Surfing ,Pacific Coast Highway, and Jesus Christ.

God works in mysterious ways and it is about time once again I testify to His greatness and living miracles. I don’t have it all together. For certain I have been struggling with life in a very personal way as well as being totally aghast at the current events that have just about overwhelmed the populace. I don’t believe I would be alive today if not for Christ Jesus and his ministry. Whoa! right there you say? I’m out of here. Don’t need any washed up surfer/punkrocker/veteran telling me about God, you say. Come on man, hear me out. First lets get into the way back machine.Set the dial to 1974,Sherman. Yeah,man! That”s me all right! (funny looking pants, I know. They were called flairs. Got them at a place named Sears Roebuck) A whole lot of firsts going on here, first drink of beer, smoking my first joint and having my first gander at pornography (yeah,Playboy magazine) Well now these activities took time to wreck my life, almost 40 years. So what the freak does this have to do with the price of a dub sack in L.A you ask? Just setting the tempo, G-Money, now chill as a good recounting and testimony take time, like the Meistro’s former favorite alcoholic beverage Makers Mark, it takes years to reach maturity.Now Sherman, hit that dial again and set it for 20013!
Perhaps you have been following me blog, mate and you know I have been in recovery for just about two years now. Having been devastated and enlightened all at once in a series of events surrounding an infamous pornography performer and yours truly. So yeah here we are in May 2013, yeah, that is a smart phone and yes I know, what is left of my hair is 80% gray and No, we cant go back to 1974. Yeah Yea, I know I looked much better and so did you and yes that is a “smart” phone so rest assured you are in 2013 presently. So check it out as I had gotten clean and wishing to help my dear Mary, I found my way to an organization named Treasures ( they help woman exit the sex trade) and received an invite to their annual Gala fundraiser. Yes I did kick down, Ok, I’m not that big of a kook. So when are you gonna get to the God part Ger-I? you ask. Hey relax Stevo, I’m working on it.

So the church I attend (Venice Church) has a series of sermons on God calling believers to have faith, specifically to stay when things get tough or dicey and conversely to go (as in on a mission or ministry or serve in some capacity). Well back to the sobriety thing.I have been struggling mightily to stay clean, meetings and prayer etc. So to get out of my head, I decide to go surfing. As I am watching the waves at a nice right hand point break, that begins with the 12th letter of the English alphabet,still contemplating just giving in to temptation, I pray that the Lord will give me a way out of the temptation STAY. In about 5 or 10 minutes two good surfer buddies, Brock and Greg pull up in a pick up truck and spot me while yukking it up. Hey, Ger-I good to see ya, man. suit up, and get out there dude! As you can see I made it out to the surf and had a blast for a few hours.
Prayer one answered.BOOM just like that.
So I’m motoring down Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) listening to a Christian Radio station rocking to Casting Crowns,and Boom! I see her, she is 20 if she is a day Jumping up and down on PCH well endowed to say the very least,jiggling like a jello all over, wearing short shorts,a halter top and nothing else. She holds a sign that reads, “NEED JUMP” Having been shot, stabbed and robbed before, I immediately think set up. There is a thug lurking just behind the wall or in the car with malevolent intent. I blast past, however I hear a tiny voice getting louder saying, “GO see about it.” Flipping a U turn I drive back a 1/4 north and already there is a pick up truck ( no, it is not my buddies) with two fiends just itching to do some dirt slowing up, leering at her. The way a wolf leers at a lost ewe. I pull into the dirt lot and she runs up to the window panting , “Thanks” as she is out of breath. Look, Sherm, I’m not going to lie to you, this girl is super fine man but I contain myself and ask, “What is going on? She explains she needs a jump, as the battery dead. I look over the 2012 BMW 3 series and notice the AZ plates, suitcases and piled up clothes as well as scan for the lurker. Well turns out no thug is plotting a crime. She is alone. Check it G $, I’ve been to the rodeo several times over ok? I rapidly sus out she is a working girl, stripping in a club and all the other vice that goes along with that activity. So we get to talking, talking about surfing, about my daughter,how I got clean,and life in general.I drop the Treasures recovery outfit too, as she is telling me about her Aderal use and she says she only takes a half a pill when she is stripping to cope. No it i s not prescribed. I tell her I understand. I know she uses everything under the sun but I’m just attempting to engage in motivational interviewing. Oh did I tell yeah I’m at UCLA learning addiction therapy? No? (another story for another time, homie). Well we got the car started,just as an ubiquitous L.A roach Coach arrived, so I buy her a sandwich, gave her my card, and the Treasures info. Before departing, I asked her if she had ever heard of Jesus. “Yes, but I’m spiritual but not religious.” She said. “Well darling, I say as she giggles at me calling her darling. “Jesus is the most spir-it-tual fellow that ever walked the earth. He died a horrible death in testement to his faith.”Taking her hand in mine I pray the Lord will look over her. In parting she said, Thanks , you didn’t even try to sex me up like all the other men”

BTW Sherman where in the world did you get those flair pants?

Sometimes God asks you to stay, sometimes he asks you to go.
http://gerilewis.wordpress.com/2011/09/27/pornography-and-the-harm-it-causes/

http://iamatreasure.com/

http://www.venicechurch.com/touching-base/online-sermons.html

Healing Broken Hearts. Treasures and Harmony Dust

If you have been following my blog,  you more than likely have figured out how I found my way to this organization. These woman have  courage, strength and hope in Jesus Christ. Their triumphant exit from bondage in the sex industry, drugs and alcohol addiction is nothing less  miraculous.I am fortunate and blessed to have been invited to the Annual Treasure Gala Fund Raiser last week.  Being able to support these women and celebrate their victory is one of the greatest feelings I have had in a very long while and has given me way to heal as well.What goes around comes around and love is the best thing for a broken heart.  Tears flowed freely and the Holy Ghost is most certainly present. God Bless and thank you Harmony Dust and Treasures! !http://iamatreasure.com/about-us/press/

The continuing story of Mary and I The brutality and dehumanization in the pornography industry #12

Hey check it out compadre, I must come clean, I failed to fully help her and enabled Mary as well as myself in our addictions. Yeah homboyz and homegirlz, you guessed it, I too am an addict and alcoholic suffering from some of the very disorders, afflictions of the mind and soul. I will take you briefly into winter of 2012 two years in the future. I have been in addiction recovery for a year and a half and am actually studying addiction therapy.Therefore I am able to recognize much of what was once a mystery to me, about myself as well as Mary.

Pornography, society’s rotten apple of perversion & lies, a cesspool of brutality and abuse,  an absurd and gigantic pink pachyderm  sitting in the world’s living room all rolled into one. Shiny and oh so enticing on the outside, purulent, fetid and rank on the inside. Let us not admit to the drug addiction, the degradation, brutality of women, men & children and destruction of humanity rife within and outside of this trade. I know, I know, I’ve heard and ine past subscribed to the same tired and misaligned legal/philosophical arguments such as   “Pornography doesn’t harm anyone.” and” “They are consenting adults.” Finally, of course  the  good’ol  ”First Amendment rights, man.” safety valve.  First of all, lets get real, right from the gate.  9/10ths of the perverts and profiteers watching and creating pornography never even read  the 1st or other 26 amendments to the U.S Constitution and furthermore all of these  First Amendment arguments are mitigated bullshit.There is no free speech going on in pornography and in actuality pornography enslaves and inhibits civil rights of citizens, the performers, yes, performers. Let us  call them what they are nothing more than a trained animal, performing brutal acts on one another and any semblance of acting is portrayed in the denial/masking of pain,shame debilitation, and abuse carried out in the industry. Secondly let us consider the harm done to  those that view pornography, duped into a a neurosynaptic falsehood of a virtually unbreakable addictive nature, pornography; re-constructing the viewer’s psychology into a twisted,  malaligned, misogynist perversion of objectification.  Oh yeah, doubting and virulent supporter of “My right to smut.” this is about Civil Rights just not your twisted idea of freedom. Read on, read on, the curious,the doubters all ya’all one and all. I will prove without a shadow of a doubt the harm pornography contributes to society ( you must imagine W.C fields voice. google WC Fields, kid. Shhessh.)  the evidence is all right before your eyes, just open your mind like those peepers, keep your hands off your penis and on the steering wheel, man. Now to coin several cliches in a sentence sit tight, as we haul ass back to the future.

Mary in a panic, adamant somebody is going to kill her hysterically simultaneously shouting and whispering   “They came into my place beat me up and threw me down the stairs. I’m afraid they are coming back,” sobs over the telephone. Replying, ”Who beat you up?” Thinking a john or thug has done this. Crying , “Government agents , the black suits.” The phone line cutting of suddenly. Frantically calling on several Skype and telephone numbers, I get through speaking briefly, she is resolute in her desire to get out of her residence.  I am frightened out of my mind as well, afraid for not only her safety, but her daughter’s and my own. I arranged for a flight to Los Angeles. All communication lines mysteriously become unavailable. Knowing just what she has told me in the past and her infamy anything is plausible at this juncture.

Arriving in L.A with a young golden pure bred Cocker Spanial stuffed into a to small  Versace carrying case, she looked spent yet relieved to be with me.  Immediately demanding I  black out the windows, I begin placing   moving  blankets over the windows.Whispering, “Shhhhhshhh, take all the batteries out of the cell phones.They will know I’m here.” falling onto the bed with a sigh, she succumbs quickly to sleep .  Sleeping practically the entire day, waking intermittently trembling,  asking me to turn up the heat,Mary is beside herself with worry. “Turn up the heat,” she asks softly from under several blankets.  I keep the apartment super heated. Rarely eating and drinking two big bottles of wine a day,  I am incredulous at her alcoholism yet as I am also an alcoholic and addict in denial, I naturally give no thought to my disease. Ironically  my focus on her kept me clean. Spoon feeding Mary chicken noodle soup, thinking  how she reminds me of a combat veteran with the mile long stare, I absentmindedly stir the salty broth.   Plip! plop!I notice circular rings in the cheap Japanese Chawan bowl. “I am the salt of the earth.” I reflect.

to be continued…http://gerilewis.wordpress.com/2012/11/29/the-continuing-story-of-mary-and-i-the-brutality-and-dehumanization-in-the-pornography-industry-13/