Journal 2005 07 28
Captured
It is hard to describe the Lewis and Clark Expedition. It was a trek into land claimed by Spain, France, England and Russia. None had really established a strong enough presence to hold onto it. The Expedition was first a military mission. The men were soldiers. Even those recruited in St. Louis were enlisted as privates. It was certainly a scientific exploration of unknown land. A modern comparison would be the underwater discoveries of Jaques Cousteau and his fellow scientists and divers. It was a humanitarian and anthropological mission also. A significant portion of the Expedition was to be spent toward observing indigenous peoples and establishing peaceful relations with them. And it was in no small form a commercial venture. The primary goal was to determine if a navigable waterway existed joining the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific coast. Waterways would carry the wealth of the nation to the population centers.
Several civilians were employed for their language and wilderness abilities. The young Shoshone wife of the French interpreter was carrying her newborn son. I’m convinced that the presence of this young mother and her infant was instrumental to the peaceful acceptance of this strange band of armed travelers into lands filled with tribal warfare. How could a mother and baby be part of a war party? Sacagawea is the young mother and her story unfolds here at the confluence of the rivers that Lewis names the Gallatin, the Madison and the Jefferson after the President, Secretary of War and Secretary of Navy.
As the weary men rest and prepare deer skin for clothing and moccasins, Sacagawea tells of a battle on the precise spot where the men are camped. The Shoshone, or Snake, Indians were camped and were spotted by the Minnetares. The Shoshones moved three miles up the Jefferson. Just out of the valley and into the woods to hide. The Minnetares pursued them, attacked, killed four men, four women, a number of boys and made prisoners of all the remaining females and four boys. She was one of the young girls captured in the attack. Later, she was acquired by her French fur trader husband in a business deal. It had been about five years since she was captured.
Lewis notes that he “cannot discover that she shews any immotion of sorrow in recollecting this event, or even joy in being restored to her native country; if she has enough to eat and a few trinkets to wear I believe she would be perfectly content anywhere.”
Much speculation exists about Sacagawea. Some contend she died within ten years of the expeditions end. Others insist she lived a long influential life. We’ll explore that in more detail much later in this exercise. We do know that she proved herself many times over throughout the journey to be a courageous, contributing and valuable member of the party. Her knowledge of native plants aided the men greatly in their diet. All noted her bravery as she risked her life for the good of the mission several times.
Many of the men carried the young boy, Jean Baptiste Charboneau, during the journey. Captain Clark was especially fond of him and the baby was often in his care. He was nicknamed “Pomp”.
Lewis’ observation of her lack of bitterness or joy but simple contentment is what strikes me in today’s journal entry. Husbands reading this will be thinking, “If only my wife could be so easily satisfied.” Wives reading this will be thinking, “Oh that poor girl, someone should have done a better job of protecting her.” I believe the lesson brought to us from the Heaven through the Spirit of God is the same one recorded by another traveler, Saul of Tarsus, later named Paul, as he “proceeded on” with his eyes fixed on Mt. Zion as he preached the Good News that Jesus Christ was the Savior of the world.
“… for I have learned to be content in whatever state I am. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound. In everything and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:11-13)
I have to answer the questions this scripture and journal entry beg for myself. I hope you ask it of yourself. Have we suffered wrong like the young Shoshone girl taken from her mother and given to a strange man as a teenage bride? Am I content to have enough to eat and a few trinkets? Are you? And not just am I content, am I “perfectly content?” Are you? If not, I have to ask myself am I trusting and believing and living in the truth that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me?
Inspiration for today from America's Greatest Expedition, the Corps of Discovery!
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
What Did I Do Before Breakfast?
Journal 2005 07 27
What Did I Do Before Breakfast?
Yesterday I asked what did each of us accomplish by lunch. Today, the question posed to us by Captain Lewis and his party is what did we do before breakfast?
“We set out at an early hour and proceeded on but slowly the current still so rapid that the men are in a continual state of their utmost exertion to get on, and they begin to weaken fast from this continual state of violent exertion.” At 9:00am Lewis and his party reach Three Forks. Lewis recognizes the significance of their arrival at this geographic marker and stops the party for breakfast and closer examination.
The Three Rivers area is a broad valley surrounded by mountains and is a beautiful location. Lewis gained high ground, noted a good location for a fortress, and determined to camp and let the men rest until Captain Clark returned. After he breakfasted, Lewis set out for more exploration and found the note Captain Clark left and determined his time would be best spent fixing the latitude and longitude of this location because it appeared to be an “essential point”.
About 3:00pm Clark and his four men return. Clark has a high fever, chills and pain in all his muscles. “This morning notwithstanding his indisposition he pursued his intended rout…about 8 miles and finding no recent sign of Indians test about an hour and came down the middle fork to this place.”
Lewis informs the men of his decision to spend at least a couple of days in camp here at Three Forks. The men immediately start soaking their deerskins for dressing the next day and set out about caring for the cargo they are transporting.
At this point, Lewis notes “considerable anxiety with rispect to the Snake Indians.” He writes that they are several hundred miles within the bosom of this wilderness and game is likely to soon become scarce, they have no idea how far the mountains extend, no idea to the best passage through the mountains and no horses to replace their canoes as cargo carriers.
Lewis demonstrates that visionaries are also pragmatic and realistic. He is able to assess and understand the veracity of their situation and its rational ramifications. He concludes his thoughts this way. “…however I still hope for the best,…my two principal consolations are that from our present position it is impossible that the S.W. fork can head with the waters of any other river but the Columbia, and that if any Indians can subsist in the form of a nation in these mountains with the means they have of acquiring food we can also subsist.”
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out into a place which he was afterward going to receive for an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he went. (Hebrews 11:8)
Therefore since we also are surrounded with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily besets us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, (Hebrews 12:1)
We are to live with the same rational view of our world, but the hope of glory based on the heroes of the faith that have lived in the promise and acted on the promise and revealed to us that if they could live life in His Kingdom we can expect the same life in His Kingdom.
What Did I Do Before Breakfast?
Yesterday I asked what did each of us accomplish by lunch. Today, the question posed to us by Captain Lewis and his party is what did we do before breakfast?
“We set out at an early hour and proceeded on but slowly the current still so rapid that the men are in a continual state of their utmost exertion to get on, and they begin to weaken fast from this continual state of violent exertion.” At 9:00am Lewis and his party reach Three Forks. Lewis recognizes the significance of their arrival at this geographic marker and stops the party for breakfast and closer examination.
The Three Rivers area is a broad valley surrounded by mountains and is a beautiful location. Lewis gained high ground, noted a good location for a fortress, and determined to camp and let the men rest until Captain Clark returned. After he breakfasted, Lewis set out for more exploration and found the note Captain Clark left and determined his time would be best spent fixing the latitude and longitude of this location because it appeared to be an “essential point”.
About 3:00pm Clark and his four men return. Clark has a high fever, chills and pain in all his muscles. “This morning notwithstanding his indisposition he pursued his intended rout…about 8 miles and finding no recent sign of Indians test about an hour and came down the middle fork to this place.”
Lewis informs the men of his decision to spend at least a couple of days in camp here at Three Forks. The men immediately start soaking their deerskins for dressing the next day and set out about caring for the cargo they are transporting.
At this point, Lewis notes “considerable anxiety with rispect to the Snake Indians.” He writes that they are several hundred miles within the bosom of this wilderness and game is likely to soon become scarce, they have no idea how far the mountains extend, no idea to the best passage through the mountains and no horses to replace their canoes as cargo carriers.
Lewis demonstrates that visionaries are also pragmatic and realistic. He is able to assess and understand the veracity of their situation and its rational ramifications. He concludes his thoughts this way. “…however I still hope for the best,…my two principal consolations are that from our present position it is impossible that the S.W. fork can head with the waters of any other river but the Columbia, and that if any Indians can subsist in the form of a nation in these mountains with the means they have of acquiring food we can also subsist.”
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out into a place which he was afterward going to receive for an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he went. (Hebrews 11:8)
Therefore since we also are surrounded with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily besets us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, (Hebrews 12:1)
We are to live with the same rational view of our world, but the hope of glory based on the heroes of the faith that have lived in the promise and acted on the promise and revealed to us that if they could live life in His Kingdom we can expect the same life in His Kingdom.
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
What did I do before noon today?
Journal 2005 07 26
What Did I Do Before Noon Today?
Clark leaves two men with sore feet while he explores with the other two to a mountaintop twelve miles west of Three Forks. His goal is to gain a view of the rivers and their valleys in order to determine their courses. At 11:00am Clark reaches the peak “with great difcuelty & much fatigue”. From his elevated view he is able to observe the North Fork meander ten miles through a valley. No fresh signs of Indians. Clark satisfies himself regarding the courses of the Middle and South Forks and returns to the two famished and footsore men resting at Three Forks.
The stoic William Clark describes himself, “I was fatiqued my feet with Several blisters & stuck with prickley pears…determined to cross the Middle Fork and examine that…we crossed the Missouri…the first part was knee deep the other waste deep & very rapid, I felt myself very unwell & took up Camp on the little river 3 miles above its mouth…”
Captain Lewis and the main party continue upriver not yet at the confluence of the Three Rivers. The boats are pulled because of the speed of the mountain water in its channel. A new species of grass is discovered by the men and Lewis’ Newfoundland dog, Seaman. The seedhead on the grass is barbed and able to penetrate the men’s moccasins. No relief is available save stopping and pulling out the barbed seed. This grass causes Seaman great discomfort as he bites at the bearded barbs of grass that cling to his thick fur and poke his skin.
These guys are tough. What did I do before noon today? What did you do before noon today? Did you hike twelve miles to the closest peak to gain perspective for your future work? Did you then return the twelve miles, and set out again for at least three miles to cross a rapid, waist deep river while not feeling well? Finally camping and eating a venison meal from a “pore deer” taken earlier in the day.
Why would these men press on, proceed on, at the pace they do every day? I believe they know that the success of their mission depends upon them crossing the snow-capped mountains that rise to the west in a timely fashion. If they do not cross them in due season their mission is jeopardized and likely to fail.
Do we set out to cover as much ground in our work as these men do in theirs? I don’t. I hope you do. But I am working harder than I have in some time because of their example. Can you ask yourself at dawn, if you are up with the sun as these men were, where do I want to be at noon today? When I get there, will I learn anything helpful to the fulfillment of my mission?
“From the end of the earth I cry to You when my heart is faint; Lead me to the Rock higher than I.” (Psalms 61:2)
What a great example to us! Seek the high ground. Work hard to get there and hold your decisions until you have gained the high ground.
What Did I Do Before Noon Today?
Clark leaves two men with sore feet while he explores with the other two to a mountaintop twelve miles west of Three Forks. His goal is to gain a view of the rivers and their valleys in order to determine their courses. At 11:00am Clark reaches the peak “with great difcuelty & much fatigue”. From his elevated view he is able to observe the North Fork meander ten miles through a valley. No fresh signs of Indians. Clark satisfies himself regarding the courses of the Middle and South Forks and returns to the two famished and footsore men resting at Three Forks.
The stoic William Clark describes himself, “I was fatiqued my feet with Several blisters & stuck with prickley pears…determined to cross the Middle Fork and examine that…we crossed the Missouri…the first part was knee deep the other waste deep & very rapid, I felt myself very unwell & took up Camp on the little river 3 miles above its mouth…”
Captain Lewis and the main party continue upriver not yet at the confluence of the Three Rivers. The boats are pulled because of the speed of the mountain water in its channel. A new species of grass is discovered by the men and Lewis’ Newfoundland dog, Seaman. The seedhead on the grass is barbed and able to penetrate the men’s moccasins. No relief is available save stopping and pulling out the barbed seed. This grass causes Seaman great discomfort as he bites at the bearded barbs of grass that cling to his thick fur and poke his skin.
These guys are tough. What did I do before noon today? What did you do before noon today? Did you hike twelve miles to the closest peak to gain perspective for your future work? Did you then return the twelve miles, and set out again for at least three miles to cross a rapid, waist deep river while not feeling well? Finally camping and eating a venison meal from a “pore deer” taken earlier in the day.
Why would these men press on, proceed on, at the pace they do every day? I believe they know that the success of their mission depends upon them crossing the snow-capped mountains that rise to the west in a timely fashion. If they do not cross them in due season their mission is jeopardized and likely to fail.
Do we set out to cover as much ground in our work as these men do in theirs? I don’t. I hope you do. But I am working harder than I have in some time because of their example. Can you ask yourself at dawn, if you are up with the sun as these men were, where do I want to be at noon today? When I get there, will I learn anything helpful to the fulfillment of my mission?
“From the end of the earth I cry to You when my heart is faint; Lead me to the Rock higher than I.” (Psalms 61:2)
What a great example to us! Seek the high ground. Work hard to get there and hold your decisions until you have gained the high ground.
Monday, July 25, 2005
Three Rivers, Trident and Trinity
Journal 2005 07 25
Three Rivers, Trident and Trinity
William Clark and his small advance party arrive at an idyllic valley on their quest west. Clark documents the geography and statistics of the rivers. We need to wait for Meriwether Lewis before we get the lyrical description reserved for the deep romantic in Lewis’ heart.
Three rivers of nearly equal size and quality meander through this mountain valley and form one larger river, the long traveled Missouri! Noted by the Indian nations for the confluence of three river forks the area retains that name today. The town of Three Forks, MT is slightly southwest of this place on today’s maps. Elevation 4,081 feet. Exit 278 off I-90 today. An even smaller mining town lies less than a mile downstream from the Missouri. Its name, Trident. I should think Trinity would have come to the mind also.
Those who love trout fishing in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains can close their eyes and imagine the swift-flowing streams so clear that they seem to magnify everything between the surface and the rocky bottom creating an optical illusion. Water refracts light differently than air and objects appear to be closer than they really are. Those who have not seen mountain rivers can remember Robert Redford and Brad Pitt trout fishing in the movie, “A River Runs Through It.”
Lewis’ river party was about twenty miles behind Clark and his overland party. Clark has seen a wild horse before reaching the three forks. It was healthy and not about to be caught by four men with sore blistered feet. Horses were really the reason for their wanting to connect with the Shoshone. I’m surprised that the sighting of the horse did not ignite great relief and joy in the wearying travelers. A simple sentence recording its sighting is all that is mentioned.
The men continue to enjoy the fresh berries of the summer as a tasty supplement to their meat diet. Much as it is still today, deer are more abundant than any of the other species of big game. Elk are found in smaller numbers, a bear is seen and no bison and the “white pudding” the men enjoy from the bison fat.
What keeps coming to mind is the natural occurrence of three rivers combined to make one mighty one. Attributes of all three are similar. Characteristics are similar, but courses are different. Substance is the same, clean, pure life-giving water. Three Forks, Trident and my name, Trinity.
Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Three manifestations of the substance of God. Same clean, pure life-giving water. Same attributes of holiness, omniscience and omnipresence. Different manifestations in creation. All God. One God.
An infinite mystery beyond our carnal comprehension, but not beyond our observation of its revelation. In the confluence of three equal, yet separate, mountain streams begins the flow of a river whose journey is life to those who look to it for sustenance. That is the call of God for us always. Look to Him for His provision of all things necessary to life and living.
Three Rivers, Trident and Trinity
William Clark and his small advance party arrive at an idyllic valley on their quest west. Clark documents the geography and statistics of the rivers. We need to wait for Meriwether Lewis before we get the lyrical description reserved for the deep romantic in Lewis’ heart.
Three rivers of nearly equal size and quality meander through this mountain valley and form one larger river, the long traveled Missouri! Noted by the Indian nations for the confluence of three river forks the area retains that name today. The town of Three Forks, MT is slightly southwest of this place on today’s maps. Elevation 4,081 feet. Exit 278 off I-90 today. An even smaller mining town lies less than a mile downstream from the Missouri. Its name, Trident. I should think Trinity would have come to the mind also.
Those who love trout fishing in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains can close their eyes and imagine the swift-flowing streams so clear that they seem to magnify everything between the surface and the rocky bottom creating an optical illusion. Water refracts light differently than air and objects appear to be closer than they really are. Those who have not seen mountain rivers can remember Robert Redford and Brad Pitt trout fishing in the movie, “A River Runs Through It.”
Lewis’ river party was about twenty miles behind Clark and his overland party. Clark has seen a wild horse before reaching the three forks. It was healthy and not about to be caught by four men with sore blistered feet. Horses were really the reason for their wanting to connect with the Shoshone. I’m surprised that the sighting of the horse did not ignite great relief and joy in the wearying travelers. A simple sentence recording its sighting is all that is mentioned.
The men continue to enjoy the fresh berries of the summer as a tasty supplement to their meat diet. Much as it is still today, deer are more abundant than any of the other species of big game. Elk are found in smaller numbers, a bear is seen and no bison and the “white pudding” the men enjoy from the bison fat.
What keeps coming to mind is the natural occurrence of three rivers combined to make one mighty one. Attributes of all three are similar. Characteristics are similar, but courses are different. Substance is the same, clean, pure life-giving water. Three Forks, Trident and my name, Trinity.
Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Three manifestations of the substance of God. Same clean, pure life-giving water. Same attributes of holiness, omniscience and omnipresence. Different manifestations in creation. All God. One God.
An infinite mystery beyond our carnal comprehension, but not beyond our observation of its revelation. In the confluence of three equal, yet separate, mountain streams begins the flow of a river whose journey is life to those who look to it for sustenance. That is the call of God for us always. Look to Him for His provision of all things necessary to life and living.
Friday, July 22, 2005
Who is Able to Lead and Guide?
July 2005 07 22
Who is Able to Lead and Guide?
Proceeding on in search of the headwaters of the Missouri River and the Shoshone Indians Lewis and the river crew meet up with Clark’s battered land party. I have not traveled through prickly pear cactus and can only imagine the ongoing nemesis it continues to present to the men traveling overland.
As all travelers have discovered, if you keep moving your current troubles will at some point fade away. The men had to be hoping this would soon happen with the prickly pear cactus. At some point it must lose the climate it needs to dominate the landscape. Foreboding as they must have been, the high, rugged mountains ahead had to at least hold the promise of relief from the needles that were shredding their feet. My guess is that they also had great hope that the hordes of mosquitoes would abate as they entered the high mountains.
Lewis records another eighty-degree day and then promptly leaves his thermometer behind and dispatches Sgt. Ordway to retrieve it.
The teenage wife and mother on the trip assures the Captains that she recognizes the country of her childhood. She clearly states that they are near the Missouri’s headwaters. Captain Lewis genuinely fears that they may stumble across another obstacle like the Great Falls. He finds Sacagawea’s reassurances of little comfort to his worries as he surveys the increasingly mountainous terrain. He can’t imagine that some natural obstacle will not impede their progress.
Remember that this is 1805. Sacagawea is the sixteen-year-old squaw wife of a French employee of the Corps. It would be years before American women could even vote. Captain Clark kept York as a slave and servant. The Civil War was sixty years in the future. Meriwether Lewis must have taken Sacagawea’s observations with a large dose of skepticism. Even though she had shown herself to have great courage and resourcefulness it had to be difficult for the experienced military leaders to take her advice as expert.
We look back and see that perhaps Lewis and Clark were not as “enlightened” as we assume we are regarding slavery and the rights and value of women. One thing I have learned in my fifty-one years of living is that the human condition applies to all of us. Regardless of time and station in life. False pride, overweening self-importance, selfishness and wanton desire have no boundaries and expiration dates. Human frailty and failing has transgressed all time and dogged our existence since the Fall of Man and banishment from the Garden of God in Eden.
Can we see our own darkness? Are we discounting counsel we should be heeding? Have we dismissed divine guidance because of carnal ignorance and prejudice? I know I have. Who holds and gives counsel that is “immutable”? Who is able to lead and guide from outside time and human frailty? In the answer to this question is found the key to life and living. “Seek Me and you will find Me,” declares the One who created you.
Who is Able to Lead and Guide?
Proceeding on in search of the headwaters of the Missouri River and the Shoshone Indians Lewis and the river crew meet up with Clark’s battered land party. I have not traveled through prickly pear cactus and can only imagine the ongoing nemesis it continues to present to the men traveling overland.
As all travelers have discovered, if you keep moving your current troubles will at some point fade away. The men had to be hoping this would soon happen with the prickly pear cactus. At some point it must lose the climate it needs to dominate the landscape. Foreboding as they must have been, the high, rugged mountains ahead had to at least hold the promise of relief from the needles that were shredding their feet. My guess is that they also had great hope that the hordes of mosquitoes would abate as they entered the high mountains.
Lewis records another eighty-degree day and then promptly leaves his thermometer behind and dispatches Sgt. Ordway to retrieve it.
The teenage wife and mother on the trip assures the Captains that she recognizes the country of her childhood. She clearly states that they are near the Missouri’s headwaters. Captain Lewis genuinely fears that they may stumble across another obstacle like the Great Falls. He finds Sacagawea’s reassurances of little comfort to his worries as he surveys the increasingly mountainous terrain. He can’t imagine that some natural obstacle will not impede their progress.
Remember that this is 1805. Sacagawea is the sixteen-year-old squaw wife of a French employee of the Corps. It would be years before American women could even vote. Captain Clark kept York as a slave and servant. The Civil War was sixty years in the future. Meriwether Lewis must have taken Sacagawea’s observations with a large dose of skepticism. Even though she had shown herself to have great courage and resourcefulness it had to be difficult for the experienced military leaders to take her advice as expert.
We look back and see that perhaps Lewis and Clark were not as “enlightened” as we assume we are regarding slavery and the rights and value of women. One thing I have learned in my fifty-one years of living is that the human condition applies to all of us. Regardless of time and station in life. False pride, overweening self-importance, selfishness and wanton desire have no boundaries and expiration dates. Human frailty and failing has transgressed all time and dogged our existence since the Fall of Man and banishment from the Garden of God in Eden.
Can we see our own darkness? Are we discounting counsel we should be heeding? Have we dismissed divine guidance because of carnal ignorance and prejudice? I know I have. Who holds and gives counsel that is “immutable”? Who is able to lead and guide from outside time and human frailty? In the answer to this question is found the key to life and living. “Seek Me and you will find Me,” declares the One who created you.
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Sneaking Into the Unknown
Journal 2005 07 20
Sneaking Into the Unknown
Eighteen miles over land. Fifteen miles by water. Feet so sore and poked that Captain Clark and his small party camp by the river to wait for Lewis and the river party to catch up. Lewis notes smoke rising nine to ten miles up a creek from the river. He concludes that either the Shoshone have discovered their presence or Clark’s land party has accidentally set fire to the grass.
Clark sees the same smoke and concludes they were indeed seen by the Shoshones who are signaling their presence to other tribal members. The party later learns that the Shoshone heard rifle shots from Clark’s party (as they hunted) and assumed it was probably their old enemy the Blackfeet.
Ever try to sneak anywhere? I love sneaking around unseen. My poor wife may have a coronary some day because of my sneaking up on her. And I’m like the six hundred pound gorilla in the room. Most of want to be able to sneak into areas unknown in order to maintain anonymity. But let’s think about sneaking into uncharted areas.
Would you enter a biker bar wearing a white tennis outfit with a sweater tied across your shoulders and expect to “blend in”? Of course not! Why would the Captains expect that they could enter lands unknown to them and expect to remain unseen? The first rifle shot to obtain game would alert anyone within earshot to their presence. They were traveling on the equivalent of I-90 for their time. (I-15 actually branches off I-90 and runs nearest to their current position.) Travelers would be noticed, as the Shoshones would have security set up around their camps and activities.
We are best equipped to “sneak” in areas where we are most familiar. The Corps of Discovery was interested in making contact with all tribal nations along their route. In this case, they were aware that if they were discovered prematurely, the Shoshone might retreat to safety. So they attempted to sneak in and make surprise contact. The Captains were always at a disadvantage in any attempt to arrive without notice.
How do we enter unknown territory? Do we come with great fanfare or do we attempt to pass through unnoticed? The bigger question for most of us is, “Do we ever leave familiar ground long enough to even know the answer to this question?”
Ancient travelers sent advance parties bearing gifts to show their peaceful intentions. The Corps of Discovery carried small gifts and tokens showing their peaceful intentions. We tend to leave small gifts and tokens showing our peaceful intentions. I believe the timing has changed in our gift giving because of the safe, simple travel we enjoy. Increased danger would bring increased caution and increased attempts to signal our good will.
When we enter into new territory, physical and spiritual, we need to remind ourselves that others are watching to determine our intentions. Gifts from honest people signal intentions and open the door to friendships. Trust follows and is earned, not given.
Looking to enter new ground? Send or bring a gift and give it early!
Sneaking Into the Unknown
Eighteen miles over land. Fifteen miles by water. Feet so sore and poked that Captain Clark and his small party camp by the river to wait for Lewis and the river party to catch up. Lewis notes smoke rising nine to ten miles up a creek from the river. He concludes that either the Shoshone have discovered their presence or Clark’s land party has accidentally set fire to the grass.
Clark sees the same smoke and concludes they were indeed seen by the Shoshones who are signaling their presence to other tribal members. The party later learns that the Shoshone heard rifle shots from Clark’s party (as they hunted) and assumed it was probably their old enemy the Blackfeet.
Ever try to sneak anywhere? I love sneaking around unseen. My poor wife may have a coronary some day because of my sneaking up on her. And I’m like the six hundred pound gorilla in the room. Most of want to be able to sneak into areas unknown in order to maintain anonymity. But let’s think about sneaking into uncharted areas.
Would you enter a biker bar wearing a white tennis outfit with a sweater tied across your shoulders and expect to “blend in”? Of course not! Why would the Captains expect that they could enter lands unknown to them and expect to remain unseen? The first rifle shot to obtain game would alert anyone within earshot to their presence. They were traveling on the equivalent of I-90 for their time. (I-15 actually branches off I-90 and runs nearest to their current position.) Travelers would be noticed, as the Shoshones would have security set up around their camps and activities.
We are best equipped to “sneak” in areas where we are most familiar. The Corps of Discovery was interested in making contact with all tribal nations along their route. In this case, they were aware that if they were discovered prematurely, the Shoshone might retreat to safety. So they attempted to sneak in and make surprise contact. The Captains were always at a disadvantage in any attempt to arrive without notice.
How do we enter unknown territory? Do we come with great fanfare or do we attempt to pass through unnoticed? The bigger question for most of us is, “Do we ever leave familiar ground long enough to even know the answer to this question?”
Ancient travelers sent advance parties bearing gifts to show their peaceful intentions. The Corps of Discovery carried small gifts and tokens showing their peaceful intentions. We tend to leave small gifts and tokens showing our peaceful intentions. I believe the timing has changed in our gift giving because of the safe, simple travel we enjoy. Increased danger would bring increased caution and increased attempts to signal our good will.
When we enter into new territory, physical and spiritual, we need to remind ourselves that others are watching to determine our intentions. Gifts from honest people signal intentions and open the door to friendships. Trust follows and is earned, not given.
Looking to enter new ground? Send or bring a gift and give it early!
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Only Through the Narrow Gate
Journal 2005 07 19
Only Through the Narrow Gate
Clark set out overland early in the morning with York, and two soldiers in an effort to contact the Shoshone Tribe. The Captains had concluded that the Shoshones would not be familiar with the sound of rifle fire and may recede into the safety of the mountains rather than risk a war with an enemy. Discharging their rifles was a daily event for the Corps. I haven’t discovered it recorded specifically, but I gather that most evenings rifles were discharged if they hadn’t been fired while hunting. The vision of soldiers cleaning their weapons while encamped would hold in these camps as it does for our troops around the world today. Fresh powder was the rule of the day and required frequent recharging to be trustworthy. Any of us holding on to something of power that needs to fired and reloaded? Then pull the trigger!
The Corps had left the prairie. Pine and Douglas fir trees appeared on the mountains. Aspens became more plentiful than cottonwoods. And the broad leafed cottonwood was replaced by a smaller leafed version better suited to mountain life.
The expedition was reaching new heights every day as they wove their way westward. The relatively flat high desert-like plains of eastern Montana were giving way to the eastern edge of the Rockies in what we now call the Big Belt Range. From fifteen hundred feet on the prairie to three thousand feet at Great Falls to four thousand feet at Helena the men climbed. Clark followed a steep, well-worn Indian trail over a low mountain as Lewis and the rest of the troop followed the river upstream. Lewis noted the contrast between the snow-capped mountains now readily in view and the stifling heat of the river valleys they traversed. Summer in the mountains. A personal favorite of mine.
Water in the river had also taken on the characteristics of most mountain water. Crystal clear, bracingly cold and fairly swift in its passage. Lewis and his river crew rounded a bend in the river and thought for a moment that further passage might be blocked by the high cliffs that dominated the near horizon. What awaited them was what awaits so many of us as we enter into a new realm, a great adventure worthy of qualification and note. Entrance into the next phase of their adventure required passage through almost six miles of narrow channel made all the more mysterious by their arrival late in the day. Dusk raced their advance to the end of this breech in the mountains. The river is one hundred fifty yards wide. Twelve hundred foot cliffs on both sides create an effect like a gate through a fortress wall. Lewis aptly applied the name “Gates of the Rocky Mountains” to the geologic feature. The name remains today as the “Gates of the Mountains” National Wilderness Area. The actual stretch of river is accessible only by boat and many tours are available.
Lewis held a sense of grand entrance that a gate can signify. He entered a new phase of adventure through the high, narrow passage where stopping was not a possibility and emerged to a grand view of what lay before them, the Rocky Mountains!
“You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The road that leads to destruction is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose the easy way. But the gateway to life is small, and the road is narrow, and only a few ever find it.”
Look for the narrow passage that leads to life. A gate in a wall provides controlled entrance to a place deemed worthy of protection. A place through which entrance is authorized by the one who built the wall, the gate and the place beyond the gate.
If you believe the earth is God’s creation, then He has just revealed a divine principal in a geologic creation for all to see and learn from. He provided a long-narrow passage that makes entrance to a place far greater than the one where you had been living.
Do you want to move to a far greater place? Then you must find the narrow gate, the gate that provides entrance to those authorized to go beyond the great walls that protect a land, a kingdom, worthy of protection.
Most people view God as inaccessible. Living in a self-made kingdom where ordinary man cannot set foot and only priests, ministers and fools dare make entrance. That is a lie. A lie that says, “You are not good enough and even if you were you are still not qualified to enter.” Reality says, “The Kingdom that lies beyond the wall and behind the gate is of such great riches and value beyond measure that He who created it requires authorization for entrance through its gate.”
Twenty miles north of Helena, MT Creation mirrors the narrow gate. Once entered, advance or retreat are your only options. A narrow passage through pure flowing water protected by high cliffs to a mountain kingdom like few in the world.
Jesus Christ is the narrow gate being mirrored in Creation. He is the narrow passage to the Kingdom of God. A Kingdom with riches beyond measure and eternal life in the presence of His Father, Our Father, who created the world and everything in it.
And He, Christ, is the one who provides passage by the pure flow of a life-giving river of blood that He shed as a sacrifice for our disqualification, our sin. Christ now authorizes us to enter the Kingdom of God if we are willing to simply immerse ourselves completely in His blood sacrifice and cross over from the life we have been living, (the broad one that leads to destruction) to fullness of eternal life beyond the wall through His narrow gate.
He, Christ, alone provides authorization for passage. Can you accept that “free” gift? If you do, it will require your very life. The good news is you will want to give it.
Will you allow the Creator of the heavens and earth to authorize you for passage through the narrow gate into His Kingdom, which is full of life, glory and joy unspeakable? He has already extended an invitation to you. You only need to respond “Yes!” That you will enter through the narrow gate provided by the pure, life-giving river of blood that flows from the heart of Christ.
A great adventure fashioned only for you awaits.
Take courage and “proceed on.”
Only Through the Narrow Gate
Clark set out overland early in the morning with York, and two soldiers in an effort to contact the Shoshone Tribe. The Captains had concluded that the Shoshones would not be familiar with the sound of rifle fire and may recede into the safety of the mountains rather than risk a war with an enemy. Discharging their rifles was a daily event for the Corps. I haven’t discovered it recorded specifically, but I gather that most evenings rifles were discharged if they hadn’t been fired while hunting. The vision of soldiers cleaning their weapons while encamped would hold in these camps as it does for our troops around the world today. Fresh powder was the rule of the day and required frequent recharging to be trustworthy. Any of us holding on to something of power that needs to fired and reloaded? Then pull the trigger!
The Corps had left the prairie. Pine and Douglas fir trees appeared on the mountains. Aspens became more plentiful than cottonwoods. And the broad leafed cottonwood was replaced by a smaller leafed version better suited to mountain life.
The expedition was reaching new heights every day as they wove their way westward. The relatively flat high desert-like plains of eastern Montana were giving way to the eastern edge of the Rockies in what we now call the Big Belt Range. From fifteen hundred feet on the prairie to three thousand feet at Great Falls to four thousand feet at Helena the men climbed. Clark followed a steep, well-worn Indian trail over a low mountain as Lewis and the rest of the troop followed the river upstream. Lewis noted the contrast between the snow-capped mountains now readily in view and the stifling heat of the river valleys they traversed. Summer in the mountains. A personal favorite of mine.
Water in the river had also taken on the characteristics of most mountain water. Crystal clear, bracingly cold and fairly swift in its passage. Lewis and his river crew rounded a bend in the river and thought for a moment that further passage might be blocked by the high cliffs that dominated the near horizon. What awaited them was what awaits so many of us as we enter into a new realm, a great adventure worthy of qualification and note. Entrance into the next phase of their adventure required passage through almost six miles of narrow channel made all the more mysterious by their arrival late in the day. Dusk raced their advance to the end of this breech in the mountains. The river is one hundred fifty yards wide. Twelve hundred foot cliffs on both sides create an effect like a gate through a fortress wall. Lewis aptly applied the name “Gates of the Rocky Mountains” to the geologic feature. The name remains today as the “Gates of the Mountains” National Wilderness Area. The actual stretch of river is accessible only by boat and many tours are available.
Lewis held a sense of grand entrance that a gate can signify. He entered a new phase of adventure through the high, narrow passage where stopping was not a possibility and emerged to a grand view of what lay before them, the Rocky Mountains!
“You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The road that leads to destruction is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose the easy way. But the gateway to life is small, and the road is narrow, and only a few ever find it.”
Look for the narrow passage that leads to life. A gate in a wall provides controlled entrance to a place deemed worthy of protection. A place through which entrance is authorized by the one who built the wall, the gate and the place beyond the gate.
If you believe the earth is God’s creation, then He has just revealed a divine principal in a geologic creation for all to see and learn from. He provided a long-narrow passage that makes entrance to a place far greater than the one where you had been living.
Do you want to move to a far greater place? Then you must find the narrow gate, the gate that provides entrance to those authorized to go beyond the great walls that protect a land, a kingdom, worthy of protection.
Most people view God as inaccessible. Living in a self-made kingdom where ordinary man cannot set foot and only priests, ministers and fools dare make entrance. That is a lie. A lie that says, “You are not good enough and even if you were you are still not qualified to enter.” Reality says, “The Kingdom that lies beyond the wall and behind the gate is of such great riches and value beyond measure that He who created it requires authorization for entrance through its gate.”
Twenty miles north of Helena, MT Creation mirrors the narrow gate. Once entered, advance or retreat are your only options. A narrow passage through pure flowing water protected by high cliffs to a mountain kingdom like few in the world.
Jesus Christ is the narrow gate being mirrored in Creation. He is the narrow passage to the Kingdom of God. A Kingdom with riches beyond measure and eternal life in the presence of His Father, Our Father, who created the world and everything in it.
And He, Christ, is the one who provides passage by the pure flow of a life-giving river of blood that He shed as a sacrifice for our disqualification, our sin. Christ now authorizes us to enter the Kingdom of God if we are willing to simply immerse ourselves completely in His blood sacrifice and cross over from the life we have been living, (the broad one that leads to destruction) to fullness of eternal life beyond the wall through His narrow gate.
He, Christ, alone provides authorization for passage. Can you accept that “free” gift? If you do, it will require your very life. The good news is you will want to give it.
Will you allow the Creator of the heavens and earth to authorize you for passage through the narrow gate into His Kingdom, which is full of life, glory and joy unspeakable? He has already extended an invitation to you. You only need to respond “Yes!” That you will enter through the narrow gate provided by the pure, life-giving river of blood that flows from the heart of Christ.
A great adventure fashioned only for you awaits.
Take courage and “proceed on.”
Monday, July 18, 2005
Divine Provision or Diminished Sovereignty
Journal 2005 07 18
Divine Provision or Diminished Sovereignty
High winds hindered the progress of the expedition since leaving Upper Camp after the grueling but successful portage around the Great Falls of the Missouri. What the Captains had expected to take days at most required weeks of all-out effort to complete. The process brought into question every piece of gear deemed necessary to the fulfillment of their mission. Never totally sure, never totally satisfied, however always proceeding on.
A shoulder separation (expertly attended to), an injured hand (allowed time to heal), and many blisters, cuts and bruises on feet (attended to as required) indicates the severity of the work of the portage. Lewis had noted in July that the men “all appear perfectly to have made up their minds to succeed in the expedition or purish in the attempt.”
The Corp of Discovery is now leaving the area of Great Falls, MT headed dead west by compass reckoning. Traversing the river highway turns eight compass miles into eighteen river miles. The river was still the easiest method for gear and people to be transported as proved by the portage across the undeveloped landscape. I-90 hadn’t been built yet!
After high winds blow the temperature reaches and stays in the eighties for several days straight. The men enjoy the ripening fruit of the prairie in currants and sunflower seeds. Indians added sunflower seeds to a type of bread which Lewis “found pleasing”.
Our “modern” world insulates us from the provision of the natural world, the world created by God when He set the stars in place and formed the garden where mankind was intended to live. Please don’t mistake these comments as from one seeking to fulfill false religious desires to live in harmony with the earth. I believe we are to rule and subdue the earth as stewards of what the Lord has given us charge over. My comments today are directed toward His provision over us.
These men have traveled 1,500 miles from St. Louis, Missouri to Great Falls, Montana and are still shedding cargo as they find provision along the journey. Several caches of equipment were left again in the Upper and Lower Camp areas as the men learned they were laden with burdens that hindered their completion of their trip. Food appeared to be in abundance along the trail. Rifles, lead and powder where the tools required for easy harvest. Clothes were made from the skins of the animals. Transportation from the trees.
In spite of the hardships required of any great work, do we see the provision of God? Can you carry enough provisions to last for the whole journey? Not if are going far or for long! The Corp of Discovery found bounty in the earth. We find bounty at Larry’s Market. We don’t need to have a wilderness experience to see God’s provision through His creation. We need to continue to “lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily besets us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” and look to His promise of daily provision rather than self-reliance and the accompanying diminishing of His sovereign rule over us.
Divine Provision or Diminished Sovereignty
High winds hindered the progress of the expedition since leaving Upper Camp after the grueling but successful portage around the Great Falls of the Missouri. What the Captains had expected to take days at most required weeks of all-out effort to complete. The process brought into question every piece of gear deemed necessary to the fulfillment of their mission. Never totally sure, never totally satisfied, however always proceeding on.
A shoulder separation (expertly attended to), an injured hand (allowed time to heal), and many blisters, cuts and bruises on feet (attended to as required) indicates the severity of the work of the portage. Lewis had noted in July that the men “all appear perfectly to have made up their minds to succeed in the expedition or purish in the attempt.”
The Corp of Discovery is now leaving the area of Great Falls, MT headed dead west by compass reckoning. Traversing the river highway turns eight compass miles into eighteen river miles. The river was still the easiest method for gear and people to be transported as proved by the portage across the undeveloped landscape. I-90 hadn’t been built yet!
After high winds blow the temperature reaches and stays in the eighties for several days straight. The men enjoy the ripening fruit of the prairie in currants and sunflower seeds. Indians added sunflower seeds to a type of bread which Lewis “found pleasing”.
Our “modern” world insulates us from the provision of the natural world, the world created by God when He set the stars in place and formed the garden where mankind was intended to live. Please don’t mistake these comments as from one seeking to fulfill false religious desires to live in harmony with the earth. I believe we are to rule and subdue the earth as stewards of what the Lord has given us charge over. My comments today are directed toward His provision over us.
These men have traveled 1,500 miles from St. Louis, Missouri to Great Falls, Montana and are still shedding cargo as they find provision along the journey. Several caches of equipment were left again in the Upper and Lower Camp areas as the men learned they were laden with burdens that hindered their completion of their trip. Food appeared to be in abundance along the trail. Rifles, lead and powder where the tools required for easy harvest. Clothes were made from the skins of the animals. Transportation from the trees.
In spite of the hardships required of any great work, do we see the provision of God? Can you carry enough provisions to last for the whole journey? Not if are going far or for long! The Corp of Discovery found bounty in the earth. We find bounty at Larry’s Market. We don’t need to have a wilderness experience to see God’s provision through His creation. We need to continue to “lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily besets us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us” and look to His promise of daily provision rather than self-reliance and the accompanying diminishing of His sovereign rule over us.
Friday, July 15, 2005
Preparing to Proceed On
Journal 2005 07 15
Preparing to Proceed On
Much has occurred since I last put fingers to keyboard on July 2nd. The portage is complete, the party has recovered from a fierce hailstorm that cut and bruised many of them and Lewis has been forced by a lack of pine tar to abandon his experimental boat of steel and elk hides.
I have been busy. I have read and not written. I am chided and inspired by these travelers so long departed. They are busy, they work hard and yet find time everyday to complete their journals for scientific accuracy as they record their personal thoughts and observations. They knew their journals would be of interest. I don’t believe they could have imagined their words would continue to captivate the heart of men two centuries later. I can write more, I can emulate the work and endurance these men exhibited.
Lewis planned on his steel-framed invention carrying a lot of gear. Instead, two new canoes must be made. Cottonwood trees are cut. Carving dugout canoes begins. The first two split and two more are begun. The men break thirteen ax handles as they hack canoes out of the large trees. Chokecherry wood proves too soft for the ax handles but is the strongest wood available for the purpose. The Corps gains new canoes of 25 and 33 feet.
Hardship and danger continue to be constant members of the expedition. The portage was officially called complete on July 2, 2005. The Captains refer to it as “horrendous”. No long weekend follows. No personal days off. No sick days. No earned vacation. Overtime was not even in their vocabulary. (Although, there was an expectation of reward for a successful completion of the journey beyond the normal pay for their ranks.) Mosquitoes seemed to know the men were gathered and seem to gather with them. Even strong winds do not disperse them. Bears threats require constant vigilance. Hail, lightning and thunder pick up their seasonal paces and add to the watch the men keep.
In the midst of all the hard work the men celebrate Independence Day on July 4th with music, singing, dancing and the last of their whiskey. Then it is back to work making the pemmican they learned to enjoy from the plains Indians. This early version of today’s powerbar was made of meat, fat and ripe currants.
Lewis notes the amounts of meat required to feed Upper Camp for one day- four deer, or one elk and a deer, or one bison.
This summary of two weeks activity reminds me of the constant drive to productivity required for advancing. Pastor Norm is not free to direct our daily activity as the Captains were. The church does not enjoy the same military command structure the Corp of Discovery did. I’m not convinced that it shouldn’t. What would the camp, the church, look like if the pastor were able to act with the shepherdly authority he is charged with? I fear that we are not free from sin by allowing the camp to operate without the Godly direction of the chief shepherd enabling the work of the church to advance as Father would direct. May we repent from independence and allow the camp to advance.
Preparing to Proceed On
Much has occurred since I last put fingers to keyboard on July 2nd. The portage is complete, the party has recovered from a fierce hailstorm that cut and bruised many of them and Lewis has been forced by a lack of pine tar to abandon his experimental boat of steel and elk hides.
I have been busy. I have read and not written. I am chided and inspired by these travelers so long departed. They are busy, they work hard and yet find time everyday to complete their journals for scientific accuracy as they record their personal thoughts and observations. They knew their journals would be of interest. I don’t believe they could have imagined their words would continue to captivate the heart of men two centuries later. I can write more, I can emulate the work and endurance these men exhibited.
Lewis planned on his steel-framed invention carrying a lot of gear. Instead, two new canoes must be made. Cottonwood trees are cut. Carving dugout canoes begins. The first two split and two more are begun. The men break thirteen ax handles as they hack canoes out of the large trees. Chokecherry wood proves too soft for the ax handles but is the strongest wood available for the purpose. The Corps gains new canoes of 25 and 33 feet.
Hardship and danger continue to be constant members of the expedition. The portage was officially called complete on July 2, 2005. The Captains refer to it as “horrendous”. No long weekend follows. No personal days off. No sick days. No earned vacation. Overtime was not even in their vocabulary. (Although, there was an expectation of reward for a successful completion of the journey beyond the normal pay for their ranks.) Mosquitoes seemed to know the men were gathered and seem to gather with them. Even strong winds do not disperse them. Bears threats require constant vigilance. Hail, lightning and thunder pick up their seasonal paces and add to the watch the men keep.
In the midst of all the hard work the men celebrate Independence Day on July 4th with music, singing, dancing and the last of their whiskey. Then it is back to work making the pemmican they learned to enjoy from the plains Indians. This early version of today’s powerbar was made of meat, fat and ripe currants.
Lewis notes the amounts of meat required to feed Upper Camp for one day- four deer, or one elk and a deer, or one bison.
This summary of two weeks activity reminds me of the constant drive to productivity required for advancing. Pastor Norm is not free to direct our daily activity as the Captains were. The church does not enjoy the same military command structure the Corp of Discovery did. I’m not convinced that it shouldn’t. What would the camp, the church, look like if the pastor were able to act with the shepherdly authority he is charged with? I fear that we are not free from sin by allowing the camp to operate without the Godly direction of the chief shepherd enabling the work of the church to advance as Father would direct. May we repent from independence and allow the camp to advance.
Saturday, July 02, 2005
Hard Work
Journal 2005 07 02
Hard Work
The men are so tired from their twenty-mile journey over the prairie they fall into camp and immediately fall asleep. Yet both captains note that there is amazingly no complaining among them.
Hard work brings sound sleep. It is a principle that still applies today. Think about what these guys were doing. A marathon is twenty-six miles run in shorts, unencumbered by anything more than a message from a commander in early military times.
Twenty-two miles over the prairie carrying canoes and all kinds of gear. The gunpowder in the lead containers had to be a load by itself. The captains had small desks for writing. Many medicines, instruments and gifts for anticipated meetings with Indian Chiefs. Anything going to the Pacific had to carried by someone’s strength. Some of the items would make a round trip. No high tech backpacks. No rubber air-filled tires. Primitive wooden carts pulled across a prairie whose micro-geology was a series of dirt bumps and cactus dictated by thousands of pounds of bison riding on small bovine hoofs.
I know I made the point yesterday about the distance involved. CCK to SeaTac. Now add no smooth path. Mounds of dirt. Long needles that penetrated your shoes on the cactus awaiting your every step. A higher concentration of rattlesnakes than you’d seen before. And bears. Big brown bears. No matter what you were doing someone had to have a rifle in his hands. Most of the men probably did.
Tough. No body fat. Every joint and fiber strengthened by the extreme labor. The goal was portage around the falls. Little did the men know that it would also be training for a mountain trek the likes of which they could not imagine. The mountains and hills of the eastern seaboard of the new United States were challenging. They were dwarfed by the heights the men would encounter in the snow-topped Rockies looming in the distant west.
Training. Do we see our hard work as training? Most of us hope for an end to hard work. Rest is deserved. A vacation is in order. Doesn’t scripture promise a ceasing from our labor? Yet suffering with eternal glory as the reward is the promise. Suffering, hard work, straining every fiber of our being; preparation and training for His greater glory is the work of the Cross in the church of our times.
Mission requires labor. Labor rides on the strength of the laborer. Work is accomplished by applying effort to a task. The men of the Corp of Discovery must have seen the mission and willingly, joyfully applied everything they had to the task and accomplished much work.
We can learn from them. Are we working so hard we fall into camp and immediately sleep because of the effort we’ve applied to complete the work of the day? Some of you are. Most of us aren’t. If we see hard work as an end to itself that is not enough. If we see it as training and preparation for greatness to come as we accomplish the mission assigned today it takes on divine proportions. Let’s work hard this day!
Hard Work
The men are so tired from their twenty-mile journey over the prairie they fall into camp and immediately fall asleep. Yet both captains note that there is amazingly no complaining among them.
Hard work brings sound sleep. It is a principle that still applies today. Think about what these guys were doing. A marathon is twenty-six miles run in shorts, unencumbered by anything more than a message from a commander in early military times.
Twenty-two miles over the prairie carrying canoes and all kinds of gear. The gunpowder in the lead containers had to be a load by itself. The captains had small desks for writing. Many medicines, instruments and gifts for anticipated meetings with Indian Chiefs. Anything going to the Pacific had to carried by someone’s strength. Some of the items would make a round trip. No high tech backpacks. No rubber air-filled tires. Primitive wooden carts pulled across a prairie whose micro-geology was a series of dirt bumps and cactus dictated by thousands of pounds of bison riding on small bovine hoofs.
I know I made the point yesterday about the distance involved. CCK to SeaTac. Now add no smooth path. Mounds of dirt. Long needles that penetrated your shoes on the cactus awaiting your every step. A higher concentration of rattlesnakes than you’d seen before. And bears. Big brown bears. No matter what you were doing someone had to have a rifle in his hands. Most of the men probably did.
Tough. No body fat. Every joint and fiber strengthened by the extreme labor. The goal was portage around the falls. Little did the men know that it would also be training for a mountain trek the likes of which they could not imagine. The mountains and hills of the eastern seaboard of the new United States were challenging. They were dwarfed by the heights the men would encounter in the snow-topped Rockies looming in the distant west.
Training. Do we see our hard work as training? Most of us hope for an end to hard work. Rest is deserved. A vacation is in order. Doesn’t scripture promise a ceasing from our labor? Yet suffering with eternal glory as the reward is the promise. Suffering, hard work, straining every fiber of our being; preparation and training for His greater glory is the work of the Cross in the church of our times.
Mission requires labor. Labor rides on the strength of the laborer. Work is accomplished by applying effort to a task. The men of the Corp of Discovery must have seen the mission and willingly, joyfully applied everything they had to the task and accomplished much work.
We can learn from them. Are we working so hard we fall into camp and immediately sleep because of the effort we’ve applied to complete the work of the day? Some of you are. Most of us aren’t. If we see hard work as an end to itself that is not enough. If we see it as training and preparation for greatness to come as we accomplish the mission assigned today it takes on divine proportions. Let’s work hard this day!
Friday, July 01, 2005
Portage
Journal 2005 07 01
Portage
Lewis and his party easily answered the question about which fork to follow to the Pacific Ocean. The snow-covered mountains in the distant west give them reason to hope that the source of the Columbia River is not far from the beginning of the Missouri. The journey through the mountains would require much work and some hardship. River navigation was equivalent to our modern highway systems.
Now, the immediate task is to portage all the gear around the Great Falls of the Missouri (in Montana for those who are easily confused, like me!). The men believed from their Indian friends that their portage around the falls would take a day or two. After Lewis’ sublime discovery of great natural beauty and wonder, reality of a twenty mile portage sets in as the men set their backs to the task.
Much as we would today, Clark sets out via survey stakes a path for the men to follow. Twenty-two miles later the path is complete. Put this into perspective. The portage was the length of 405 from Christ Church Kirkland to Sea-Tac Airport. How would we fare today with a task of hand carrying gear for that distance?
In addition, Lewis kept several men busy hunting for elk hides to cover his “high tech” portable boat. This portage would require bigger boats to be left behind. While the hides were being sewn into a boat covering, Lewis was experimenting with some sort of concoction to coat the hides with that would waterproof them and preserve them from damage. Have you ever attempted to build something new in the midst of great labor? Our hope is to ease the labor and advance the mission. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. The fate of Lewis’ iron framed portable boat won’t be known for a time. Yet the labor goes on.
Upper and Lower Camps have been established. Small parties are left at both to protect their gear. Sacagawea regains her health. Mostly after she is given salts and a quinine solution laced with opium and then left alone from some of the treatments of the day.
Men use primitive carts to ease their labor across the prairie. In the process they discover a new enemy, the prickly pear cactus. It penetrates their moccasins and brings out their inventiveness in attempts to combat its lancing of their feet. No real solution is found. Extra layers of elk leather on their moccasins helps, but not totally.
Their normal enemies were abundant. Especially the one that captured their attention and respect earlier, the grizzly bear. At Upper Camp Lewis forbids the men to leave camp alone for any reason because of the bear threat. Two men firing and reloading their muskets could fend off the great bears. Alone, well, the risk was just too great. Rattlesnakes were in abundance along the route of the portage also.
Now, lets put bears, cactus and rattlesnakes onto the journey from CCK to SeaTac and see who still wants to volunteer for a great adventure. Adventure requires risk or it is not adventure. Pastor Norm spoke of being adventure challenged last year. Are we willing to fulfill the adventure God has in store for us?
Portage
Lewis and his party easily answered the question about which fork to follow to the Pacific Ocean. The snow-covered mountains in the distant west give them reason to hope that the source of the Columbia River is not far from the beginning of the Missouri. The journey through the mountains would require much work and some hardship. River navigation was equivalent to our modern highway systems.
Now, the immediate task is to portage all the gear around the Great Falls of the Missouri (in Montana for those who are easily confused, like me!). The men believed from their Indian friends that their portage around the falls would take a day or two. After Lewis’ sublime discovery of great natural beauty and wonder, reality of a twenty mile portage sets in as the men set their backs to the task.
Much as we would today, Clark sets out via survey stakes a path for the men to follow. Twenty-two miles later the path is complete. Put this into perspective. The portage was the length of 405 from Christ Church Kirkland to Sea-Tac Airport. How would we fare today with a task of hand carrying gear for that distance?
In addition, Lewis kept several men busy hunting for elk hides to cover his “high tech” portable boat. This portage would require bigger boats to be left behind. While the hides were being sewn into a boat covering, Lewis was experimenting with some sort of concoction to coat the hides with that would waterproof them and preserve them from damage. Have you ever attempted to build something new in the midst of great labor? Our hope is to ease the labor and advance the mission. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. The fate of Lewis’ iron framed portable boat won’t be known for a time. Yet the labor goes on.
Upper and Lower Camps have been established. Small parties are left at both to protect their gear. Sacagawea regains her health. Mostly after she is given salts and a quinine solution laced with opium and then left alone from some of the treatments of the day.
Men use primitive carts to ease their labor across the prairie. In the process they discover a new enemy, the prickly pear cactus. It penetrates their moccasins and brings out their inventiveness in attempts to combat its lancing of their feet. No real solution is found. Extra layers of elk leather on their moccasins helps, but not totally.
Their normal enemies were abundant. Especially the one that captured their attention and respect earlier, the grizzly bear. At Upper Camp Lewis forbids the men to leave camp alone for any reason because of the bear threat. Two men firing and reloading their muskets could fend off the great bears. Alone, well, the risk was just too great. Rattlesnakes were in abundance along the route of the portage also.
Now, lets put bears, cactus and rattlesnakes onto the journey from CCK to SeaTac and see who still wants to volunteer for a great adventure. Adventure requires risk or it is not adventure. Pastor Norm spoke of being adventure challenged last year. Are we willing to fulfill the adventure God has in store for us?
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