The eclipse was incredible! I trust videos and pictures are worth a 1000 words. So, here are some pictures, plus a 1000 words.:
Going through Missouri, I was baptized by a beautiful rain cloud. Ended up driving right into it. Huge rain drops! By the end of it, my windshield had never been so clean. For real. I came away with a much clearer vision of the world. After an hour or so of driving, I reached the bridges that cross of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. These are extremely narrow bridges. It caught me by surprise. They sure don’t build them like that any more. Thank God! The views, however, were incredible. There is not even a mile to cover between the two bridges. The way it puts one through the very tip of Illinois before heading into Kentucky is great fun. That part of the design is truly brilliant.
Naturally, I was thrilled to get a little expression on the first time around. The first time around is significant in the world of Halbertcicles because, no kidding, Halbertcicles often need to get warmed up and do not come out until the second effort in surroundings. This being the case, I was all the more intrigued to give it another try. And as you can see, a couple bolder expressions started to form. Not surprisingly, I thought, “Cool. I can work with this. Not than I have any idea what that mean other than some photographs, but hey . . . how much can we expect from Halbertcicles, anyway. On this trip, apparently a lot because they really looked done to me whem I first photographed them, then,—Voila—a trinity expression, a family of Halbertcicles, apparently, with some type of “Wait till your father gets home,” message. 😉 I sure do love my way cool Halbertcicles! Other people in our group got some personal “signs” that were cool for them, as well.
The Bald Knob Cross of Peace is such a beautiful expression of “Go tell it on the mountain.” That song was playing in my head when I woke up in Wichita, the morning I drove to Paducah. And it was playing at the Welcome Center when I first arrived! Getting chairs with canopies was clutch. So glad my local hardware store had some of these at a reasonable price.
With the heat and the fact that my voice has not recovered since IC17, doing a lot of outreach was not the best idea for me. (After seeing two ENT dr’s this week it has been determined that one of my vocal chords is not working at all. And they do not have a particular positive attitude about this reversing itself. *!@#%^&*!!! Nonetheless, I have my own ideas about the situation, which are better. But that’s not really saying much by way of comparison.) So, I did what could.
At the edges of the property were small groups of people who had the good sense to spend the day in the shade rather than directly out in the heat. I walked up to these people and said with my half working voice, “I figured you guys must be the most intelligent people here, so I though it might be nice to come talk to you.” I know how to break the ice on a terribly hot day. It’s not hard. Devon went with me on some of these excursions to pick up a few tips. It was a lot of fun, even with the challenging circumstances. We passed on some books about half of the 50 fliers I printed up got handed out. Naturally, the people who show up to Bald Knob Cross of Peace and the people running the place and all the volunteers who showed up to schlep our sh*t wherever we needed to have it take were wonderful people. Talking to the people who show up there is super easy.
The experience of the eclipse was fantastic! The thin cloud that briefly covered totality was a reminded and just enough time to shoot the 360. When the weather is favorable, the sudden switch to totality is everything people say it is. Everyone got their “bucket list” experience checked off just fine with this experience. Here on the west coast, we do not get clouds the way they do in the more central states. God, I miss the clouds and was thrilled to enjoy just the right amount on August 21, 2017 at Bald Knob Cross of Peace.
After enjoying the complete cycle of the eclipse, we head to a small local village for some dinner, before returning for sunset.
When we got back there, the place had pretty much cleared out completely.
We were blessed to enjoy this outrageously gorgeous sunset all to ourselves. Only about ten people were left hanging around.
By the time sunset actually came, they had all left. After a prayer circle to say thanks and ask for more help, we journeyed back a tired, reflective, and grateful group of pilgrims.
Regarding Visitors, signs of the times, moving forward, and all that other fun stuff . . .
No Visitors to report.
With respect to “signs of the times,” Jesus taught us to be alert, discerning, and wise. How do I apply this to what just happened?
Being alert does not seem to be an issue. I have not discerned exactly correctly, for sure. By being open to the possibility that we may get Visitors on April 8, 2024, I indicated already that I am minded to continue applying the general wisdom, even if my first educated guess is wrong.
On the drive back home, one of the thoughts that occurred to me is that my original thinking of August 21, 2017 or April 8, 2024 for potential visitation dates was unjustifiably narrow.
I continue to think that the combined prophecies of John, Isaiah, and Peter presented to us in Paper 52:7.11-13, taken in context with the peculiar history and location of Bald Knob Cross of Peace and with respect to the eclipses, along with so many other things that have been shared over the last several months, are a solid foundation for believing that Bald Knob Cross of Peace and the interdenominational group of Christians maintaining it will play some role in what is to come.
A visitation some time between August 21, 2017 and April 8, 2024 still seems like a reasonable interpretation of Urantia Book teachings regarding signs of the times. But I no longer think that speculations on the subject should be confined to the first and last date of the time period. I don’t see a justification for this.
(114:1.4) “Some believe that Machiventa will not come to take personal direction of Urantian affairs until the end of the current dispensation. Others hold that the vicegerent Prince may not come, as such, until Michael sometime returns to Urantia as he promised when still in the flesh. Still others, including this narrator [the Chief of Seraphim on Urantia], look for Melchizedek’s appearance any day or hour.”
The angels are hoping for Visitors to show up at any time. I share in the Chief of Seraphim’s hourly disappointment. I think I probably felt this way before all this stuff about Bald Knob Cross of Peace and the eclipses ever came to my attention.
Jesus has a birthday every year in the summer. Maybe Visitors will arrive next year on Jesus’ birthday. Maybe not. Maybe Visitors will show up somewhere else. But I do not know of any other place that seems more suited to the fulfillment of prophecies and teachings in The Urantia Book.
So, some of us have started to think about how great it could be to have a Jesus’ Birthday Celebration and Conference at that location every year leading up to April 8, 2024. Carbondale is only about thirty minutes away. We could find very comfortable accommodations and meeting rooms there.
Next year, Jesus’ birthday is on a Tuesday. Perhaps a Saturday to Thursday conference would be nice, with Saturday and Thursday being travel days. Leaving a day free to explore the area was, of course, favorably considered by those of us stirring up this conversation. There is a lot to explore in southern Illinois!
Programming ideas being tossed around include:
1) Origin, History, and Destiny of The Urantia Book, Urantia Foundation, and Urantia Brotherhood: Review and discuss the origins of The Urantia Book and the founding institutions. Give consideration to the variety of historical records and their impact on the development of The Urantia Book community.
2) Building Institutions of Religion, Philosophy, and Cosmology: Work with the perspective that the directive in charters of Urantia Foundation and Urantia Brotherhood pertaining to “the fostering of a religion, a philosophy, and a cosmology which are commensurate with Man’s intellectual and cultural development” is an instruction from the Revelators to foster institutions of Urantia Book-based religion, philosophy, and cosmology as a compliment to the more personal, non institutional work of forming study groups. Discuss this in the context of also getting instructions to foster study groups and train teachers and leaders.
3) The Bald Knob Cross of Peace community: Invite the Board of Directors of the Bald Knob Cross of Peace to give a presentation on the history of the organization, how it functions, its plans for the future, and lessons they have learned as an organization of interdenominational Christians. Invite them to share with us about how their various religious communities are structured and how those structures may have evolved once they got associated with each other on the Bald Knob Cross of Peace project.
4) Signs of the Times: Review research pertaining to what The Urantia Book teaches about the “signs of the times,” as well as other sources and events more broadly related to the topic. Review our own history of Urantia Book reader-believers who have predicted various things and the impact this has had on the community.
5) Unity Issues: Discuss issues related to the fact that we no longer having the original institutions operating in their original relationship to each other.
6) Celebrate Jesus birthday by taking plenty of time for prayer, worship, music, food, etc. Also, include a study of Jesus teachings and experiences as they relate to transition times, new revelations, signs of the times, etc.
If you think you would like to attend a celebration of Jesus birthday at Bald Knob Cross of Peace next year and have a conference on the themes discussed above, please get in touch with me immediately so that work on logistical issues can begin as soon as possible.