DanLog the ramblings of Daniel Pettit

Spent all day today volunteering on the Easter set construction crew.

By the end of the day I think RockHarbor is ready to field a metaling team in competitive jigsawing, if the Olympics ever offers such a competition.

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Twas the last day for this session of Alpha tonight. They aren’t going to take much of a break between sessions as they are planning on starting the next one right after Easter. Which is a good idea with the influx of new people, maybe they will get a larger crowd of seekers and nonbelievers. I guess my volunteering will have to wait as I’ll still be in Alpha at Robinwood.

My table was AWOL tonight with the exception of the two leaders, it was good to see DJ out of the hospital, another table leader also joined us as he was indianless. So tonight we had three chiefs and one indian. For the group discussion we tried to join another group, but we were rejected which actually was a good thing for two reasons. The first was that there were tables that had strongly bonded over the Alpha course, this being one of them, they just wanted to keep it to themselves as this was the last week. Secondly because the four of us had a fine conversation on our own about evil and the actions of the Enemy.

Some of the experiences the others shared got the hair to stand up on the back of neck at times. I guess it’s good to have some foreknowledge if I ever have such an encounter. By the end of our conversation I didn’t have any encounters to share but did share my confusion and wonder of just how the enemy is and has been involved in my situation.

DJ told me that my brief journey in faith was encouraging to him. That felt good to hear. I don’t know how to express that without invoking pride. I know I haven’t made this journey in my own power but I do have a choice in the matter so can’t I feel pride that I choose the higher path. I don’t think I’m alone in this struggle of wanting to be praised for making the “good” choice. Why do we want or need to be praised for making the right decision at times, specifically when it is the “harder” choice? We don’t seek praise for every right we do, like hey I didn’t run down that kid in the street today even though I had the right-of-way. I guess because that was an easy choice. The sin of pride is a very perplexing issue with me. There just seems to my minuscule slug like mind that there can be exceptions, that it can’t all be bad. An artist creates a thing of beauty with talents from God, but isn’t the artists entitled to at least a credit for the assist? I have pride in what God has done in me and that my story has a positive impact on others. So it is basically 99% God 1% me, because I did choose to follow God, so doesn’t that count for something? Am I sounding like a whiny little brat about now? Is there perhaps a different word or way of expressing such a feeling without having one’s self injected in anyway? Okay enough philosophizing for the night, I’m getting a headache.

Back to the group discussion, so the sharing of my story and questions of the Enemy’s movements led the guys to pray for Lauren and myself. It was powerful and seems to have cleared my head a bit or at least bolstered my spirits. All in all it was another very good night. The lasagna from Alto Italia was also worthy of praise.

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Time has taken on a really surreal quality these last twelve months, in some ways I can’t believe its already been a year since becoming a Christian and in other ways I find it hard to believe all that’s happened; That all the transformation, change and experiences that I’ve encountered have all occurred in a mere twelve months.

Being walking distance I decided it might be fun to photograph the circus outside the President’s town-hall meeting today. To my disappointment I wasn’t allowed onto the fairgrounds and unless there was something going on behind the fairgrounds there wasn’t much of any circus going on. Just these few dozen people milling about across the street from the Fair’s entrance.

So without anything else to see and the likelihood of a brawl breaking out nil, I headed home. I thought I might try to get a photo from the West of the helicopters leaving if I had time before church. I get home pop some pizza in the oven, get my cameras downloading and turn on the town hall meeting. I listen to the President hem and haw through an answer and periodically check back. Just a few minutes later something sounds wrong. He is leaving. 5pm I guess is the end time. Some Obama supporter had told me 6PM. So I turn off the oven assemble the telephoto attachment for my old camera ( don’t have one for the good one) and run out to the truck to drive across the street into college park.

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So I’m getting a slow start to my day and as I pull my truck around to my garage to load up some equipment, I spot these behemoths bearing down on me. So I take the long way to the post office so I would see just what was going on at the fair grounds as that is where they were obviously landing. There they were three of them just sitting with the motors running. I didn’t see any other vehicles or any indication that anyone knew they were landing there. The sound of these babies coming in did rouse out half the fire and police department to come out and take some pictures, but they were just as lookie-loos as I was. I did think about heading back home to get my good camera, but didn’t as I had already wasted too much of the day. Good thing too as by the time I’d swung by the post office they had started to fly off.

I did get there early but well past 6pm it was looking like another poor showing for table 5, but then people trickled in, they also combined us with another table. By the end of the lesson when ended up with 10 in our group which more than any other week other than the first. Mike K. gave the lesson tonight about making the most of our lives and in the process shared an epiphany he had watching Donnie and Marie as a child.

Our group discussion began with those that attended the Day Away sharing our stories. One of the girls had her first profound experience of the Holy Spirit, the other girl shared the prophetic word that she had received. I shared my tiny encounter and mentioned how it differed from my previous Alpha Day Away. I also shared the confirmation I received from Greg in my Day Away group and how his full contact encounter with the Spirit was so similar to mine, I was then asked to elaborate on just how that felt. This led us to more discussion of the Holy Spirit interacting in our lives which led to some questions about, when, why, how often and why not always. All in all a good discussion. We ended in a powerful group prayer of praise and direction of the Spirit.

Today was the all day Alpha session. My table was seriously underrepresented. Neither table leader showed up, it was me and two girls one of which was her first time. Jonny played a couple songs and led the first lesson, and did a mean cat walk move. After the first lesson, being leaderless we split up and joined other groups. I ended up with a couple, Julie and Greg that were Alpha volunteers that had shared dinner with my table a few weeks ago. We had an enlightened discussion of the Holy Spirit. I shared my experience when I was overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit. Greg completely confirmed how I felt when he shared his first encounter with the Holy Spirit, he said I described what he felt perfectly, that confirmation was pretty cool. We then broke for a two hour lunch, most of Alpha went down to 32nd street in Newport, I took advantage of the break to get started on my mom’s taxes.

Doug Bacon gave the second lesson ending with all praying expectantly to be filled with the spirit, the leadership went around and prayed for pretty much everyone. Jonny came by me. I had been praying for a word, direction, something anything to guide me. While he was praying for me two things resonated, one he said was “Nothing is Lost” the other was that “I would bring others to God”. I can take the “nothing is lost” in a couple ways and as I’m thinking about it now I think I’ll go with both ways after all there is nothing restricting God to one opinion or answer. I had a bit of a tense feeling while I was praying, but nothing like at Robinwood’s Alpha Day Away. After Jonny moved on to the next person, I slowly kind of mentally relaxed and kind of spiritually warmed up. The tenseness just faded away. I’d say I had a minor touching of the Spirit. We then broke out into our small groups again now with just four of us.

Doug taught the last lesson as well, which was on God’s gifts - specifically healing. When the lesson was over he prayed that the group as a whole would prophesize over healing needs. As we prayed and waited for the Spirit to move within us we were to write down any words that came to us, or draw any pictures on blank cards that everyone received and to bring those up to the front. Once everyone had brought up their card if they had something to share, Doug and Jonny read aloud what was on the cards. If anyone was struck by what was on the card, ie. that speaks directly to me, they were to go get prayer over that issue (Only if they wanted to of course). There were quite a few. I didn’t get any prophetic words from God, nor did any of the cards speak to me. So I just stayed in my seat and prayed and took up a “listening” posture. After a few minutes Pastor Mike K. came by and asked if I needed prayer. I said no, not specifically - none of the cards spoke to me. A few minutes after that Jonny came by and asked me if I needed prayer. I again said no, well I always can use prayer but nothing specifically was on my heart at the moment. He asked again are you sure? It doesn’t have to be about the cards but I don’t want to pressure you if you don’t. I think we went through this dance one more time. And I said well I’m not really sure of what I’d want prayer for. I then told him about God basically giving me the “wait” signal and I that I had no idea just what I was waiting for and that it would be nice to get some direction some clarity from God. So Jonny prayed for me. He would pray awhile then wait on God thank Jesus and continue on again, he slipped into tongues briefly a few times and continued to pray wait pray for a very long time. I don’t think I can remember all he said but among those things he began with “me waiting” also about my namesake, that I am in the Lion’s Den right now, that I will make it out, that great things are planned, He said he saw me running, running with joy (if I remember right). He told me to not stop, to keep going, that it was good that I chose to move forward to look toward the Father. He prayed the gift of Prophecy for me as well as wisdom. There was more but I can’t remember. It has been a while since I’ve received prayer like this, a bit too long I think. Very comforting and encouraging.

We finished up the night going to Alto Italia restaurant for dinner. Jonny wanted to ride over with me, his wife Amy followed in their car. We packed the place, the owners go to Rock Harbor and have been catering all the Alpha dinners. I sat with Jonny and his wife as well as two from my group and a few other people. We exchanged small talk and then something brought up my aha moment the the Holy Spirit was at Catalyst lead by Doug B. That led to me telling Jonny my testimony. Jonny’s a good bloke I enjoy his company. All in all it was a great day, good people, good food, good experiences.

I HOPE this is not the CHANGE President Obama had in mind for all of us taxpayers.