The Petra Zone

Hey friends,

This weekend from Saturday to either Sunday or Monday, the UNI Pep Band is traveling to St. Louis to perform with UNI basketball at conferences. I am really looking forward to this, but I have a prayer concern.

A rule has been made that no student should consume alcoholic beverages during the trip. But I have heard rumor that some students plan to hold a secret keg party, or something of the like. My intention is not to spread gossip or condescend the UNI School of Music, but I feel led to share this issue with you all. Pray either that no one would make any really stupid decisions, or that if anyone does anything uncool, then they will face whatever consequences are necessary. Pray that God will watch over all of us in the group, that He will guide the paths of the believers, and that the Holy Spirit will convict the hearts of those living in sin.

If we "stand in the gap" together, we can advance the Kingdom - rock on!!

Dan J. Reynolds

Feels like a thousand years ago for me (I guess it was really just about 6years ago)

I used to love this time of year. I played in the ETSU basketball pep band. We had a great time! I envy you, wish I was going.

ETSU went to the sweet 16 about 2 or 3 years before I got there - then they went into a slump - until last year. They went back to the NCAA Tourney --- with out me of course !

So I thought this year I would at least go to the games ---- they did HORRIBLE --whaddaya-gonna-do?

I do remember the drinking Seems like there was always a a group drinking pretty heavily on our band trips.

But I was always able to find some people who were on the fence about partying. They would ask if I was going to "the party"? I would not be condencending or judgmental, but would say no. Then I would always invite them to some really cool place I was going instead. St. Louis will have tons of cool, cheap things to do that don't involve drinking - I would think.

I remember a group of good friends getting together and finding a YMCA. We intended on playing a short game of hoops. It turned into a massive tournament/showdown when some of the locals showed up!

Great fun! Great memories!

Good Luck!

PS Look up Josh from Petra Rocks My World while your there he can find alternative post game fun, I'm sure!

let us know how was it ok???

Ok epdc, ya want it, ya got it!

I wrote the story in an e-mail to my parents awhile back, but I'm too lazy to rewrite it again so I'll just copy-and-paste, making revisions as necessary:
- - -

Friday night (March 4) I did not sleep AT ALL. Surely because I took a 3-hour nap Friday evening and drank a Mountain Dew while I watched the movie Dodgeball with a couple band friends. My lack of sleep was actually to my advantage - I had time to pack 'n' get ready, and at 5:00 (Saturday morning) I headed out to the UNI-Dome (our college's stadium) with my stuff - I got there early enough to see the charter bus arrive. Ride there wasn't bad because I watched Radio and 50 First Dates and had good chats with the mellophone player I was sitting next to. She said she's planning to go on a mission trip to Mexico next summer (after I mentioned about my Guatemala trip). I could not sleep on the bus.

Not long after we got there we were to be in the Savvis Center (basketball stadium) ready to play. Our loss against South(west?) Missouri State was kinda disappointing, but I still had a fun time in St. Louis. The band, cheerleaders, and dance team all stayed at a Radisson hotel close to the Gateway Arch. I didn't ride the arch, but a few other students did. It was pretty cool to get to see that huge, monstrous half-of-a-McDonalds-sign again. [By the way, I'd been to St. Louis twice during my childhood, and I rode a tram up the Arch both times (and then back down, of course - why whould you stay up there?)]

I roomed with the three other trombone players, and we ate at Hannegan's (?) Restaurant and Pub. I had a Cajun shrimp pasta and a "mud pie" which is chocolate icecream with hot fudge and Oreo crumbs. Ohh, that was delicious! While at the restaurant I got a few minutes of sleep. Later on, I slept pretty well. For lunch Sunday (March 6) we just stopped at a Burger King. We arrived in UNI at 7:00 that night. Couple days later and post-excitement depression set in. No surprise. That's what normally happens. But now I'm on spring break so I'm not too glum right now. Got stuff to look forward to, like visiting my youth group and high school again! (My high school has classes this week, ha-ha)

Another by-the-way to add: our pep band uniform are these really cool-looking purple and yellow button-up bowling shirts that say Pep Band on the back, and on the front is embroidered whatever nickname we wanted. I chose "Chef" for the front of my shirt, because that was my marching band trombone-section nickname. Probably has to do with how I love to put spices and other condiments on the food I eat. Other pep band members' nicknames are also funny - for example, the mellophone section is Bertha, Ethel, Florence, and Beanie.

I thought I had replied to this...I must be getting old if I can't keep track of what topics I've replied to.

It sounds like things went well. As for the possible keg party, (I know it's a little late to be replying here) you can make a really strong statement by saying you won't participate in behavior like that, and it will catch up with them sooner or later. If it didn't this time, it will some time down the road if they make stupid decisions. Young people who think they're having fun by partying pay the price later on down the road.

Above all pray for them.

i thought since you are writing here you were already back , are you still on the trip?

epdc wrote:i thought since you are writing here you were already back , are you still on the trip?

What??? No!! Re-read the story - I came back to UNI on Sunday the 6th, so I was only gone 2 days. Now I'm back at my parents' home in Marchalltown (wait, I spelled that wrong: MarShallwotn) because I'm on suh-puh-ring buh-reak!!! Yeah, rock on because spring breaks are flippin' awesome! It comes as a perfect time for me because I got tired of being at college.

because shell started to talk about your friends who wanted to buy beer so she confused me then hehehehehe, I understood everything but after reading what she write that confused me.

you are on spring break now??!!!!!!! no fair, i start until next week and I`m only gonna have ONE week.

I also have ONE week of spring break as well - when yours starts, epdc, I'll be in classes again.

Right now I'm back at college because I have a Pep Band rehearsal tonight since we're going to fly to Oklahoma City tomorrow morning. UNI is playing in the NCAA Championship against (Wisconsin?) so we have yet another thing to do. To me it almost feels like my spring break is over since I'm back on campus, but maybe I'll enjoy the trip.

THAT`S GREAT DAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOW EXCITING!!!!! I *LOVE* TRIPS!!! please have a nice time and tell me about it when you get back.

I thought Jonathan was supposed to be the one who confuses everybody.

Well, I typed a nice long story about my Oklahoma trip with the UNI pep band and basketball team (March 16 - 19), but unfortunately when I clicked on "Submit" it disappeared. So I'm not gonna type the whole thing again, but I will at least say this much:

It was hard to stand up for my faith during the trip because very few members of the entire pep band (and the portion that went on this trip) are Christians. The rest seem to have an anti-God attitude or have a comical view of Christianity. It pains me that so many of them think that Jesus is uncool. One day while riding on a bus through Oklahoma City, as we passed a building with the words "Jesus saves" painted on it in large letters, some of the people sitting around me laughed when they saw it. Even someone sitting with them whom I'm almost sure is a Christian laughed along with them. This really ticked me off and I wanted to say something, not something condescending but something penetrating, but no words came to me.

It happens so many times that when I'm in a postition where a conversation leads to a convenient opportunity to express my faith, I have no words to say at the time. My heart cries out for the right words, but nothing comes. Then later on I think about what I could have said. Why does this happen so much? Even after praying hard for God to give me the right words when necessary? Is it the devil keeping me silent, or is it God's way of saying "now's not the time"? I don't see why it would have been the wrong time, or why the devil should be allowed to be so successful.

But I'll try not to dwell on this anymore.

The rest seem to have an anti-God attitude or have a comical view of Christianity. It pains me that so many of them think that Jesus is uncool.

I was not on the bus, and I could be totally off base here... but to me, the first sentence being true does not necessarily mean that the second one is. Again, you may have heard something that proves contrary in this specific situation, but in my experiences, many people (myself included, unfortunately) don't have problems with Jesus. They have problems with His so called followers, whether that be from the sincere to the completely hypocritical sides of the spectrum. They've been put off by a judgemental parent. They watch countless denominations advance legalism and religion in Christ's name. They've seen TV evangelists get rich, engage in MUCH superfluous pageantry, and then get busted for either lust, or greed, or name your poison.

As a follower of Jesus, I'm hard pressed to not have a comical view of Christianity myself... at least as defined and seen by secular society. My wife and I talk about it all the time... We're VERY thankful that we were raised knowing the truth of who Jesus Christ is because if we had not been, we would want nothing to do with the marketed brand of Christianity we see on TV, books, many CD's, and in churches... not that we would really set foot in a church. Why SHOULD the lost hold who we are or Who we say our Savior is with any kind of validity when there is nothing about our lives or our little subculture (I intentionally used 'sub' and not 'super') that appeals to their NEEDS?

We need a reality check. We need to remember and learn how to be real with people. We need to lose the Christianese and learn to laugh with the lost in joy, cry with them in their sorrow... in all things SHOWING that we have a life that is truly worth living. There's nothing inherently wrong with buying new books by Christian authors, or the latest Christian CD's we want, or chatting on Christian messageboards, or hanging out with our Christian friends. But we've slowly allowed all that to replace reading the Bible, singing to our King and being with Him and truly growing. That's how we begin to find the penetrating and profound words that we want to say in situations such as the one SK was in. That's how we begin to see the culture of our society change, and how we begin to alleviate the anti-God views or comical views of Christianity.

Maybe you SHOULD dwell on it, SK... I know I will... I'm reading back over this post and I feel like a really big finger is pointing right back at me.

That was a good post Ryan...It's a miracle I understand what Christianity is supposed to be about today considering the church I grew up in. If I didn't understand how messed up they were and that they did not have a biblical concept of Christianity, I wouldn't want anything to do with it today either. I can sort of understand why when when someone says they don't want anything to do with "organized religion."

I must admit I've laughed at religious references on The Simpsons. Just the past day I was watching part of the episode where Homer was having heart surgery. After a physician revived him, Homer was telling about how he "was in a wonderful place full of fire and brimstone." And on that episode where Homer starts a web page, and he put a "Dancing Jesus" icon on it, I was tempted to laugh at that. Then there's the "mmm, sacriligious" thing when Homer pretends a waffle stuck to the ceiling is God - then eats it.

Even though we know better, we still get cracked up at jokes like that. But such jokes being so affluent in our culture and media paints a comical, undignified view of Jesus in the minds of believers and non-believers alike, which He certainly does not deserve. Therefore the reverence and worship due Him becomes suppressed. Plus, hell-related jokes dilute the fear of hell in people's hearts. (Though I'm not saying it's wrong to watch The Simpsons)