Dulled by Daily Routine or Honed to Sharpness?

Journal 2005 01 30
Dulled by Daily Routine or Honed to Sharpness?

Life in the community. Not life spent in exploration. We think of exploration and expedition in the context of constant travel. During this first winter of the expedition the men spend months biding time until the conditions allow travel.

Treating sick people (bled one, cut the frostbitten toes off another), dealing with problems (boats stuck in the ice), engaging in trade (making tomahawks and trading them for corn and grain), diplomacy (interacting with local Indians and Canadian business representatives) and the daily disciplines life requires keep the men of the Corps of Discovery active if not downright busy.

Are we able to place ourselves in the proper context of a Great Commission? Like Lewis and Clark and the men under their command, we serve under the authority of the Great Commission. When you are commissioned into service you do not have the option of serving. We seem to think fulfilling the Great Commission is something we do at our own leisure. That is not the case.

I believe what happens to so many of us is we let daily life dull us from the calling to be about fulfilling that which He has commissioned us to fulfill, “Go into all the nations, making disciples and baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.” We see in the very human example of the Corps of Discovery that daily life and human nature work to stop exploration and discovery. Human need tends to overwhelm us and fool us into believing that meeting the needs of daily life fulfills our duty to the Great Commission. We must stop that. We must allow the Holy Spirit to prepare us for a season and then send us when the conditions are right.

If you’ve ever spent any time in a hunting camp you’ll soon find it is easier to stay in camp and tend to the daily duties of the camp. It takes work to get up before dawn to be in place to succeed. It takes desire to stay out past dark to give yourself a chance to succeed. It is easy to convince ourselves of the importance of the daily routine. We must allow the Holy Spirit to override that very human response with obedience to the greater calling. Fulfillment comes in fulfilling the commission. To do that we must be in the right place at the right time ready and able to act.

Lewis and Clark were busy with daily life. Yet at the same time, they were preparing to move on when the conditions allowed them to work at fulfilling their mission.

Let us adopt that same mindset today.

More Modern Medicine

Journal 2005 01 26
More Modern Medicine

It is a comparatively “worm” day. Twelve and twenty above zero at dawn and dusk respectively. Assiniboine Indians are visiting the neighboring Hidatsa’s and include the American expeditionaries in their rounds. It is still cold, icy and snowy on the prairie and  people continue to visit. The men of the Corp are pretty well bunkered in for the winter except for hunting and visiting the nearby Indian villages. What drives the emissaries to brave the conditions are the same things that drive us today. Commerce, diplomacy and curiosity. Warfare could be included in the types of activities that take us out in conditions that would normally keep us in. But no warfare took place this winter.

Again, outdated medical practices are employed in the treatment of one of the men having chest pains. Diagnosed as pleurisy, he is bled and given other forms of treatment. All are not helpful. The young soldier will recover in spite of the treatments that we now know only hindered his healing. Today we know better. Again I wonder, what will be discovered two hundred years from now about our current medical practices? First to always come to my mind is our use of chemotherapy. We literally chemically “burn” patients internally with chemicals bringing them near to death without killing them hoping to kill cancer cells. I believe this will be seen in history as a corollary treatment to the bleeding of our ancestors.

A work party of soldiers continues to attempt to cut the boats out of the ice. Progress is frustratingly slow and unproductive. (And the men would have to be cold and wet!)

Refined by Winter, Tempered for Spring

Journal 2005 01 24
Refined by Winter, Tempered for Spring

There has been concern about the boats being crushed in the ice of the river. The men discover, to their surprise, that a fair amount of water is flowing between two layers of ice. The top layer is 8” think, then several inches of flowing water, then 3” of ice.

More snow falls, the temperature is the same at dawn and dusk, minus 2!

The Corps has two interpreters. One is hired the other is a member. George Druillard, who is also one of their best hunters, speaks English, French and Plains Indian sign language is a member. Toussaint Charbonneau spoke French and Hidatsa. The Captains got a bonus from Charbonneau’s bride, Sacajawea, who spoke Shoshone and Hidatsa.

Evidently the two interpreters have been suspicious of one another. Their journals note that the two interpreters have resolved the differences. No note is made of what their differences might have been.

I wrote earlier of trusting your interpreter, asking the question, “If the Holy Spirit interprets the will of God for us, do we trust Him?” This same question of trust between interpreters is raised here.

Winter, and its “enclosed” activities have required the two men to see the mutual suspicion and resolve it. What winter has allowed to be refined and then tempered will allow spring to use its strength to accomplish its mission.

May we see and allow winter its refining and tempering of our lives so we may be fit for use when the mission calls for it.

"Modern" Medicine

Journal 2005 01 21
“Modern” Medicine

Quiet, relatively warm (8 degrees above zero) day at Fort Mandan. The sky is clear and Clark makes some celestial readings to confirm their exact location.

A very human issue crops up and that deals with men who have contracted what we’ve know throughout time as a “social” disease. Clark gives them mercury as a kind of cure-all. It works and we will see mercury used to solve all kinds of physical problems on the journey.

In hindsight, the medical expertise available to the Corps was the best available, but crude by modern standards.

Don’t you think two hundred more years will render many of current medical practices crude? Exploration and improvement must be constant for progress.

Allowing Winter to Prepare Us for Spring, Summer and Harvest

Journal 2005 01 18
Allowing Winter to Prepare Us for Spring, Summer and Harvest

More meetings with the representatives of the Northwest Trading Company, a British company that considers itself the sole trading partner with tribes in this territory.

The relationship of the British traders and the American explorers is suspicious at best.  Yet the traders spend the night at Fort Mandan. The fort hosts many visitors regardless of any tensions with the Corps. Hospitality rules with the Americans and the local tribes.

Once again, the restraints of winter allow the British and Americans to meet and talk. A luxury the work of summer may not allow. Proximity and environmental restraints encourage conversation and problem solving.

I think we must be more intentional today to have relationships that are not easily “escaped” because of our ability to put aside the restraints of weather and geography. Will we allow winter to prepare us for spring, summer and harvest? We are missing an important part of our natural growth if we don't.

Winter Counsel

Journal 2005 01 17
Winter Counsel

The winds of winter blow. The temperature is around zero and the unimpeded winds of the prairie blow through the villages and fort. The men are hunkered down.

The winds of winter were also blowing through the minds of the Mandans. One of the visiting chiefs speaks to the Captains regarding spring plans for war against the Shoshones to gain more horses.

Clark reasons and lectures the chief about how much his planned raid would upset the “Great Father” (President Jefferson). Clark didn’t say it to the chief, but it would also interfere with the Corps plan for acquiring horses from the same Shoshones.

After more discussion the chief says he has enough horses and drops his plan to attack the Shoshones.

Winter is the season that allows for deep thinking and discussion regarding the coming year. The human mind went from war to peace without a shot, or arrow, being fired in the course of this winter.

Are we taking time to let our minds work out its plans in the wisdom of counsel?

Improve Your View

Journal 2005 01 15
Improve Your View

A total lunar eclipse occurs from midnight to three a.m. Clark uses the small sighting telescope on his sextant to improve his view of it. He comments that even though the sextant’s small scope was not as good as their telescope, it improved his observations “greatly”.

I was able to buy a pair of what are considered to be one of the best binoculars ever made several years ago for just over one hundred dollars, a fraction of their real value. I’ve written many times in my devotionals about acquiring the “improved view” available through world class optics. Their ability to allow you to see colors and resolve detail allows observations that are not possible with the naked eye.

This is not intended to turn into a physics lesson on optics, but to spend a moment considering our physical limitations that are built in by design. And then apply the same principle to understanding our spiritual limitations that exist by God’s design and the impact of sin.

Our eyes see a limited spectrum of light. It is exactly the bandwidth that we need to function on earth. If we saw all bandwidths we would be overwhelmed with input. Darkness would no longer be dark.

Our ability to hear has the same narrow response, too. We don’t hear the dog whistle and we feel the low frequency earthquake wave more than we hear it. Again, if we heard everything, we couldn’t make sense of any of it. Hearing “aids” help those who have damaged their hearing. Other “listening devices” allow us to hear sounds and conversations that would not normally register with our limited ability to hear.

Sin has limited our spiritual ability to “see” in the spiritual world. The flesh limits our spiritual awareness by warring against it. Both have the effect to muffle, insulate and obscure. God has given us spiritual hearing and seeing aids. Prayer and fasting and preaching and teaching from His Word are our binoculars and hearing aids.

Many have said that the view through the best optical instruments is “better than the real thing”. Seeing the world through God’s eyes is better than the real thing and allows us to engage the world outside His intentional design limitations. Used as designed, His tools allow the view of our world that He intended by His design.

Frostbite

Journal 2005 01 14
Frostbite

Frostbite. The word alone brings fear and shaking into my mind. Prolonged exposure to weather cold enough to freeze parts of our bodies. I don’t want to be really hot, but I’m more afraid of being really cold.

Inadequate preparation for protection from the natural world is its cause. Private Whitehouse has feet so severely frostbitten this day that the rest of his party of hunters sent Private Shannon back to camp to get a horse to carry Whitehouse.

My mind is asking why only Whitehouse? Are the other men better prepared? Were bitterly cold feet the norm and frostbite was just a little farther down the line?

Preparation for the purpose at hand. A simple requirement for success. Are we prepared for something as simple as the weather where we live? Or do our feet get cold every time our hunger drives us outside to look for meat?

Spiritual frostbite.

Would we recognize it if we saw it? If we had it?

Prolonged exposure to spiritual warfare and harsh spiritual conditions without adequate preparation can result in a loss of feeling and a threat to our well being.

How do we “insulate” ourselves from the forces that would draw life from us and cripple us from moving as we normally would?

The blood stained robe of Christ separates us from all sin and unrighteousness. That is our first and foremost line of defense from the attack of the enemy that would lead to spiritual frostbite.

To that we add a safe place where a fire can warm a shelter and refresh and renew us from the harshness of the cold. I believe the shelter of His wings and fellowship with Christ are the best sources of spiritual heat. Worship and prayer usher us into His presence.

We are prepared for spiritual battle by training and equipping. His Word prepares us, trains and equips us, for good works. Bible study, personal and corporate, is required.

Finally, the whole body must be prepared to shun spiritual frostbite. We have been apprehended for a purpose. A purpose we cannot fulfill outside the body of Christ. Putting on insulated boots may protect the feet, but if you have arctic boots and are otherwise naked, you will still freeze to death. We need one another in the church.

Then we are able to meet the harshness of extreme “spiritual weather”.

Provisions in Winter

Journal 2005 01 13
Provisions in winter.

Crops are not harvested in winter. There isn’t even the hope of harvest yet because the seed is not planted. The ground lies fallow, or “at rest”, bringing a future hope for harvest because of a rejuvenation of the land. Rejuvenation, by definition, implies a restoration to a more youthful, or juvenile, state. My body could use rejuvenation!

The Corps has not “harvested” enough meat to adequately feed the men. They notice that the Mandans have meat only about half the time. The Captains also note that any meat brought into camp by their hunters is shared equally among all lodges in the village.

The Captains understand the principal of “filling the larder” with meat to carry them through times when meat can’t be harvested. That is their goal. And a right one.

In the midst of the effort to survive winter while they prepare for the real work of their mission, the enemy sends a mouthpiece to speak evil against Corps of Discovery. A clerk from the Hudson’s Bay Company, George Bunch, is badmouthing the Americans to the Mandans. Attempting to dissuade the Indians of the Corps good intentions. The Mandans were not persuaded. They had seen friendship demonstrated on their behalf from Captains Lewis and Clark and the men under their command.

The Indians provided corn they had stored from harvest. Hunters provided meat as God provided game.

Human effort and Divine provision. Just what God ordered to make it through the dormancy of winter.

Forging Relationships

Journal 2005 01 11
“Forging” Relationships

The heart of winter on the prarie. Forty degrees below zero the previous night. Always cold. A teenage Indian boy, in an apparent attempt to prove his manhood, sets out to kill a bison and ends up at the Fort being treated for severe frostbite.

Village life in primitive structures really is not all that different than ours today if you look at the people, not their accommodations. Relationships rule the day. As the forge of the two blacksmiths are in constant use making and repairing items useful to living, the forge of the human heart is at work making friendships, creating bonds of trust and joining spirits for brotherly love.

Winter should be a time when we can brood over one another as external circumstances require internal activities. We would do it if we were forced to. Can we do it in the midst of our ability to insulate ourselves from the restrictions of weather and length of days?