Steve Alessi: Author of Alessi’s Angle, Pastor of Metro Life Church in Miami, Husband of World Renown Worship Leader Mary Alessi and Father of Four. 
I never really got into the whole aliens craze because I don't believe they exist and it seems like those who claim to have seen a UFO are people I don't think would be my friends. Mary says the real reason is because I'm a sissy and afraid. Whatever. All I can say is when I was in high school back in the '70's, I was not one of those standing in the long lines waiting to get into the UFO classic, Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
From what I understand, the whole premise of the movie was based on system of classification started by an astronomer and UFO researcher, J. Allen Hyneck. Evidently, in UFO-ology, a close encounter is an event in which a person witnesses an unidentified flying object. Hyneck devised a classification for these sightings: First is the visual sightings of an unidentified flying object; second is the visual sightings plus physical effects on animate and inanimate objects; and third is the sightings of "occupants" in and around the UFO. (Really?) Can you guess what the fourth would be? You got it, abduction.
As odd as all this sounds to me, I'm fascinated that so much attention is given to this notion of humans having contact with an extraterrestrial being, yet when we speak of a person connecting with a loving God, the gloves come off and a fight ensues with an innuendo that's weird and claims of absurdity.
When I read stories in the Bible of people having an encounter with God, I'll admit that it can seem a bit odd. Yet, when I see the outcome of such events, I find those individuals have been impacted in a good way, which allows them to walk out their destiny, and at times even change the course of human history. And that makes me wish I had these characters in my friendship circle. Who wouldn't want a friend like David the Giant Killer, or Daniel the Lion Whisperer?
One story that really stands out to me is the encounter Moses has as an 80-year-old -- seemingly a washed up, wasting away fugitive tending to his father-in-law's sheep on the back side of a desert. He stumbles upon a bush that's on fire, and yet the bush isn't consumed. As he approaches the plant, suddenly a voice begins speaking to him out of the fire, and this encounter with God so radically changes him that he spends the next 40 years of his life leading millions of people out of slavery and into a national power house known as Israel.
Now you tell me, which classification of Hyneck's sightings system would you rank this encounter? From what I see it was definitely a four... abduction. And I would say it's the kind of encounter we all could use in life.
If you're ready for that kind of God encounter, then come join me tonight at Metro Life Church (www.metrolifechurch.com) as we kick off our 15th Anniversary Celebration Worship Encounter. For 15 years we've seen people's lives changed for the better. After all, having an encounter with the Almighty will have that affect on a person's life.
Absolutely abduction level, Pastor. I can't remember which one of my used-to-be sci-fi favorites highlighted a superthing beaming down from the sky, finding an earthling and saying, "We have come in peace. Take me to your leader." Why are these strangers showing up, first of all? Second, how did they know that person they approached wasn't the leader? Last, I wonder why do they want to see the leader? If I recall correctly, once they got to the leader, they pulled out an ultra ray something-or-other and blew the him and everything around him away.
It reminds me of what God is doing in me this #WE2012 season. Jesus has come to me again, knowing His hope and future for me. But there have been some things - anxiety, for example - that I've let lead me around for the past few months. I get in this WE atmosphere (that's been thick since at least the beginning of the month), I'm able to let Him blow away everything that's getting in the way of His plans for me. My abduction is that ability to surrender with all-abandon and no-holds barred, and not just while the music is playing. After all, the people who were abducted by aliens and came back to earth were never the same again.
Thank you for hosting #WE every year. It's more than enough.
Pastor, just wanted to let you know I DO read the blog! No fooling!
As I encountered God this week I was reminded of how he turns everything for the good of those who love him. Leah and I have been challenged this week by her health issue but God saw to it that we were supported and loved and she has been ministered to by some great women at MLC. The Lord made sure this episode in our lives would be offset by the joy brought by belonging to the body of Christ. The enemy is busy during WE but the body is stronger; we encounter the Most High in spite of his meddling. Nothing can separate us-definitely a 4.
i love the analogy!
:)