beyond any joyful laughter I had heard before. And they were talking in words I had never heard before, because they were so sincere. And artists were on the sidewalk painting this beautiful artwork. And as I was walking down the sidewalk I came across this long haired gentleman. I didn't know who it was, but as I was passing I kind of bowed to him, looked into his eyes and there was no end to his eyes, there was no end. And I realized, this is Jesus. And he was saying, "We've done it! The kingdom of heaven is here! This is the kingdom of heaven!"
30. And I tasted it so deeply. And so when I try to understand True Parents who are really, really trying their best to help us understand that there is a real world that God intended, a real ideal, not just some kind of fiction, but a real intention. And when we see and we listened to our elder sister In Jin Nim, and she conveys the messages from her parents, from her experiences with her parents, how unchanging, how unbending they are in their unconditional love – then we begin to see, little by little, that this is a reality.
31. In all the years I've worked with many leaders, many people who've been with Father Moon for many, many years. I thought they knew them (True Parents) so well. Even the first time, maybe some of you remember the elders came around, they were IWs (itinerant workers) -- they became leaders of our regions. I remember the first time one of these elders came by, it was a 36 blessed couple. And I was saying, "This man must be just like Father!" And so we were waiting with this incredible expectation, that Father is coming to live with us! And when he got there I was shocked. Because I couldn't find anything that resembles Father. But then I really said, "Heavenly Father please show me something, something that resembles, that is just like Father. If I can find one thing, that is all I need." And so I had this dream, and in this dream I realized that this man was – his will, his faith, and his loyalty to True Parents were unbending. So I said, "no matter what, no matter what he says, (and he said a lot of things), no matter what he does (and he did a lot of things – that weren't exactly what I thought were the right things), but when it came down to his faith and loyalty to True Parents I said, "that's what I want!" And that's what he had.
32. And I realize, until we started working with True Children, and in particular In Jin Nim at this time, it is the real deal. It's the real McCoy. She really understands America. When I think about how Lovin' Life (Lovin' Life Ministries) is so prepared to welcome so many people into this chapel, into the chapels around the country, and to the small homes wherever people are watching – I really realized that we can change this nation. We can really change this nation, because this nation is looking for true love. Everyone is looking for true love.
33. And if we happen to resemble true love, if we happen to become the people that happen to align ourselves with that standard of love, then we will be the most attractive people to people in all of New York, in all of California, in all of Las Vegas, in all of Florida, and in all of the nations of the world.
Mayan
Calendar
34. You know the Mayan calendar? There is no history after 2012. There is no prophecy after 2012, everything comes to an end. What is this end? Some people are preparing for this end in a real physical catastrophic way. And then there is another end with a possible new beginning. I think that's our job, to look towards the bright side of this new day, January 13, 2013, because in that day we are going to see something magnificent take place. But it won't take place if we don't build the nation, if we don't become the people that we have to become.
35. We just heard recently, and we've heard this many times, even our Blessing is conditional. Our own blessing. We have no right. We didn't process all the things that we needed to process to really be blessed in marriage. We were some of the first people in all of human history who were permitted to be married under God's original ideal – permitted, conditional. But January 13, 2013 there'll be another blessing for us. And will we be there? Will we be prepared? Will we be the people that have really changed ourselves and outlined ourselves with what needs to get done, inside of ourselves, and then build that thing that others can also have the grace and experience the love of God.
36. So I believe that this is our chance and God has given us one very amazing woman to lead our congregation for America. She also did say that there would be people coming up in her stead. That's why I'm here, right now. I am in her stead.
37. But I know that we really need to unite with these True Children, because they are uniting with True Parents. All we have to do is find what it means to be united. What does it mean and what is the benefit of being united? It's why I have to work harder? I don't think so.
38. There is a little analogy. Have you ever heard the story about geese, why they fly in a V formation? Did you know they can fly 71% further distance because they are in that V formation? When the birds in the front give up-lift, the birds behind them can fly much more easily. And when a bird gets tired it moves back and another bird takes its position. It's amazing. And if the bird goes out of this formation, they feel the difficulty of flying. And they find when they come back into formation, they feel it's so much easier to fly.
39. Another thing, which I thought was very interesting about geese is that – when one gets sick or gets shot by a hunter, two geese will go down and stay with that goose until it gets well or dies, and then they will join another flock and try to catch up with their flock.
40. If you look at the analogies of the geese and us, we have to fly in that formation – and that is unity, working together and flying together for the sake of building this family, building this ideal. And the stronger must lead. So I'm looking forward to the time when the Second Gen. which is now, it's happening, the Second Gen. all over the country are taking their rightful positions. They're growing. They are no longer children on those canoes, (which was very cute) but they've grown up. When did they grow up? How did they grow up? But they've grown up! And they are here.
41. In Jin Nim said, "if we don't work with them. If we don't retool our movement then we will have no movement." Because as we get older, all of the legacy, all of the traditions, all of the things that must be passed down to that next generation – so it is our job, as the First Gen, to pass on that legacy to the Second Gen. it's our job to give them encouragement, to give them power to fulfill their responsibility so that they can then fly in the front and they can have the stronger arms and wings to fly with.
42. I think In Jin Nim, if she didn't come when she came, I have no idea what would've taken place. I remember one conversation years ago with one of our leaders. They said, "Yeah, we have three openings for interns!" And I'm going, "Yeah, but we have 500 Second Gen in college." It doesn't fit. It can't be that we're just trying to find a place for them. We have to become the movement that they can buy into, that they can own, that can be theirs. And so In Jin Nim, with her brilliance and with her love, she has built a movement that is for you guys, for the young people.
43. I know some people come in here with their earplugs. In the beginning one of our leaders said, "I don't like that music." But he came back again and said, "But my kid sure does!" And I said, "Good! It's not for you is for them. Drive them. Take them!" And if the kids find hope and they find ownership and a find partnership in this, then we've done a good job. And if In Jin Nim can continue to be creative and take the lead on so many other things she wants to roll-out, we really want to help her. But I want to really ask all the First Generation that we must unite with her. We must unite with True Children and we must really bring back and substantiate and develop and enhance all the things she's doing.
44. I just want to say, thank you to the First Generation, because I know she has thanked us on many, many occasions. But it's time. It's time for the Second Generation to move and to take the lead in so many ways..
45. As we celebrate today and as we look forward to Valentine's Day, as we continue to build our movement and build momentum, I really ask each of us to work together. Find a way that we can work together and help each other and become a team. Because, in the building of those teams, the building of the small groups, the building of the care committees, and the building of little teams that are working to reach out – to give Father's autobiography out, to let people know the Breaking News. It is an amazing, amazing time and I hope that each of us can feel that we are a part of this amazing time so that everybody can have a sense that there is an ideal world coming, there is a kingdom to be built. And it is not for just a small group of people, not for just one small church, but for all of mankind.
46. So thank you very much! Let us work together to build the kingdom. Thank you brothers and sisters!