Let Your Light House Shine North Carolina

“Welcome Troy” was on the TV as we walked into our room. Tripped me out a bit, thinking “how did they know?” then I realized they have my info on their app which I take full advantage of checking in and out with. I went back downstairs to grab a few more things from the car and walked by the coffee station near the front. They had a large picture of the Liberty Bell Replica at the Capitol as the backdrop. This felt like a little nod from Holy Spirit that again we're on the path.

We get settled in, the kiddos go swim and I find a comfortable seat attempting to relax while not feeling well.

Our next morning was again nice and slow. We decided to find a nice park for the kiddos to play and eat lunch. We stumbled upon a hidden gem with a great playground and beautiful scenery. With no rush we all enjoyed conversation and the warming Raleigh weather.

The Capitol was a little busier than the others with us showing up on a work day. We noticed a few groupings of people handing out pamphlets, nothing too out of the ordinary except a dude walking around with a big stick. We walked around praying and taking pictures. On one side of the complex is the court, at the top of the building right above the entrance is a statue of what looks like Moses or better yet the Melchizedek and the words “LAW AND JUSTICE” under his feet. HE is the Torah and Tzedakah. Torah means Law. Tzedakah means righteousness / justice.

We realized that many of the Capitol buildings that we’ve been to were under construction, Raleigh was the same. It seems like a pattern was developing.

After praying a ring of fire around the building, we went on a hunt for the Liberty Bell replica. It was on a side street of the Capitol complex near the museums. We get set up on the sidewalk, I decree and commission. Groups of people walk by not paying much attention. I finished up, we took our group picture and Braylea rang the Liberty Bell. It echoed throughout the complex turning heads all around. LET FREEDOM RING!

Matt and I stayed at the bell waiting as the rest of the group found a bathroom. As we were standing next to the bell, a gentleman walked by then backed up, got his phone out and took a picture of the bell. I asked him “would you like me to take a picture of you and the bell?” he looked me over not sure what to make of me with my big stick. He says he is good then stops and says yeah I’ll take that picture. I noticed a pamphlet in his hand and tried to read the title, I could make it out. I snap a few for him and I tell him to ring it. He looks at me like “nah” and I say, I’ll ring it for you if you want? He agrees and gets his phone ready to video. I bend down to put my staff on the dinger, I brace myself for a hefty push. When Braylea got under the bell to ring it, she had to push a few times to get it to hit. It looked heavy, so now I’m going to get it to ring on the first push. I look back and say “here we go” and shove with most of my weight behind it. If freedom was rated on how loud the bell rang, America and the entire Earth are now free… The dinger was not heavy at all, it rang so loud that it was like an explosion in my face. I couldn’t hear anything for a moment. I looked at the guy, with a shocked smile and said, there you go. He was stumbling back, nervously laughing. Matt said when it rang he heard him say “good Lord” Matt responded “yes he is”. After the echoing stopped he asked if we worked there, I told him no, he was now wondering how he got himself into this. Matt and I went on and told him we were going to all 50 state Capitols praying for America. When we said that, it was like everything around us was agitated. Like the atmosphere vibrated violently in anger. It caught me off guard, I stepped back a bit observing everything around me. The gentleman didn’t really make any gesture of agitation, maybe a bit of confusion but that was it. I was hyper focused on what was going on around us that I disconnected from the conversation and Matt finished the conversation, then he was off. Matt then turned and said did you feel that? I told him what I felt, he confirmed something happened when we said we were going to all the Capitols.

After we sat processing all that just happened we decided to go find the group. They went into the museum up the way from the bell. We walk in and I immediately make eye contact with three security guards. Two were coming down the stairs and one was at the front desk. One of the two coming down the stairs takes a hard left and walks away as fast as he could, the other walks to the front desk then walks off. I take my glasses off to minimize the discomfort of a guy walking in with a big stick with a shofar on it. I turn to look at the big plane hanging from the ceiling and wipe my forehead and comment that the air conditioning feels wonderful acting like I’m just cooling down, not here to cause a scene.

The front desk clerk and security guard are both looking at me and discussing. Then I hear, “it's a horn, they make a sound like a trumpet” I look over and he says does that make a sound? I walked over and said it does. He goes on to say that at his family reunion his crazy uncle has one and they do the big “ceremony” before they eat and he blows a horn like mine. The clerk asked if she could hear what it sounded like. I told her I’ll try to do it quietly. In a big open museum that thing rang out, heads turned. I answered a few questions and then looked for my group, they saw me over at the front desk being questioned and went and hid in the gift shop…

We tell the group about our encounter and rang the bell again. They said they heard it and someone commented on how loud it was. I said they should've had their head right next to it…

As we made our way back to the vehicles I noticed a group of trans men on the corner handing out pamphlets. When we drove back by leaving the complex, we saw the gentleman that stopped at the bell there with them handing out their pamphlets. This answered the question about the violent agitation in the atmosphere. I prayed that the seeds of our encounter would spout and that he couldn’t get the thought of them out of his head.

We put Stony Creek into the GPS and made our way to Richmond, Virginia another short drive for the afternoon.

Shalom