"To assert that the earth revolves around the sun is as erroneous as to claim that Jesus was not born of a virgin." [Cardinal Bellarmine, 1615, during the trial of Galileo]

I Had a Dream

I had a dream last night,
Lost in the light of the day,
Until this moment came when
I saw it in another place.
The roaring waves had killed a man,
The people on the beach
Stared with horror-stricken faces
As the newsman did his job.
Last night, I saw those waves,
With my family in a house,
Water rising, water moving,
Rising fear with rising water.
I looked for a way, a door, out,
Anything to flee the water coming.
There was no easy exit,
I knew we had to accept
An end by rising water,
Yet never cease to search
For the door of our escape.
I’m not convinced of prophecy,
But dreams like this unsettle me.
They have within them
Something of a warning
And a hint of truths well hidden.
What is coming, what endangers
My family as we wait?
The waves have always roared,
And families have always died.
And something deep inside
Has always sought a door of leaving.
The people on the west coast,
Who saw the man get killed
By the giant, monster waves,
looked at me and I could see
The same dark, gnawing questions
Burning from their eyes and written on their faces.

I Saw A UFO! Seriously!

This is a true, true story...I swear. It really happened to me. I know some will read it and think I am either lying, or being crazy.

Recently, I was camping with a buddy just north of where the Appalachian Trail crosses Hwy. 75, near Graveyard Fields. It was a somewhat stormy day, but that night the rain stopped and the winds rose and the clouds began to clear. It was beautiful up on the mountain, and the winds were pretty steady as we drifted off to sleep at about 11pm (seriously, bone achingly tired).

Suddenly, like a light switch being turned off, the wind stopped. My buddy and I both noticed it and it woke us up immediately. The silence outside of our tent was eerie and scary...I wondered if maybe another storm had come in as we drifted off to sleep, and we were about to get slammed.

At that moment, a huge light exploded in front of our tent. No noise...just light. It was so bright it blinded us for a moment. We could see the structure through the net of our tent...it was a glowing sphere about 15 feet in diameter and at least 20 feet off the ground.

Again, there was no noise. And there was a structure there...and it was higher off the ground than any human could get it. However, I still feared that some drunk redneck was looking for trouble - I was terrified, actually. My buddy was too, and screamed, "I got a gun, get the hell out of here!" (or words to that effect).

Just as suddenly as it came off, the light went out...and the wind started blowing again. We both flew out of the tent, and we sensed movement above our heads. We looked up and saw what looked like a bowling ball faintly glowing and moving up into the sky. It disappeared.

We didn't even say anything to each other...we flew down the trail (my buddy had somehow grabbed a flashlight) and we got in his car, and we drove down into Helen and spent the rest of the night in a parking lot. We actually thought about driving home, but we did not want to leave our gear up there (my pack alone is worth about $400).

I SWEAR THIS HAPPENED TO ME...BUT - I HAVE A CONFESSION. IT DID NOT HAPPEN RECENTLY...IT HAPPENED OVER 30 YEARS AGO.

It was a life-transforming event for me. For 30 years, I have been obsessed with UFO's, and have studied just about everything written about them. My experience is similar to thousands of other experiences recorded by people for over 3500 years...seriously! In fact, the "kind" of UFO we saw (the bright, glowing sphere that floats silently then moves away at great speed) is the most common kind of UFO encounter. And, amazingly, it is one of the most documented atmospheric occurrences in human history...with incidents noted by individuals, pilots, military and law enforcement officials.

It is an amazing thing to me that - with so many recorded, documented, and investigated incidents - people still feel as if UFO encounters are unreliable and probably the result of an overactive imagination.

I think I know why this is. It is - I THINK - because, even though the record is there, the documentation is overwhelming, and there is even conclusive evidence - it hasn't happened to them. Most people just can't accept the unacceptable or strange or out-of-the-ordinary without personal experience to validate it to them.

But it happened to me...I know it did.

I once was lost, but now am found...was blind but now I see.

OK - all this has a point. Here is the "REVEAL" (if you have read this far)...many who would be the quickest to deny this experience of mine would insist that they have had a personal encounter with the Living God...that they have seen, felt, heard or otherwise encountered him. I could point out numerous, overwhelming and conclusive evidence (or lack of evidence) about the existence of God, the reliability of the Bible, or even the existence of Jesus.

But it would not matter. They have experienced God. UFO's are far more documented and have a longer history of recorded interaction with humans than the God of Christianity...but...it does not matter. They have experienced God.

And I saw a UFO. I seriously did.