It’s been a busy fall. Live programs are picking up again. In September and October, we’ve done ‘A Message from Jessie’, ‘Sentencing’, and Parts I and II of our Faith-Based series ‘The F-Words’ in seven venues all over the state, from police academies in Green Bay, to microbreweries in Milwaukee, to corporate partners in West Bend, and the state prison in Waupun. L>h was the chosen charity of a local brewer that joined a national coalition of microbreweries in the movement to end domestic violence.

And two way cooler and bigger opportunities too, one involving the NFL, another a long-running cable TV show, which we are not yet at privilege to talk about, but you’ll see in time. Such a crazy variety of platforms. Such unexpected new opportunities to share our story, message, and mission.

On top of that, our faith based work in the state prison system has caught fire. Attendance at our optional events has exploded. The inmates and staff say they are deeply affected. My friend, pastor, and longtime L>h board member, John, is now giving a weekly message at Dodge Correctional Institute (DCI), the prison all Wisconsin felons go to to begin their sentences. This is fascinating to me, since L>h has always said, and always will, that we are apolitical and non-religious, because to join one “side” in today’s world, to gain the ear and heart of one “group” in today’s world of polarization and opposition, is to lose the ear and heart of all the others, and we cannot afford to do that, since this issue of physical and sexual violence permeates every group on the planet.

Still, when doors open to advance the cause, L>h walks through the door (this one has opened wide). And how perfect; 90% of our inmates, many with anger issues, or drug and alcohol issues, or violent tendencies, will be out within four years, back in our communities. We need something, anything, that can reach them and engage them in their own self growth and development. Funny. This is a conflict, a paradox, a hypocrisy from a polarized and worldly POV, this faith based program from a non-religious organization. But not from a collaborative, mission-driven, ‘higher calling’ POV.

This never ending stream of new opportunities in new and crazy places keeps surprising me. I’ve been at this for nine years now. I keep expecting it to run its course, play out, wind down, get old for people. But new people keep following, new doors keep opening, the “reach” just keeps growing.

Which I think tells us some things. First, it tells us this issue is deeply cared about by an incredible scope of people. Why? Because almost everyone has either been the victim of sexual or physical violence, or they know someone who has (though often they don’t know that, because most victims never tell anyone). Second, I believe it tells us that there is something incredibly attractive about responding to hate with Love, to violence with peace, and to darkness with forgiveness.

Maybe I lost my mind nine years ago when a little meaningless monarch butterfly at the bottom of my driveway rocked my world and changed me forever. Maybe not. Maybe I’m crazy in my profoundly unbreakable belief that doors will always open in unexpectedly favorable ways when one decides on a course of action that is in perfect alignment with Love Itself. Or maybe that’s actually true. I don’t know. I’ll let you wrestle with that.

I just know this: butterflies everywhere, Wisconsin Tonight, Dateline, Voice of America, the NFL, USA Radio, the state prison system, and microbreweries across America …. the doors just keep opening. And L>h will keep walking through them whenever they do until we are not needed anymore, and I can just golf the rest of my life away.

Peace and Forgiveness to you all today. Thank you for aligning with our cause. Thank you for Loving people.

And don’t be surprised when something good happens. Better yet, go make something good happen.