An Evening With Panache Desai

Question-God

We are blessed at Cross Irvine to be located in a region that attracts speakers from around the world. The greater Los Angeles area has always been a draw for interesting people and despite its reputed darker side, it earns its name as the City of Angles.

Yes, we are a Christian Bible based Church, but with eyes wide open to the differences around the globe, we also humbly celebrate diversity. We do this mainly by inviting different speakers from different faiths to come to our little community for an evening of conversation – and sometimes debate. We believe that all roads lead to God, but naturally it goes without saying that we believe there are quicker routes than others.

From the roofing to the plumbing, from top to toe, as Christians, we believe that followers of the Lord Jesus Christ have all bases covered. Our faith is strong if we follow in the footsteps of the one true Savior. We are sure to get to the Pearly Gates as long as we practice acts of love and kindness to ourselves and others.

With that in mind our guest speaker last week was one of the most interesting people yet to come to Cross Irvine. We went out on a limb only because he would be our first Spiritual teacher and not an ordained minister in any particular sect. We were first introduced to Panache Desai when one of our practitioners said that he was making a difference in many people’s lives. He wasn’t strictly Christian, but followed Christ as one of his Masters. This turned a few of the Board members off saying he was too far out for Cross Irvine, but the majority of the members liked what they learned about Panache and gave the go-ahead.

Panache’s visit was delightful and such a pleasant encounter that Board Members are now considering other guest speaker of the same genre. Panache is a young man in his mid thirties, a father of twin girls, and resides in Florida with his wife. He comes from an East Indian heritage, but was born and raised in London. His clarity of message was the reason he was so readily and universally accepted by our congregation. We have even been asked if we could have him for a return engagement in the future.

Panache’s message was a simple one. “We are not broken”. We are perfect in the eyes of the Lord, Creator. We are humans and will experience all the emotions that come along with that. We will get angry, sad, depressed, frustrated, but that is not who we are. Accept that we are going to feel these emotions, and then decide to let them run you or to let them empower you. To make ourselves slaves to judgment of ourselves for simply being human is misleading. It takes us in a direction away from our best selves. He says embrace all parts of ourselves so that we can be in choice as to how we want each part to serve our highest and best.

Society leads us to believe that we are less than. That we need to be a certain way, look, act and smell according to the laws of commercialism. We are told to perform to a particular standard in order for us to be worthy, worthy of God’s love. At a time when so many mixed messages are thrown at us daily about who we should be according to Gucci or Prada, or Johnson & Johnson, Panache talked about who we are as a Soul.

He reminded us that the key to changing the world is changing our thoughts about who we really are, and departing from the dictates imposed on us from a commercially driven mindset. Having healthy, empowering thoughts that resonate with our individual authenticity and willingness to be our true selves supports our Soul’s expression.

Self-love demonstrates the willingness to accept the human side of ourselves while eradicating thoughts of judgment of and by others. His message and his presence encourage us to look for our inner potential. Then to express that potential through kindness and love of our fellow human being.

It was a wonderful evening, and if you missed it, we highly recommend that you keep an eye open for our next speaker. We are very selective who we invite to Cross Irvine because our congregation is very special to us. We want to deliver God’s Love through a variety of his messengers.