Election Eve Prayer Tonight at Arizona State Capitol

ELECTION-EVE PRAYER TONIGHT! Just a quick reminder that we will be gathering for a solemn time of prayer for the elections tonight at the State Capitol at 7 p.m. (17th Ave. and Jefferson). Many have been fasting and praying for these elections. I want to encourage you to join us tonight or at your own home in praying for God to raise up leaders who seek after Him and who will govern according to God's principles of righteousness and justice. We want to remember to pray for these things for offices at every level, from President of the United States down to local school boards.

I have been praying and I encourage everyone else too.
Dear Friends,
I had the opportunity to meet Bruce Vincent and hear him speak at our forest health rally in March of 2003. He is a wonderful human being and a man of character. I had tears in my eyes after I read this short article he wrote.
http://www.eco.freedom.org/el/20041101/
Please do everything you can to support the future of our country on election day November 2nd 2004. I believe our support for President Bush, both with our votes, thoughts and prayers is critical for our future. I have faith in him, and I have absolutely no doubt that he will be a much better president than John Kerry.
I have studied the tactics of the opposition and I believe that evil opportunists are using every means to defeat him, including violence, propaganda, litigation, scare tactics and good old fashioned cheating.
As patriotic Americans, it is our right and our duty to support the best possible candidate for the President of the United States, George W. Bush.
Kathy Gibson Boatman
hlphzarrived@earthlink.net

Dear Friends,
I have known Bruce Vincent for many years working with him in People for the West/USA. He was our last Chairman of the Board. In my last mailer there was a picture of Bruce and I with the inner city kids in Washington DC teaching them about logging. Bruce started the Provider Pals program to teach kids where "things" come from. It was exciting to read this and know that it is a true story. (article from the ECO-logic Powerhouse) Please don't forget to vote on Tuesday.
Sylvia Allen

This is who our President really is
By Bruce Vincent

Editor's Note: For those of us who sometimes find ourselves having doubts about our President, here is an excellent piece - worth every minute it takes to read it. It is from a man, Bruce Vincent, from Montana who received an award from the President. He writes:

I've written the following narrative to chronicle the day of the award ceremony in DC. When you get done reading this, you'll understand the dilemma I face in telling this story beyond my circle of close friends.

The moment with the President in the Oval Office was incredible. I want to protect the memory, because it was an intensely private moment between two men. At the same time, I'd like to share it on a broader scale, because I'd like others to know what I know about the man sitting at the desk in the Oval Office.

Our efforts concerning the reintroduction of our rural, resource-providing cultures to the ever-more-urban society of our nation has been honored with an award from the President and First Lady Bush. Nominated by the Forest Service for the first-ever Preserve America President's Award was our cultural exchange program, Provider Pals, and our restoration of an abandoned CCC-built Forest Service ranger station (Raven Ranger Station) for use as a learning center for students from throughout the nation, who are now engaged in our cultural exchange.

The award was given at a White House ceremony on Monday, May 3. Guests at the East Room ceremony (the Rose Garden was going to be used, but it rained) included Secretary of Interior Gordon, Secretary of Agriculture Venneman, Undersecretary Mark Rey, and Forest Service Chief Bosworth. The East Wing was closed to the public for the event, and those who attended enjoyed brunch and live chamber music. Thankfully, I was also able to bring PJ, and all four children.

After the ceremony, eight of us, in total, were taken to the Oval Office, and introduced to the President and Mrs. Bush. We shook hands, and participated in small talk. I have to tell you, I was blown away by two things upon entering. First, the Oval Office's sense of "place" is unreal. I could feel the history in my bones. Second, the man who inhabits the office engaged me with a firm handshake, and a look that can only be described as penetrating. Warm, alive, fully engaged, disarmingly penetrating.

I was, admittedly, concerned about meeting the man. I think all of us have an inner hope that the most powerful man in our country is worthy of the responsibility and authority that we bestow upon them, through our vote. I admit that part of me was afraid that I would be let down by the moment - that the person and the place could not meet my lofty expectations.

President Bush got right down to business and, standing in front of his desk, handed out the awards, one at a time, while posing for photos with the winners, and Mrs. Bush. With the mission accomplished, the President and Mrs. Bush relaxed, and initiated a lengthy, informal conversation about a number of things with our entire small group.

He and the First Lady talked about things such as the rug in the office. It is traditionally designed by the First Lady to make a statement about the President, and Mrs. Bush chose a brilliant yellow sunburst pattern to reflect "hope." President Bush talked about the absolute need to believe that with hard work and faith in God there is every reason to start each day in the Oval Office with hope.

He and the First Lady were asked about the impact of the Presidency on their marriage and, with an arm casually wrapped around Laura, he said that he thought the place may be hard on weak marriages, but that it had the ability to make strong marriages even stronger, and that he was blessed with a strong one.

When asked what the biggest challenge of the Presidency was, he talked about the daily frustration of partisan politics. "This, from a politician," he said. He said that when he was elected, he promised that he would do in DC what he had done in Texas, and that was build alliances and coalitions that bridged party lines in order to move the nation forward. He had quickly learned that there are those in the nation's capital who would rather see the nation dismantled than work together to achieve a common good. That, he said "is a bitter and continuing disappointment."

After about 30 minutes, it was time to go. By then, we were all relaxed, and I felt as if I had just had an excellent visit with a friend. The President and First Lady made one more pass down the line of awardees, shaking hands and offering congratulations. When the President shook my hand, I said, "Thank you Mr. President, and God bless you and your family."

He was already in motion to the next person in line, but he stopped abruptly, turned fully back to me, gave me a piercing look, renewed the vigor of his handshake and said, "Thank you - and God bless you and yours as well."

On our way out of the office, we were to leave by the glass doors on the west side of the office. I was the last person in the exit line.

As I shook his hand one final time, I did something that surprised even me. I said to him, "Mr. President, I know you are a busy man, and your time is precious. I also know you to be a man of strong faith, and I have a favor to ask you." As he shook my hand, he looked me in the eye and said, "Just name it." I told him that my step-Mom was at that moment in a hospital in Kalispell, Montana, having a tumor removed from her head, and it would mean a great deal to me if he would consider adding her to his prayers that day.

He grabbed me by the arm and took me back toward his desk as he said, "So that's it. I could tell that something is weighing heavy on your heart today. I could see it in your eyes. This explains it."

From the top drawer of his desk he retrieved a pen and a note card with his seal on it and asked, "How do you spell her name?" He then jotted a note to her while discussing the importance of family and the strength of prayer. When he handed me the card, he asked about the surgery and the prognosis. I told him we were hoping that it is not a recurrence of an earlier cancer, and that if it is, they can get it all with this surgery.

He said, "If it's okay with you, we'll take care of the prayer right now. Would you pray with me?" I told him "Yes," and he turned to the staff that remained in the office and hand motioned the folks to step back, or leave.

He said, "Bruce and I would like some private time for a prayer." As they left, he turned back to me and took my hands in his. I was prepared to do a traditional prayer stance - standing with each other with heads bowed. Instead, he reached for my head with his right hand and pulling gently forward, he placed my head on his shoulder. With his left arm on my mid back, he pulled me to him in a prayerful embrace.

He started to pray softly. I started to cry. He continued his prayer for Loretta, and for God's perfect will to be done.

I cried some more, my body shaking a bit, and he just held tighter. He closed by asking God's blessing on Loretta, and the family during the coming months. I stepped away from our embrace, wiped my eyes, swiped at the tears I'd left on his shoulder, and looked into the eyes of our President.

I thanked him as best I could, and told him that me and my family would continue praying for him and his. As I write this account down and reflect upon what it means, I have to tell you that all I really know is that his simple act left me humbled, and believing. I so hoped that the man I thought him to be was the man that he is. I know that our nation needs a man such as this in the Oval Office.

George Bush is the real deal. I've read internet stories about the President praying with troops in hospitals, and other such uplifting accounts. Each time I read them, I hope them to be true, and not an internet-perpetuated myth.

This one, I know to be true. I was there. He is real. He has a pile of incredible stuff on his plate each day - and, yet he is tuned in so well to the here and now, that he "sensed" something heavy on my heart. He took time out of his life to care, to share, and to seek God's blessing for my family in a simple man-to-man, father-to-father, son-to-son, husband-to-husband, Christian-to-Christian prayerful embrace. He's not what I had hoped he would be. He is, in fact, so very, very much more.

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