My Friend Michael

I read this book by Frank Cascio, not sure where it would take me, or leave me.  I was nervous about what he might have written that would be too revealing of Michael's personal life, or something that could be used against Michael in some way.  I was hoping it was not another betrayal, something that happened all too often in Michael's life.   In the end, I need not have worried.  Frank Cascio clearly adored Michael from the age of five, to now.  He was very careful to try to write completely honestly and fairly, and give us a view of Michael's life, that could only be told by Frank, because he was there.  For me, it rang true, and gave me comfort that Michael had a true friend by his side, and a regular family to be a part of.   He shows us how it was from inside Michael's world, not as an excuse, but as a way to help us understand him and his life.  I admire the way Frank does not presume to take any other point of view than his own, and does not venture outside of his own personal experience to describe what was happening.  This is not written by someone looking for his five minutes of fame, but someone who truly was a friend to Michael, always.

I love seeing the human side of Michael, the jokes, the fun and how much he truly was a child at heart all his life.  Anything that pulls me closer to Michael can only be good.  I love to know that he was not perfect, in the human sense.  At the same time, this books is like a microscope focused on one person's experience of Michael and by no means is a complete picture of Him.  I think that Frank purposely avoided mentioning anything about Michael's godliness, in the hopes of being taken seriously by readers and reviewers.  He could probably write another book about the enlightening experiences he had with Michael, but that is not the purpose of My Friend Michael.  It's like Frank's relationship was one piece of the puzzle, and all of us have our own piece to put in to make the whole picture of Michael's effect on the world.

I did not feel that Frank went too far in any aspect of his writing.  Nothing that he wrote disappoints me in any way.   We all need to be able to accept the fact that Michael was human, which to me, make his determination and perseverance to be what God wanted him to be, even more beautiful.  It makes me love him more, and be determined myself, to be what He would have me be and do what He would have me do.

Be Love Now - Call For Love Devotion December 21

‎..once you have experienced unconditional love, you have nowhere to go. You can run, but you can't hide. The seed is planted, and it will grow in its own time. You can only grow into who you truly are.
You may think you are free to come and go and play where you will, but the Beloved has taken you for his or her own, and in reality you can only surrender more and more to that divine attraction. 
ram dass - be love now - page 7


I am currently reading this book and am thoroughly enjoying the similarities between the description Ram Dass gives of his relationship with his Guru, and the relationship many of us have with Michael.  It gives an outside perspective and validity to what we have been experiencing.  


Be Love Now 

Ryder Michael

One week ago, on December 6, my daughter gave birth to a baby boy.  She invited me to be with her along with her husband during the labor and delivery.  As it often is when babies, doctors and hospitals are involved, all did not go according to plan, and she was rushed in for an emergency caesarian.  During the short time that I was waiting to hear what was happening, I was sending love to my daughter and the baby and praying for the safe birth of my grandson.  Who did I pray to?  It was Michael.
After I found out everything was fine and the family was already getting to know each other, I thanked Michael for being there for us.  He has become so much a part of my life, my every moment, that I had no doubt that he was with us then, and I naturally turned to him for comfort and for help.
That turned out to be one of the most wonderful days of my life.  To see my beautiful baby, being a mother to her own beautiful baby, along with the most devoted husband and father to them both, and being invited to share their very first day together was a gift that I will cherish forever.  
They named him Ryder Michael.  Needless to say, I am thrilled with his name.  I am so grateful that they live close by, and that I will be able to watch him grow up, and be a part of his life.  Is it too soon to start playing Billie Jean for him?  I bet he'd love it!

Michael Pointing to Enlightenment

We love Michael for so many reasons.  He has helped each of us individually with our problems, dreams, decisions, hopes, confidence and beliefs.  I am still amazed at how totally devoted I can be to someone I never met, and didn't even appreciate until he left the physical world.  It seems to me that he was sent from heaven and returned to heaven, and spent the 50 years in between showing us in every way he could, the way to reach heaven.  He sincerely wanted to show all of us the way to love, peace and happiness, which we can only find by helping each other to get there with us.  In many ways, the story of Michael is similar to the story of Jesus.  I hope that 2000 years from now, we do not have a religion based on Michael, with rules and behaviors set by people in authority, which totally idolizes Michael and makes it impossible for a regular person to ever interpret his message or be capable of following his teaching without the "authority" telling them what to think.  I think that Michael, like Jesus, wants people to follow his example in their own lives.  Love each other, do what they love to do, be the best they can be.  He does not want us to think of him as "different", meaning that we have no hope to ever attain his level of "LOVE".  Like the finger pointing to the moon, the finger is not the moon.  We miss the point if we never look past the finger, or the beautiful, amazing person that is Michael, to see the possibility he is showing us.

Right now, we are each having our own experiences, our own interpretation of his message, and that is the way it should be.  We can each trust our own intuition and heart.  Part of Michael's message is exactly that trust and faith in ourselves and our own ability to know what is right for us.  Someone posted a quote from Einstein today (When I tried to find it again, I couldn't see it, so I don't know who posted it, but thank you so much!)


 “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.” 
― Albert Einstein

Michael showed us how a life can be lived by remembering the gift and directing the servant.  Let's show him that we get the message.

This is the back of a sweater that someone was wearing in the line-up of Subway two days ago. It was a long line, and I was about three people behind. I just had to leave my spot to go up and tell him how much I liked his shirt. I could see that it was well worn, and he said he had had it for years, and he has a few others as well. Returning to my spot to order my sandwich, I kept my eye on the guy with the shirt. After I got my sandwich I ran after him and asked if I could take a picture. He was with a group of co-workers, and I was thrilled to find another follower of Michael. This confirmed the decision I made a while ago, to always carry some sort of Michael bag, pin, shirt to keep him in the minds of people I interact with each day. Even if we don't talk, they will know I am a follower of Michael's, and I just might make a new friend, start up a conversation, give someone a Michael gift, or change someone's mind.