Journal Entry:
President's Day Prayer

February 20, 1995

I had intended to boycott school today out of protest for them replacing President's day with M.L.King's birthday as an official holiday. More specifically, I had wanted to spend the entire day focusing on President Clinton, having commenced a fast to that effect yesterday noon. However, as I awoke this morning, I felt impressed to go ahead an go to school.

The day was a very spiritual one from beginning to end -- as if it were a Sabbath day. Even the activities in which I participated that were archetypal week-day activities (attending class, seminar...), it seemed very much like a holy day for me, and these activities did not distract from the feeling and space I was in mentally and spiritually. I was there in body, but not at all in spirit, for my spirit was focusing on President Clinton. It was as if my involvement in these things enabled me to focus even more pointedly toward President Clinton -- as if somehow by being in a position to have my thoughts distracted by having them continually brought back to President Clinton in spite of these distractions gave them more power. My continual prayer was that this day would somehow be special for him as he commemorated those great men who laid the foundations of this nation and became some of its first presidents. My hope was that somehow my prayer could be utilized by the angels of heaven to bring about a magnificent change in this dormantly great man.

As I picked up the newspaper this morning and was browsing through it, I was struck by a picture and story regarding President Clinton commemorating the 50th year anniversary of the triumph on Iwo Jima. The picture of the president seemed to be uncharacteristic of his usual boyish look. He looked more dignified and humble. His words were powerful, and I couldn't help but wonder that God is indeed doing a great work with him. This bolstered my faith....

Around 1:00, I was done with the school thing and opted to skip out (to miss the 3:00 course I've been sitting in on occasion about Cancer Biology). Rather than head home, I felt impressed to go ahead and head up to Mt. Lemon for some seclusion and added inspiration that nature and mountains have a way of evoking.

Ever since Friday, I have been feeling a pull in that direction, but I kept putting it off, making various excuses -- mainly having to do with distance, but some to do with the deteriorating condition of my car, which complains on sharp corners, for its C.V. joints are going out. I just imagined that taking those sharp mountain curves with the torque could age the condition significantly. But today this suppressed urge finally dominated. I was committed. It is a good thing, for I had not been three minutes on the road when I had a major car-problem scare. Attempting to turn on my air conditioner, there was absolutely nothing, then pulling my headphones off (hymn music), I discovered a horrendous sound. At first I pictured my air conditioning unit squirting fluid all over the place and fan belts flipping around. In attempting to turn the car off while I waited at the intersection to turn off for inspection, I discovered the cause of the sound: the key had stuck in the starter position, and the starter motor was engaged. Ouch. I condemned myself for my foolishness, grumbled a little..., then wondered why the Lord allowed such things to happen when our desires are pure in service to him. Then I recalled a couple of concepts I had reviewed yesterday in Earth's Graduates about how God leaves things in our hands which we have power to control for our growth and development.... Anyway, I continued on, figuring I was determined to go to Mt. Lemon, and there would be plenty of inclines on which I could push start my car if necessary.

I did not have any place in mind, and as I began climbing out of valley, I was moved by the inspiration that comes from looking out over civilization from a mountainous perspective. After passing a small canyon with beautiful waterfalls cascading down its crevice, I pulled off at a main overlook area, packed my pack with a few books that I thought I might read from, then headed up the side of the mountain toward the canyon. Except for the busy road nearby (apparently many others opting to come to the mountain on the holiday), it was very serene and uplifting. With the rains we have been blessed with, the vegetation was green, and many of the plants were decorated with flowers. Even though most of the plants were of the cactus variety, the pleasant spring air contradicted the notion of this being a desert.

As I approached my canyon, I was electrified by its beauty. I love the sight and sound of streams splashing their way down a slender, sloped canyons, surrounded by the lush vegetation that can't help but thrive. I found myself a marvelous spot.... I had no schedule, but I thought I would start off my session with a prayer, eyeing the nearby rock with an alter-like rock next to it. The setting was absolutely invigorating. The dynamics of my surroundings seemed a wonderful match for the inflections of my hearts desires. Deep shadowed crevices immediately next to serene pools of clear sunlit water whose entering water came from a fall that created a fan look as an intermediate rock spread its movement, and below these pools were another series of small falls. I was giddy with delight over the scene that surrounded me. And the large, ivory boulder next to me (which harbored one of the pools) was studded with opaque, quartz-like stone as if it were suited for a royal throne room. In the far distance visible above the V of the turning canyon, was a glimpse of the city below. Here I would pray.

I knelt down and marveled at the beauty of the stone upon which my hands rested. While the stones in this scene were generally smoothly jagged, where I knelt was smooth, and it's small contour added to the relative comfort.

At first, my voice was paled as I began praying, thanking the Lord for the beauties of his handiwork. But as the Spirit came, my voice elevated in volume to match the splendor, confidence, and serenity of the splashing falls about me. My prayer was solely focused on President Clinton. Not one phrase was voiced on my own behalf (something I did not realize until the prayer was over). My mind was clear as one thought and concept lead to another. My heart was filled with faith and virtually unwavering conviction that what I was praying was according to the Spirit. At that time, my strongest faith was rallied and in full commission. As I record this hours later now, that Spirit is not with me but in a faint lingering way, so I shrink to have the courage to believe with the level that I believed when I prayed. I felt that not only were my prayers borne of righteous principles, but that they would be answered in a powerful way.

All my recording yesterday of nuggets from "Heavenly Ways of Earth's Graduates" was fresh on my mind. I was specific in my petitions on behalf of President William Jefferson Clinton. The faith that came with my realization of Goethe's witness of these same principles (the timing of this being brought to my attention having struck me as significant, and building my faith on the principles as well -- then the scripture I opened to last night in Job being yet another witness) was also a factor here, I'm sure, in providing me with such strong faith as I prayed.

For some reason, the words that I prayed are obscured in my memory now. Some of my prayer was after the manner that I have been praying for the past two weeks: that he would be shielded from the powers of darkness, that he might come to an awareness of his mission and destiny as a child of God called to fulfill an important role in the latter days, that he might humble himself and realize his dependence upon the Lord. In all this, I kept always in mind that I should not pray anything that would go against his agency -- only for those things that would place him in an ideal environment for his agency to thrive in choosing righteousness. I prayed that the Spirit of God would be poured out on him in abundance as he chose to humble himself, that he might be born of God, that his fleshly desires my be purged and replaced with a desire to serve God, that he might be filled with the Love of God for him, and that he in turn would be filled with love for his fellowmen. I prayed for a renewal of his body, physically -- for a complete healing in every way. I prayed that he might be protected from the power of the destroyer until he finishes his work here upon the earth, and that he might come to an awareness of the covenants he needs to make with the Lord and then be blessed with the courage to enter into those covenants. I prayed that he would come to an awareness in a very real sense -- namely feeling their presence -- of the great men who laid the foundations of this country and who continue to work with the children of men to accomplish the fulfillment of what they commenced while they were in the flesh. As a source of power, I called upon the virtue of the priesthood which is now on the earth, all the keys having been restored to Joseph Smith and then passed on all the way down to Howard W. Hunter. I also called upon the faith and prayers of other Christians, that they might be magnified at this time -- as well as the faith of those in President Clinton's family who love him dearly. I called upon the love which I am developing for him as well as which many others feel. I prayed that those righteous individuals who are around President Clinton and in a position to influence him might have their efforts magnified, and that those who do not might be hindered, receiving a stupor of thought and being impeded in their efforts to thwart him or influence him. I prayed that he would be protected in his travels. I prayed that he might have brought to his recollection and draw upon the lessons he learned as a child about Jesus Christ, his atonement, as well as of the other faith-promoting stories of the great men of the Bible (specifically Moses). I prayed that the music he might listen to today would be uplifting and be a tool for humbling him and bringing to his mind the glory and magnificence of God. In this same vein, I prayed that as he sees the beauties of nature and hears their sounds; as he smells the aromas of beauty; that all his senses might be aroused within him to bring him to a mode of worship and humility before the Lord. I prayed that he would have come to his mind events from his past in which God's hand was manifest, such as in saving his life. All of these things were done, bringing it back to him becoming the instrument in the hands of God that he was foreordained to be in bringing forth God's kingdom here upon the earth.

When I closed, I sensed a completeness to the prayer, and in some regards even a sense of meaning for the need I have felt to focus my thoughts, prayers, and even fasting on his behalf. This feeling was immediately replaced with my observation of the shift in the weather. When I commenced, the sun had been shining brightly; now dark clouds hovered overhead as if converging on the mountain. Yet the sun seemed almost to pierce through to where I stood as if giving its final approval before being swallowed up in the arriving storm. It was almost eerie -- especially as previously I had not even noted any clouds in the sky. I did not feel it to be some kind of heavenly rebuke, but rather that it could be a sign of some kind pertaining to the imminence of the Lord's loving wrath being poured out on the inhabitants of the earth.

I read for a little while (Earth's Graduates) until the wind and the chill picked up, at which time I went ahead and packed up and grudgingly left this oasis, feeling satisfied that my purposes there for today had been accomplished.

I remained on the mountain in my car for a while longer, working on some homework, and falling into a nap. When I awoke, the clouds had become even darker around the mountain, and seemed as if they were boiling downward. I decided to head back into town. As I watched the clouds in my rear view mirror, I was struck by their ominous look. By the time I reached the Tucson Jewish Community Center, the setting sun was now illuminating any portions of these clouds that were hanging downward making for an awesome show. The lower the sun set, the more red these cloud formations became. The image that came to mind was what Mount Sinai must have looked like.... I stood there with my car parked in the parking lot, sitting on the hood of my car to soak in the beauty and wonder of this scene. I don't recall seeing anything like it ever before.

The whole chain of mountains were encircled by this downward-billowing fiery halo, covered by the dark clouds above.

It really was something to behold.  The whole sky was capped with flat, black thunder-head bottoms, except in the West where the sun was setting.  As the sun shone under the clouds, it colored the bottoms of the clouds in a dark purple-reddish hue.   Then, where the rain was descending from the clouds, not yet hitting the ground, it was lit up in bright red color.  It was this rain dropping from the clouds that formed a fiery circle about the mountain tops behind me where I had just been.

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