Journal 2005 11 17
Guarded From Stumbling
The Corps is camped near today’s Fort Canby State Park in Ilwaco. About a mile and a quarter from the Pacific. Plans are made to go by land tomorrow to see the beach. Ten men sign up for the short excursion.
Hunters are sent out, Captain Lewis and a small crew attempt to “scout” the area to determine the likelihood of any traders or explorers in the area. Many of the Indians have been coming to trade with the “white traders” thinking they would find them at the mouth of the river. The Captains “smoke” with some of the Indians but unlike all their previous interactions they keep the Chinooks at arms length in all their interactions. No trust at this point.
In the process Lewis meets Comcomly, Chief of the Chinooks. Many Indians are living in and around the mouth of the river. Some trading is done for roots. Clark notes that the Chinooks are well armed with their “fuses,” a less sophisticated musket than the Harper’s Ferry rifles the men of the Corps carry. Still deadly though.
Six hunters are sent out. They return with two large but lean deer and enough waterfowl to feed the men. York kills ten birds himself. York must have been a skilled marksman and bird hunter. He has been noted many times for the numbers of birds he has killed since the Corps started descending the Columbia.
The winds have shifted coming now from the east. The rains have subsided and the gear is laid out to dry. (Ever been to the ocean beaches? Can’t imagine laying anything out to dry. Seems to me like our cool wet climate along the Northwest coast is always clammy and wet. The gear must have really been wet to benefit from a drying out in this location.)
So our intrepid travelers add another nineteen miles of scouting to the 4,142 already passed in getting here. Already there is discussion regarding where to winter. Some favor upriver by the falls. Others want to be nearer the mouth of the river in the event a trading ship should find its way here.
The Corps has essentially arrived at the target of their aim over this past year. Tomorrow they will fill their desire to clearly walk the shores of the Pacific.
I would think that spirits would be high. Four thousand miles traveled through great hardship. No loss of life. No serious injury. In fact the only problem recorded now is one bad cold attributed to the many cold wet nights pinned up against the rocks by the weather. Truly amazing!
“Now unto him that is able to guard you from stumbling, and to set you before the presence of his glory without blemish in exceeding joy,” (Jude 1:24) Leading us to a simple question, “Are we trusting God to keep us from stumbling, set us in His presence and His glory, unblemished and filled with joy?” I don’t know about you, but it is sure is easier to say than do, isn’t it? We have just seen a real example of great joy and a keeping from stumbling. I’ll take hope in that.
Inspiration for today from America's Greatest Expedition, the Corps of Discovery!
Thursday, November 17, 2005
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Confinement Ended
Journal 2005 11 15
Confinement Ended
“The rainey weather Continued without a longer intermition than 2 hours at a time from the 5th in the morng. untill the 16th is eleven days rain, and the most disagreeable time I have experienced Confined on a tempiest Coast wet, where I can neither get out to hunt, return to a better Situation, or proceed on: in this Situation have we been for Six days past.— fortunately the wind lay about 3 oClock we loaded in great haste and Set out passed the blustering Point below which is a Sand beech, with a Small marshey bottom for 3 miles on the Stard. Side, on which is a large village of 36 houses deserted by the Inds. & in full possession of the flees”
Eleven days camped in the rain. Sounds like fun doesn’t it? I remember a time many years ago when Danita was barely moving in her mother’s womb and we embarked on a loop around the Olympic Peninsula. One night of rain in a tent in the cold campground and the local motel looked like a palace. The rest of the loop was indeed a car trip with a wet tent stowed in the trunk. These guys didn’t have the Kalaloch Lodge as an option. No Best Western, Shiloh Inn or Motel 6 at Ilwaco either.
It is hard not to be repetitious in recounting these days. Because it was repetitious. Rain is different on the eastern shores of the Pacific Ocean (which is the west coast of our great land). The weather patterns are not yet tempered by their passage over land. Storms roll in, pass over and are followed by either a short respite of clear sky or another storm. It is an ongoing series of smaller weather fronts under the context of a bigger storm system.
The Corps of Discovery was introduced to some of the worst conditions of winter weather that exist on the coast. Captain Clark records again today how fortunate they are that at least the weather is not frigidly cold. He notes that “the bulk of the party would suffer very much” if they had to depend upon their current wardrobe for protection from the severe colds of winter they were accustomed to in the east. His desire is for them to kill enough deer and elk to allow the men to tan new hides into winter clothing ASAP.
If you are looking on a map, the party is able to escape their “Situation” and round what we now call Point Ellice, just west of Megler on the Washington side of the Columbia River. They reach a large abandoned Indian Village on a long sandy beach. Well it is abandoned by the Indians, who the Corps recognizes as a new tribe, the Chinooks. The men soon realize it is still inhabited. By a loads of fleas! Clark says they are in “full possession” of it!
Their meeting with the Chinooks does not go well either. I mentioned in an earlier post that their time with the Chinooks is contentious and in no way comparable to the spirit of hospitality extended by almost all the other tribes they have encountered. Twice during the day men of the Corps lower their rifles on Indians who have stolen goods, including two rifles, from the Corps. The Captains let the Chinooks know in no uncertain terms that they will not tolerate any bad behavior toward them and that they are willing to defend themselves and their goods with their weapons.
Welcome to the other side of the continent Lewis and Clark!
With the Pacific Ocean now clearly in view William Clark, the expedition’s cartographer, records that they have traveled 4,142 miles from the Missouri River. I need to let that sink into my brain for a minute. And I hope to do a recap sometime over the next few months as the men are camped waiting for the mountain snows to clear enough to allow their return.
So once again, success is at hand and hardship is attempting to tag along. “Oh the joy” says William Clark upon seeing the Pacific Ocean. He might want to add “Oi vay” after meeting the neighbors, hanging on the riverbank pelted by storms and finding refuge in a flea infested camp.
But these guys are indomitable in their hearty spirits. They physical hardships are not the focus of their records or their work. The mission drives them through all hardship.
What is driving us? Is it enough to push through obstacles, the hardships, which attach themselves to the greatest successes? Are we willing to pay the price required of greatness? Great success will always be accompanied by great discomfort. Anything worth accomplishing is at war with the forces of nature. “For what the flesh wants is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit wants is opposed to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, and so you do not do what you want to do.” (Galatians 5:17)
“I'm not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don't get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward--to Jesus. I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back. So let's keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision--you'll see it yet! Now that we're on the right track, let's stay on it. Stick with me, friends. Keep track of those you see running this same course, headed for this same goal.”(Philippians 3:12-17)
Confinement Ended
“The rainey weather Continued without a longer intermition than 2 hours at a time from the 5th in the morng. untill the 16th is eleven days rain, and the most disagreeable time I have experienced Confined on a tempiest Coast wet, where I can neither get out to hunt, return to a better Situation, or proceed on: in this Situation have we been for Six days past.— fortunately the wind lay about 3 oClock we loaded in great haste and Set out passed the blustering Point below which is a Sand beech, with a Small marshey bottom for 3 miles on the Stard. Side, on which is a large village of 36 houses deserted by the Inds. & in full possession of the flees”
Eleven days camped in the rain. Sounds like fun doesn’t it? I remember a time many years ago when Danita was barely moving in her mother’s womb and we embarked on a loop around the Olympic Peninsula. One night of rain in a tent in the cold campground and the local motel looked like a palace. The rest of the loop was indeed a car trip with a wet tent stowed in the trunk. These guys didn’t have the Kalaloch Lodge as an option. No Best Western, Shiloh Inn or Motel 6 at Ilwaco either.
It is hard not to be repetitious in recounting these days. Because it was repetitious. Rain is different on the eastern shores of the Pacific Ocean (which is the west coast of our great land). The weather patterns are not yet tempered by their passage over land. Storms roll in, pass over and are followed by either a short respite of clear sky or another storm. It is an ongoing series of smaller weather fronts under the context of a bigger storm system.
The Corps of Discovery was introduced to some of the worst conditions of winter weather that exist on the coast. Captain Clark records again today how fortunate they are that at least the weather is not frigidly cold. He notes that “the bulk of the party would suffer very much” if they had to depend upon their current wardrobe for protection from the severe colds of winter they were accustomed to in the east. His desire is for them to kill enough deer and elk to allow the men to tan new hides into winter clothing ASAP.
If you are looking on a map, the party is able to escape their “Situation” and round what we now call Point Ellice, just west of Megler on the Washington side of the Columbia River. They reach a large abandoned Indian Village on a long sandy beach. Well it is abandoned by the Indians, who the Corps recognizes as a new tribe, the Chinooks. The men soon realize it is still inhabited. By a loads of fleas! Clark says they are in “full possession” of it!
Their meeting with the Chinooks does not go well either. I mentioned in an earlier post that their time with the Chinooks is contentious and in no way comparable to the spirit of hospitality extended by almost all the other tribes they have encountered. Twice during the day men of the Corps lower their rifles on Indians who have stolen goods, including two rifles, from the Corps. The Captains let the Chinooks know in no uncertain terms that they will not tolerate any bad behavior toward them and that they are willing to defend themselves and their goods with their weapons.
Welcome to the other side of the continent Lewis and Clark!
With the Pacific Ocean now clearly in view William Clark, the expedition’s cartographer, records that they have traveled 4,142 miles from the Missouri River. I need to let that sink into my brain for a minute. And I hope to do a recap sometime over the next few months as the men are camped waiting for the mountain snows to clear enough to allow their return.
So once again, success is at hand and hardship is attempting to tag along. “Oh the joy” says William Clark upon seeing the Pacific Ocean. He might want to add “Oi vay” after meeting the neighbors, hanging on the riverbank pelted by storms and finding refuge in a flea infested camp.
But these guys are indomitable in their hearty spirits. They physical hardships are not the focus of their records or their work. The mission drives them through all hardship.
What is driving us? Is it enough to push through obstacles, the hardships, which attach themselves to the greatest successes? Are we willing to pay the price required of greatness? Great success will always be accompanied by great discomfort. Anything worth accomplishing is at war with the forces of nature. “For what the flesh wants is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit wants is opposed to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, and so you do not do what you want to do.” (Galatians 5:17)
“I'm not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don't get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward--to Jesus. I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back. So let's keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision--you'll see it yet! Now that we're on the right track, let's stay on it. Stick with me, friends. Keep track of those you see running this same course, headed for this same goal.”(Philippians 3:12-17)
Sunday, November 13, 2005
Wall of Thorns
Journal 2005 11 13
Wall of Thorns
The men move less than a thousand yards back upriver to a small brook they didn’t see earlier and find slightly better refuge. They sink the canoes with rocks to protect them from being battered by the crashing waves on the shore. Gear is moved about half a mile upstream and fires are built to dry blankets and clothing bringing some level of comfort as recorded by Captain Clark.
Clark sets out to get above the banks of the river for a better view of this geography. He doesn’t record it, but his motivation had to lie in finding a better way to the ocean and a better camp should that way prove difficult.
“I walked up the Brook & assended the first Spur of the mountain with much fatigue, the distance about 3 miles, through an intolerable thickets of Small pine, a groth much resembling arrow wood on the Stem of which there is thorns; this groth about 12 or 15 feet high inter lockd into each other and Scattered over the high fern & fallen timber, added to this the hills were So Steep that I was compelled to draw my Self up by the assistance of those bushes— The Timber on those hills are of the pine Species large and tall maney of them more than 200 feet high & from 8 to 10 feet through at the Stump”
Laying aside momentarily the usual treatment of this material, don’t you just feel better knowing that three miles in this jungle of the Great Northwest tired out this mighty traveler? This is the same man who covered marathon-like distances like we might walk to the store. When you travel “off trail” along most of the Pacific Coast at some point, like William Clark, you will be pulling yourself up by the assistance of bushes and trees. I did crossing a steep clearcut south of Glacier Peak late this summer and have many times along the rivers and streams in the woods of Washington.
Back two hundred years and we find that the temperate climate, abundant water and soil have created a garden where the trees have grown two hundred feet high and are ten feet across at the bottom. Big and tall!
Colter, Shannon and Willard are dispatched to try and find a better camp downriver. They don’t return this evening. (Colter is kind of a tough guy and becomes one of the first “mountain men” of the Rockies. In fact, he doesn’t return to St. Louis with the Corps as he is allowed an early discharge in order to head back into the mountains next fall as the mission comes to completion.) Shannon and Willard are the two youngest members of the expedition. Their youth must have been tempered with experience at this point. That youth either put them at the bottom of the chain of command or gave them an advantage in strength and endurance fitting them for this mission.
What is one my mind today is the twelve to fifteen foot wall of arrow wood that faces William Clark as he ascends the valley created by the brook. I assume the arrow wood with thorns is some form of our common blackberry bushes that we have all come to “know and love.”
I would get a brush axe, chainsaw, gas trimmer with circular saw blade, machete, pruning shears or preferably a bulldozer to clear the way through that tangle. My North Face synthetic long johns have all kinds of “pulls” in the fabric from these bushes as I encountered them south of Mt. Rainier in pursuit of the elusive wapati two years ago. Can’t imagine cutting up my only buckskin shirt in the pursuit.
How many times before have I said it? These guys are tough!
What obstacles stand in the way of our view today? Are you pushing to finish something good? Do you need to climb the mountain for a better look at the problem? What wall stands between you and that better view? We can take inspiration from William Clark as he uses all resources at his command to “get on top of it” in his quest for the finish line.
Send out scouts. Climb the mountain. Push through the wall of thorns. Proceed on.
Wall of Thorns
The men move less than a thousand yards back upriver to a small brook they didn’t see earlier and find slightly better refuge. They sink the canoes with rocks to protect them from being battered by the crashing waves on the shore. Gear is moved about half a mile upstream and fires are built to dry blankets and clothing bringing some level of comfort as recorded by Captain Clark.
Clark sets out to get above the banks of the river for a better view of this geography. He doesn’t record it, but his motivation had to lie in finding a better way to the ocean and a better camp should that way prove difficult.
“I walked up the Brook & assended the first Spur of the mountain with much fatigue, the distance about 3 miles, through an intolerable thickets of Small pine, a groth much resembling arrow wood on the Stem of which there is thorns; this groth about 12 or 15 feet high inter lockd into each other and Scattered over the high fern & fallen timber, added to this the hills were So Steep that I was compelled to draw my Self up by the assistance of those bushes— The Timber on those hills are of the pine Species large and tall maney of them more than 200 feet high & from 8 to 10 feet through at the Stump”
Laying aside momentarily the usual treatment of this material, don’t you just feel better knowing that three miles in this jungle of the Great Northwest tired out this mighty traveler? This is the same man who covered marathon-like distances like we might walk to the store. When you travel “off trail” along most of the Pacific Coast at some point, like William Clark, you will be pulling yourself up by the assistance of bushes and trees. I did crossing a steep clearcut south of Glacier Peak late this summer and have many times along the rivers and streams in the woods of Washington.
Back two hundred years and we find that the temperate climate, abundant water and soil have created a garden where the trees have grown two hundred feet high and are ten feet across at the bottom. Big and tall!
Colter, Shannon and Willard are dispatched to try and find a better camp downriver. They don’t return this evening. (Colter is kind of a tough guy and becomes one of the first “mountain men” of the Rockies. In fact, he doesn’t return to St. Louis with the Corps as he is allowed an early discharge in order to head back into the mountains next fall as the mission comes to completion.) Shannon and Willard are the two youngest members of the expedition. Their youth must have been tempered with experience at this point. That youth either put them at the bottom of the chain of command or gave them an advantage in strength and endurance fitting them for this mission.
What is one my mind today is the twelve to fifteen foot wall of arrow wood that faces William Clark as he ascends the valley created by the brook. I assume the arrow wood with thorns is some form of our common blackberry bushes that we have all come to “know and love.”
I would get a brush axe, chainsaw, gas trimmer with circular saw blade, machete, pruning shears or preferably a bulldozer to clear the way through that tangle. My North Face synthetic long johns have all kinds of “pulls” in the fabric from these bushes as I encountered them south of Mt. Rainier in pursuit of the elusive wapati two years ago. Can’t imagine cutting up my only buckskin shirt in the pursuit.
How many times before have I said it? These guys are tough!
What obstacles stand in the way of our view today? Are you pushing to finish something good? Do you need to climb the mountain for a better look at the problem? What wall stands between you and that better view? We can take inspiration from William Clark as he uses all resources at his command to “get on top of it” in his quest for the finish line.
Send out scouts. Climb the mountain. Push through the wall of thorns. Proceed on.
Friday, November 11, 2005
Cleft of the Rock
Journal 2005 11 11
Cleft of the Rock
“A hard rain all the last night, dureing the last tide the logs on which we lay was all on float Sent out Jo Fields to hunt, he Soon returned and informed us that the hills was So high & Steep, & thick with undergroth and fallen Timber that he could not get out any distance; about 12 oClock 5 Indians came down in a canoe, the wind verry high from the S. W. with most tremendious waves brakeing with great violence against the Shores, rain falling in torrents, we are all wet as usial and our Situation is truly a disagreeable one; the great quantites of rain which has loosened the Stones on the hill Sides, and the Small Stones fall down upon us, our canoes at one place at the mercy of the waves, our baggage in another and our Selves and party Scattered on floating logs and Such dry Spots as can be found on the hill Sides, and Crivices of the rocks.”
Buckskin clothes rotting away as the men wore them, camped on driftwood logs “on the float”, and men seeking some respite from the raging storms in the “Crivices of the rocks.” Sounds like a recipe for disaster rather than great adventure.
Every time I drive from Vancouver or Portland westward to the Pacific I find I’ve forgetten just how remote this area of our great land still is. Abandoned docks, ghost towns of dashed dreams and still very few people carving out a living along this rugged stretch of land. The hills always more rugged than remembered and expected. A mile and half from the riverbank the hills reach 1,500 feet!
Yesterday the men broke camp and made ten miles around the point in the process retreating two miles to the only place that held any hope of surviving the night. Captain Clark described it above. Only in the most desperate of situations would we ever consider a camp like the one they stayed in.
Respite, refuge, relief from the onslaught of the storm is found in the clefts, or cracks, of the rocks. When we speak of the clefts of the rocks I usually think of hiding or being hidden away. Moses was protected from the power of the Glory of God in the cleft of a rock as God passed by. Isaiah hid a belt in a cleft in a rock. David was familiar with finding refuge in the clefts of rocks as the King Saul’s armies pursued him. Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce Indians is still studied by our current day warriors for his ability to elude his pursuers using the clefts of the rocks. We want only to live in the palace of God. Who in their right mind would ever desire to live where the cleft of a rock was their best refuge? That is a desperate situation. Given time, all of us would find a better place of safety. And if we knew ahead of time at least we’d wear wetsuits, not rotting leather. Yet we sing "Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee."
So our friendly travelers are less than ten miles from their finish line and yet they are pinned against the cliffs by the forces of nature.
Great adventure! In our dreams we want it. In reality, are we ready for the hardships that are the prerequisite to making it great? If we are, let us find refuge from every desperate situation in the cleft of the Rock of Ages.
Cleft of the Rock
“A hard rain all the last night, dureing the last tide the logs on which we lay was all on float Sent out Jo Fields to hunt, he Soon returned and informed us that the hills was So high & Steep, & thick with undergroth and fallen Timber that he could not get out any distance; about 12 oClock 5 Indians came down in a canoe, the wind verry high from the S. W. with most tremendious waves brakeing with great violence against the Shores, rain falling in torrents, we are all wet as usial and our Situation is truly a disagreeable one; the great quantites of rain which has loosened the Stones on the hill Sides, and the Small Stones fall down upon us, our canoes at one place at the mercy of the waves, our baggage in another and our Selves and party Scattered on floating logs and Such dry Spots as can be found on the hill Sides, and Crivices of the rocks.”
Buckskin clothes rotting away as the men wore them, camped on driftwood logs “on the float”, and men seeking some respite from the raging storms in the “Crivices of the rocks.” Sounds like a recipe for disaster rather than great adventure.
Every time I drive from Vancouver or Portland westward to the Pacific I find I’ve forgetten just how remote this area of our great land still is. Abandoned docks, ghost towns of dashed dreams and still very few people carving out a living along this rugged stretch of land. The hills always more rugged than remembered and expected. A mile and half from the riverbank the hills reach 1,500 feet!
Yesterday the men broke camp and made ten miles around the point in the process retreating two miles to the only place that held any hope of surviving the night. Captain Clark described it above. Only in the most desperate of situations would we ever consider a camp like the one they stayed in.
Respite, refuge, relief from the onslaught of the storm is found in the clefts, or cracks, of the rocks. When we speak of the clefts of the rocks I usually think of hiding or being hidden away. Moses was protected from the power of the Glory of God in the cleft of a rock as God passed by. Isaiah hid a belt in a cleft in a rock. David was familiar with finding refuge in the clefts of rocks as the King Saul’s armies pursued him. Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce Indians is still studied by our current day warriors for his ability to elude his pursuers using the clefts of the rocks. We want only to live in the palace of God. Who in their right mind would ever desire to live where the cleft of a rock was their best refuge? That is a desperate situation. Given time, all of us would find a better place of safety. And if we knew ahead of time at least we’d wear wetsuits, not rotting leather. Yet we sing "Rock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee."
So our friendly travelers are less than ten miles from their finish line and yet they are pinned against the cliffs by the forces of nature.
Great adventure! In our dreams we want it. In reality, are we ready for the hardships that are the prerequisite to making it great? If we are, let us find refuge from every desperate situation in the cleft of the Rock of Ages.
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Fullness of Senses
Journal 2005 11 09
Fullness of Senses
“our camp entirely under water dureing the hight of the tide, every man as wet as water could make them all the last night and to day all day as the rain Continued all day, at 4 oClock P M the wind Shifted about to the S. W. and blew with great violence imediately from the Ocian for about two hours, notwithstanding the disagreeable Situation of our party all wet and Cold (and one which they have experienced for Several days past) they are chearfull and anxious to See further into the Ocian, The water of the river being too Salt to use we are obliged to make use of rain water— Some of the party not accustomed to Salt water has made too free a use of it on them it acts as pergitive.
at this dismal point we must Spend another night as the wind & waves are too high to proceed.”
I am going to be on a recurring theme for a while. Finishing strong and strong resistance to finishing.
The party can no longer drink the river water because it is being mixed with sea water and for those who tempted nature it is acting as a “pergutive.” They are anxious to see the ocean in its fullness. They are so close they can smell it. The object of their expedition is so close they can literally taste it. And now they want to see it, touch it and hear it.
I have hunted elk on the first little hill above Long Beach, WA. Our intrepid explorers will venture that far north later in the winter. What I remember most is hearing the waves crashing on the seashore as I snuck quietly through the thick underbrush under a dense canopy of trees. My wandering mind formed pictures that made me want to put on buckskins and carry a Harper’s Ferry flintlock in .54 caliber like the great hunter Drouillard would have done two hundred years before.
Our travelers are so close to the object of their desire that all their senses are alive to its nearness. For those who are married reading this, you know the true delight when the object of your desire is so close all your senses are filled with the essence of their being. The expeditioners want nothing more than to press to the finish line and swim in the waters of the Pacific as they celebrate their great victory.
But anything great requires great obstacles to its achievement. The Great Falls of the Missouri. The Rocky Mountains. Great obstacles. Now the power of the Pacific Ocean stands at the finish line.
Captain Clark records their perilous predicament in a matter of fact tone that belies the danger they are in. For the past two days winds, rain, a raging tide with the waves that accompany it are unleashing everything in their power to wash every trace of this small party off the rocky river bank where they have retreated for refuge.
And yet they are “chearful and anxious” to see the Ocean! What would we be like if our perilous camp had been pounded by wind and rain, submerged all night and we were “as wet as water could make us”? Fearful? Anxious to retreat, not advance? Complaining? Ready to quit? Not the Corps. They were ready to proceed on and complete that which they had labored so hard to attain.
Have you labored hard? Are you laboring hard now? Have you advanced toward your goal? Can you “smell” victory? (When you smell elk, which smell like a barnyard, you know they are near and all the rest of your senses jump to a higher level of alertness.) Let your senses increase and drive you past the obstacles that stand in your way of achieving that which you have labored so hard to achieve. Great achievement requires great effort, otherwise it would not be great.
The Apostle Paul gave us another record of persevering through any and all hardship because of the greatness of the reward. In his letter to the church at Philippi, Paul urges them to follow his example as he has followed Christ’s of considering hardship and suffering as nothing but dog poop in the quest to achieve the high calling of life in the Kingdom of God both now and into eternity. We have many examples throughout history of the hardships endured to achieve remarkable feats. All pale in comparison to the work of Jesus on the Cross bringing redemption from sin and eternal life.
Allow today’s example to bring “chearfulness” to the press to finish no matter the obstacles attempting to submerge your efforts.
Let’s proceed on and finish strong!
Fullness of Senses
“our camp entirely under water dureing the hight of the tide, every man as wet as water could make them all the last night and to day all day as the rain Continued all day, at 4 oClock P M the wind Shifted about to the S. W. and blew with great violence imediately from the Ocian for about two hours, notwithstanding the disagreeable Situation of our party all wet and Cold (and one which they have experienced for Several days past) they are chearfull and anxious to See further into the Ocian, The water of the river being too Salt to use we are obliged to make use of rain water— Some of the party not accustomed to Salt water has made too free a use of it on them it acts as pergitive.
at this dismal point we must Spend another night as the wind & waves are too high to proceed.”
I am going to be on a recurring theme for a while. Finishing strong and strong resistance to finishing.
The party can no longer drink the river water because it is being mixed with sea water and for those who tempted nature it is acting as a “pergutive.” They are anxious to see the ocean in its fullness. They are so close they can smell it. The object of their expedition is so close they can literally taste it. And now they want to see it, touch it and hear it.
I have hunted elk on the first little hill above Long Beach, WA. Our intrepid explorers will venture that far north later in the winter. What I remember most is hearing the waves crashing on the seashore as I snuck quietly through the thick underbrush under a dense canopy of trees. My wandering mind formed pictures that made me want to put on buckskins and carry a Harper’s Ferry flintlock in .54 caliber like the great hunter Drouillard would have done two hundred years before.
Our travelers are so close to the object of their desire that all their senses are alive to its nearness. For those who are married reading this, you know the true delight when the object of your desire is so close all your senses are filled with the essence of their being. The expeditioners want nothing more than to press to the finish line and swim in the waters of the Pacific as they celebrate their great victory.
But anything great requires great obstacles to its achievement. The Great Falls of the Missouri. The Rocky Mountains. Great obstacles. Now the power of the Pacific Ocean stands at the finish line.
Captain Clark records their perilous predicament in a matter of fact tone that belies the danger they are in. For the past two days winds, rain, a raging tide with the waves that accompany it are unleashing everything in their power to wash every trace of this small party off the rocky river bank where they have retreated for refuge.
And yet they are “chearful and anxious” to see the Ocean! What would we be like if our perilous camp had been pounded by wind and rain, submerged all night and we were “as wet as water could make us”? Fearful? Anxious to retreat, not advance? Complaining? Ready to quit? Not the Corps. They were ready to proceed on and complete that which they had labored so hard to attain.
Have you labored hard? Are you laboring hard now? Have you advanced toward your goal? Can you “smell” victory? (When you smell elk, which smell like a barnyard, you know they are near and all the rest of your senses jump to a higher level of alertness.) Let your senses increase and drive you past the obstacles that stand in your way of achieving that which you have labored so hard to achieve. Great achievement requires great effort, otherwise it would not be great.
The Apostle Paul gave us another record of persevering through any and all hardship because of the greatness of the reward. In his letter to the church at Philippi, Paul urges them to follow his example as he has followed Christ’s of considering hardship and suffering as nothing but dog poop in the quest to achieve the high calling of life in the Kingdom of God both now and into eternity. We have many examples throughout history of the hardships endured to achieve remarkable feats. All pale in comparison to the work of Jesus on the Cross bringing redemption from sin and eternal life.
Allow today’s example to bring “chearfulness” to the press to finish no matter the obstacles attempting to submerge your efforts.
Let’s proceed on and finish strong!
Monday, November 07, 2005
Great Joy, But Not Quite Yet
Journal 2005 11 07
Great Joy, But Not Quite Yet
“we made 34 miles to day as Computed. Great joy in camp we are in View of the Ocian, [NB: in the morning when fog cleared off just below last village just on leaving the village of Warkiacum], this great Pacific Octean which we been So long anxious to See. and the roreing or noise made by the waves brakeing on the rockey Shores (as I Suppose) may be heard distictly”
Finally the Corps of Discovery thinks they have reached the mighty Pacific Ocean! However, we know they have not. As they will find out soon enough, they have yet to reach the Pacific.
They met the Wahkiakum tribe and found them to be friendly. Fish hooks are of great value to this tribe and used by the Corps as trade for fish, roots and three dogs.
How many times in my life have I thought I’d arrived, or finished, only to find out there was more to do? The men were close but not quite done. In fact, more than a week will pass before they complete the push west started over a year ago outside St. Louis, Missouri.
And we must do the same. When we think we are done, we may not be. It is then when we must push to the finish line. The work is not over until the one who sets the course in place declares it done.
Great joy? Yes. A completed journey? No.
They, and we, must continue to “proceed on.”
Great Joy, But Not Quite Yet
“we made 34 miles to day as Computed. Great joy in camp we are in View of the Ocian, [NB: in the morning when fog cleared off just below last village just on leaving the village of Warkiacum], this great Pacific Octean which we been So long anxious to See. and the roreing or noise made by the waves brakeing on the rockey Shores (as I Suppose) may be heard distictly”
Finally the Corps of Discovery thinks they have reached the mighty Pacific Ocean! However, we know they have not. As they will find out soon enough, they have yet to reach the Pacific.
They met the Wahkiakum tribe and found them to be friendly. Fish hooks are of great value to this tribe and used by the Corps as trade for fish, roots and three dogs.
How many times in my life have I thought I’d arrived, or finished, only to find out there was more to do? The men were close but not quite done. In fact, more than a week will pass before they complete the push west started over a year ago outside St. Louis, Missouri.
And we must do the same. When we think we are done, we may not be. It is then when we must push to the finish line. The work is not over until the one who sets the course in place declares it done.
Great joy? Yes. A completed journey? No.
They, and we, must continue to “proceed on.”
Sunday, November 06, 2005
Subdue and Rule
Journal 2005 11 06
Subdue and Rule
“we came too to Dine on the long narrow Island found the woods So thick with under groth that the hunters could not get any distance into the Isld. the red wood, and Green bryors interwoven, and mixed with pine, alder, a Specis of Beech [Berch?], ash &c. we killed nothing to day The Indians leave us in the evening, river about one mile wide hills high and Steep on the Std. no place for several Miles suffcently large and leavil for our camp we at length Landed at a place which by moveing the Stones we made a place Sufficently large for the party to lie leavil on the Smaller Stones Clear of the Tide
Cloudy with rain all day we are all wet and disagreeable, had large fires made on the Stone and dried our bedding and Kill the flees, which collected in our blankets at every old village we encamped near”
William Clark’s is still the primary recorder for history. We won’t hear from Meriwether Lewis until New Year’s Day 1806. Several of the enlisted men kept journals. Theirs typically include almost abbreviated versions of the Captains. Today Clark records much more detail than any of the other men.
I’m struck by several things in today’s record. Clark finds, as he did yesterday, the weather “wet and disagreeable.” They did overcome several Indians traveling downriver hoping to trade with a Mr. Haley. (The best historical records show that Captain Samuel Hill had sailed the Lydia up the Columbia in April of this year and would return again in April or July after the men had departed for home.) The Indians are not nearly as enamored with the white men as they were earlier on the journey and the Corps part company and camp just downstream from the mouth of the Cowlitz River near Longview, WA.
They were unable to kill any meat and ate more of the roots and salmon obtained earlier via trade. Have you ever tried to negotiate the jungle-like tangle of nasty brush and vines that grow on low wet ground in the Northwest? These great wilderness travelers could not penetrate it with any greater degree of success than we can today. I like D8’s, track-hoes, chain saws and brush hooks if you must attack these jungles. I believe these men would see the natural barriers much differently than we would today. If they had access to the big bulldozers, power tools and even hand tools we’ve developed they would never hesitate to conquer the world around them and “civilize it.”
I thought I might talk about camping on a rocky place with fleas like they did this night. But conquering the natural world is not one we understand well today. Our cultural mindset is to preserve nature. Yesterday I spoke of turning from worshipping the Creator to worshipping the creation. Jehovah God, the Creator, gave a command to rule and subdue. Sounds like conquering to me. None of us purposefully lives on land that is overcome by blackberry bushes and uncontrolled growth. Good stewardship requires us to cut back and restrict uncontrolled growth. Many times we must remove the natural dangers that threaten our living on the land. If a tree could fall and damage our home we are prudent if we remove it. Insurance companies would claim negligence if we were to knowingly leave a rotten dangerous tree in a position to damage our dwelling.
Are we ruling and subduing, with good stewardship, as commanded by God when he created man? It is easy to check your home. Look around for ivy and vines trying to overwhelm it. Cut them off and remove them. The same holds for your spiritual life. Are you being overwhelmed by circumstances and happenings? It is a sign that the enemies of God are attempting to overwhelm you. Cut them off and remove them.
“And God created the man in His own image; in the image of God He created him. He created them male and female. And God blessed them; and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the seas, and over birds of the heavens, and over all beasts creeping on the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every plant seeding seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree seeding seed; it shall be food for you. And to every beast of the earth, and to all birds of the heavens, and to every creeper on the earth which has in it a living soul, every green plant is for food. And it was so.” (Genesis 1:27-30)
His first command is to bear fruit, multiply, fill the earth and subdue and rule over it. Not popular today, but still true. Cut off anything that is attempting to entangle you and keep you from your God-given destiny.
Subdue and Rule
“we came too to Dine on the long narrow Island found the woods So thick with under groth that the hunters could not get any distance into the Isld. the red wood, and Green bryors interwoven, and mixed with pine, alder, a Specis of Beech [Berch?], ash &c. we killed nothing to day The Indians leave us in the evening, river about one mile wide hills high and Steep on the Std. no place for several Miles suffcently large and leavil for our camp we at length Landed at a place which by moveing the Stones we made a place Sufficently large for the party to lie leavil on the Smaller Stones Clear of the Tide
Cloudy with rain all day we are all wet and disagreeable, had large fires made on the Stone and dried our bedding and Kill the flees, which collected in our blankets at every old village we encamped near”
William Clark’s is still the primary recorder for history. We won’t hear from Meriwether Lewis until New Year’s Day 1806. Several of the enlisted men kept journals. Theirs typically include almost abbreviated versions of the Captains. Today Clark records much more detail than any of the other men.
I’m struck by several things in today’s record. Clark finds, as he did yesterday, the weather “wet and disagreeable.” They did overcome several Indians traveling downriver hoping to trade with a Mr. Haley. (The best historical records show that Captain Samuel Hill had sailed the Lydia up the Columbia in April of this year and would return again in April or July after the men had departed for home.) The Indians are not nearly as enamored with the white men as they were earlier on the journey and the Corps part company and camp just downstream from the mouth of the Cowlitz River near Longview, WA.
They were unable to kill any meat and ate more of the roots and salmon obtained earlier via trade. Have you ever tried to negotiate the jungle-like tangle of nasty brush and vines that grow on low wet ground in the Northwest? These great wilderness travelers could not penetrate it with any greater degree of success than we can today. I like D8’s, track-hoes, chain saws and brush hooks if you must attack these jungles. I believe these men would see the natural barriers much differently than we would today. If they had access to the big bulldozers, power tools and even hand tools we’ve developed they would never hesitate to conquer the world around them and “civilize it.”
I thought I might talk about camping on a rocky place with fleas like they did this night. But conquering the natural world is not one we understand well today. Our cultural mindset is to preserve nature. Yesterday I spoke of turning from worshipping the Creator to worshipping the creation. Jehovah God, the Creator, gave a command to rule and subdue. Sounds like conquering to me. None of us purposefully lives on land that is overcome by blackberry bushes and uncontrolled growth. Good stewardship requires us to cut back and restrict uncontrolled growth. Many times we must remove the natural dangers that threaten our living on the land. If a tree could fall and damage our home we are prudent if we remove it. Insurance companies would claim negligence if we were to knowingly leave a rotten dangerous tree in a position to damage our dwelling.
Are we ruling and subduing, with good stewardship, as commanded by God when he created man? It is easy to check your home. Look around for ivy and vines trying to overwhelm it. Cut them off and remove them. The same holds for your spiritual life. Are you being overwhelmed by circumstances and happenings? It is a sign that the enemies of God are attempting to overwhelm you. Cut them off and remove them.
“And God created the man in His own image; in the image of God He created him. He created them male and female. And God blessed them; and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the seas, and over birds of the heavens, and over all beasts creeping on the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every plant seeding seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree seeding seed; it shall be food for you. And to every beast of the earth, and to all birds of the heavens, and to every creeper on the earth which has in it a living soul, every green plant is for food. And it was so.” (Genesis 1:27-30)
His first command is to bear fruit, multiply, fill the earth and subdue and rule over it. Not popular today, but still true. Cut off anything that is attempting to entangle you and keep you from your God-given destiny.
Saturday, November 05, 2005
Cloudy, Rainy and Disagreeable
Journal 2005 11 05
Cloudy, Rainy and Disagreeable
“Rained all the after part of last night, rain continues this morning, I [s]lept but verry little last night for the noise Kept dureing the whole of the night by the Swans, Geese, white & Grey Brant Ducks &c. on a Small Sand Island close under the Lard. Side; they were emensely noumerous, and their noise horid—…The day proved Cloudy with rain the greater part of it, we are all wet cold and disagreeable— I saw but little appearance of frost in this valley which we call <Wap-pa-too Columbia>”
A cold, wet November morning just above freezing. Typical of life along the Columbia River still today and throughout western Washington and Oregon. Many people I know who come to the Great Northwest from other parts of the country experience this common reaction to the cold wet weather. They, like William Clark, find it disagreeable. Many times it makes us disagreeable. Then somehow, somewhere we either move away or overcome the impact of the weather on our dispositions.
And that simply put is the application of today’s post. Have you overcome the impact of the natural world on your disposition or has it overcome you?
Many in our modern world have relegated the Creator as non-existent or irrelevant to their lives. Ironically, most who turn from the Creator trend towards seeking fulfillment from His creation. Nowhere is this truer than in the northwestern United States.
"I have spoken these things to you so that you might have peace in Me. In the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world."
(John 16:33)
Jesus tells us to be of good cheer for He has overcome the world. He has taken back His own Creation and redeemed the decaying effects of sin and death.
I have to constantly ask myself, “Do I have His peace in the middle of tribulation (like rainy disagreeable weather and no sleep) manifested in good cheer? Or have I taken my cues from the ever changing wind and weather letting my response reflect natures mood and not God’s?”
I pray I’m choosing God’s good cheer and not nature’s wet and miserable one!
Cloudy, Rainy and Disagreeable
“Rained all the after part of last night, rain continues this morning, I [s]lept but verry little last night for the noise Kept dureing the whole of the night by the Swans, Geese, white & Grey Brant Ducks &c. on a Small Sand Island close under the Lard. Side; they were emensely noumerous, and their noise horid—…The day proved Cloudy with rain the greater part of it, we are all wet cold and disagreeable— I saw but little appearance of frost in this valley which we call <Wap-pa-too Columbia>”
A cold, wet November morning just above freezing. Typical of life along the Columbia River still today and throughout western Washington and Oregon. Many people I know who come to the Great Northwest from other parts of the country experience this common reaction to the cold wet weather. They, like William Clark, find it disagreeable. Many times it makes us disagreeable. Then somehow, somewhere we either move away or overcome the impact of the weather on our dispositions.
And that simply put is the application of today’s post. Have you overcome the impact of the natural world on your disposition or has it overcome you?
Many in our modern world have relegated the Creator as non-existent or irrelevant to their lives. Ironically, most who turn from the Creator trend towards seeking fulfillment from His creation. Nowhere is this truer than in the northwestern United States.
"I have spoken these things to you so that you might have peace in Me. In the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world."
(John 16:33)
Jesus tells us to be of good cheer for He has overcome the world. He has taken back His own Creation and redeemed the decaying effects of sin and death.
I have to constantly ask myself, “Do I have His peace in the middle of tribulation (like rainy disagreeable weather and no sleep) manifested in good cheer? Or have I taken my cues from the ever changing wind and weather letting my response reflect natures mood and not God’s?”
I pray I’m choosing God’s good cheer and not nature’s wet and miserable one!
Friday, November 04, 2005
Winds of Discord
Journal 2005 11 04
Winds of Discord
Yesterday, after seven months in lands unknown to western civilization, the Corps of Discovery enters territory previously visited by white men. Captain Robert Gray sailing the Columbia Rediviva first entered the Columbia River in 1792, thirteen years earlier. Already the influence of trade and trading goods is disjointing the culture of the Indians inhabiting the lower Columbia River.
William Clark records the theft of his tomahawk pipe that he used across the continent to “smoke” with the great chiefs along the journey. He turns the place upside down, searching every man and canoe and comes away empty handed. A “cappote,” or greatcoat, is also missing and found hidden under a nearby tree root. These simple acts of stealing set a barrier between the Corps of Discovery and these Indians that will never really be overcome until the Corp departs next spring. Clark uses the word “thieving.”
Distrust now inhabits the center of their interactions with this Indian nation. Disdain and disgust will constantly nibble at the edges of their interactions as the months of fall and winter pass later this year. The seeds of this discord were sown by the Indians newfound desire and sense of entitlement to western trade goods. The Indians culture of communal living and the explorers desire to give gifts as tokens of peace and future promises of “business” combine to form the foundation of good intentions gone awry. The Indian nations never really recover from the “false promises” of the white man and the white man never sees the “thieving” of the Indian as part of their communal life. Hard to believe we could set something in place and still have the roots of bitterness in place two hundred years later.
I had intentions of writing of the thick fog that delayed their departure these past mornings just like it interferes with ours today. Of the Sand River emptying into the Columbia with such “compression” that the Sand River impacts the opposite bank of the Columbia with great force. How Clark notes and confirms from Captain Gray’s maps that indeed it is Mt. Hood 47 miles distant and 85 degrees south of his present heading on his compass. My intention was to relate how life on the river is dictated by the obvious influence of nature in the meeting of ocean, river, land and mountains orchestrated by the life of wind. Reflective of the work of the Wind of the Spirit of God.
We get “winds of discord” instead of the “Wind of the Spirit” this morning. Suspicion. Distrust. Entitlement. Familiarity. Lack of respect and honor. Foundations to futility.
For those married among our readership, do you ever say, do or give something to your spouse that would please you but is displeasing to your mate? I have. Too many times. Because I gave out of my view, not out of my understanding of what pleases and blesses my beautiful bride. Your gift can sow discord and misunderstanding or you can learn and change. Give gifts that please, minister to and bless the receiver. No electronic devices, game calls, hunting gear, camo, computer anything, car accessories, tools, flashlights, knives or anything else out of the Cabela’s catalog will pass from my hand to my wife. Chanel 22 perfume, jewelry, clothes, dinner dates, trips and flowers will always be well received with a personal note in the card. Anything else falls short. I pray I’ve learned. I hope you have, too.
Paul, the apostle of Jesus Christ, was a Jew. The foundation of the Christian church rests on the testimony of Peter, a Jewish fisherman, that there is no one else other than Christ. Persecution drove the Jewish Christian church outside Jerusalem into Gentile lands. Jews and Gentiles were like dogs and cats. Didn’t get along too well. Jews were made “unclean” by their interactions with Gentiles. Gentiles were put off by the haughtiness and religious arrogance of the Jews that made the Gentiles feel like dogs.
As the persecuted Jews, who had become followers of Jesus Christ, were living in the foreign lands of the Gentiles two cultures clashed. They clashed for our sake today as we clash with the cultures around us. As the Corps clashed with the Chinooks. In the discord, the Good News that Jesus Christ died as the sacrifice for our sin, rose from the grave and returned to Heaven leaving His Holy Spirit until the time of fulfillment of His promise to return was received by multitudes of Gentiles. Now Jews and Gentiles had been reconciled to the Jewish God by the Jewish Messiah! The Jews thought all followers of Christ must become like them in many of the foundational practices of the Jewish traditions.
Without extending today’s record into a book suitable for religious training, God offered the resolution for all cultural conflict. HIMSELF. In the person of His Son. And if both cultures focus on Him, both are changed. Changed because they move from their culture into the Kingdom of God. A better place.
“If God gave to them the same gift as to us, they having believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to be able to prevent God?” (Acts 11:17)
Lewis and Clark traveled with a message from a man, the President of the United States. That message was not able to reconcile nations. We travel with a message from God the Father, verified by Christ the Son and delivered by the work of the Spirit of God. This message is able to reconcile all men and nations. As great a journey as the Corp of Discovery was, it was secular by nature. The great missionary journeys of Paul the Apostle still stand alone because they carried the power to reconcile all nations and peoples to God and one another.
Winds of Discord
Yesterday, after seven months in lands unknown to western civilization, the Corps of Discovery enters territory previously visited by white men. Captain Robert Gray sailing the Columbia Rediviva first entered the Columbia River in 1792, thirteen years earlier. Already the influence of trade and trading goods is disjointing the culture of the Indians inhabiting the lower Columbia River.
William Clark records the theft of his tomahawk pipe that he used across the continent to “smoke” with the great chiefs along the journey. He turns the place upside down, searching every man and canoe and comes away empty handed. A “cappote,” or greatcoat, is also missing and found hidden under a nearby tree root. These simple acts of stealing set a barrier between the Corps of Discovery and these Indians that will never really be overcome until the Corp departs next spring. Clark uses the word “thieving.”
Distrust now inhabits the center of their interactions with this Indian nation. Disdain and disgust will constantly nibble at the edges of their interactions as the months of fall and winter pass later this year. The seeds of this discord were sown by the Indians newfound desire and sense of entitlement to western trade goods. The Indians culture of communal living and the explorers desire to give gifts as tokens of peace and future promises of “business” combine to form the foundation of good intentions gone awry. The Indian nations never really recover from the “false promises” of the white man and the white man never sees the “thieving” of the Indian as part of their communal life. Hard to believe we could set something in place and still have the roots of bitterness in place two hundred years later.
I had intentions of writing of the thick fog that delayed their departure these past mornings just like it interferes with ours today. Of the Sand River emptying into the Columbia with such “compression” that the Sand River impacts the opposite bank of the Columbia with great force. How Clark notes and confirms from Captain Gray’s maps that indeed it is Mt. Hood 47 miles distant and 85 degrees south of his present heading on his compass. My intention was to relate how life on the river is dictated by the obvious influence of nature in the meeting of ocean, river, land and mountains orchestrated by the life of wind. Reflective of the work of the Wind of the Spirit of God.
We get “winds of discord” instead of the “Wind of the Spirit” this morning. Suspicion. Distrust. Entitlement. Familiarity. Lack of respect and honor. Foundations to futility.
For those married among our readership, do you ever say, do or give something to your spouse that would please you but is displeasing to your mate? I have. Too many times. Because I gave out of my view, not out of my understanding of what pleases and blesses my beautiful bride. Your gift can sow discord and misunderstanding or you can learn and change. Give gifts that please, minister to and bless the receiver. No electronic devices, game calls, hunting gear, camo, computer anything, car accessories, tools, flashlights, knives or anything else out of the Cabela’s catalog will pass from my hand to my wife. Chanel 22 perfume, jewelry, clothes, dinner dates, trips and flowers will always be well received with a personal note in the card. Anything else falls short. I pray I’ve learned. I hope you have, too.
Paul, the apostle of Jesus Christ, was a Jew. The foundation of the Christian church rests on the testimony of Peter, a Jewish fisherman, that there is no one else other than Christ. Persecution drove the Jewish Christian church outside Jerusalem into Gentile lands. Jews and Gentiles were like dogs and cats. Didn’t get along too well. Jews were made “unclean” by their interactions with Gentiles. Gentiles were put off by the haughtiness and religious arrogance of the Jews that made the Gentiles feel like dogs.
As the persecuted Jews, who had become followers of Jesus Christ, were living in the foreign lands of the Gentiles two cultures clashed. They clashed for our sake today as we clash with the cultures around us. As the Corps clashed with the Chinooks. In the discord, the Good News that Jesus Christ died as the sacrifice for our sin, rose from the grave and returned to Heaven leaving His Holy Spirit until the time of fulfillment of His promise to return was received by multitudes of Gentiles. Now Jews and Gentiles had been reconciled to the Jewish God by the Jewish Messiah! The Jews thought all followers of Christ must become like them in many of the foundational practices of the Jewish traditions.
Without extending today’s record into a book suitable for religious training, God offered the resolution for all cultural conflict. HIMSELF. In the person of His Son. And if both cultures focus on Him, both are changed. Changed because they move from their culture into the Kingdom of God. A better place.
“If God gave to them the same gift as to us, they having believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to be able to prevent God?” (Acts 11:17)
Lewis and Clark traveled with a message from a man, the President of the United States. That message was not able to reconcile nations. We travel with a message from God the Father, verified by Christ the Son and delivered by the work of the Spirit of God. This message is able to reconcile all men and nations. As great a journey as the Corp of Discovery was, it was secular by nature. The great missionary journeys of Paul the Apostle still stand alone because they carried the power to reconcile all nations and peoples to God and one another.
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
Rising Waters
Journal 2005 11 01
Rising Waters
“The ebb tide rose here about 9 Inches, the flood tide must rise here much higher— we made 29 miles to day from the Great Shute-”
Once again the Corps of Discovery enters “new ground.” Tidal waters of the Pacific Ocean. Having passed the last great Cascades of the Columbia the expedition makes twenty-nine miles on the river, passes Beacon Rock and camps at what is today Oregon’s Rooster Rock State Park about twenty-five miles east of Portland.
As has long been their pattern, the men rise, travel and then eat. Before breakfast this morning the non-swimmers carry much of the gear around the cascades while the rivermen guide the lightly loaded canoes through the rocks. Three canoes are damaged in the process and repaired later in the day.
Bonneville Dam has submerged this long stretch of white water and we can only imagine and examine old pictures to capture a sense of the wildness of the Columbia River. We see the Columbia as a wide, slow moving river suitable for deep water navigation up to the Port of Pasco. That is right, Pasco, WA home of sagebrush, rattlesnakes and nuclear powerplants is a port city because of the damming of the Columbia River. The water was raised far beyond the nine inches of tidal action observed by William Clark as the flow of Pacific Ocean forced its influence miles upriver.
Have you ever thought of that concept before? The Columbia Bar is not a strict separation between the fresh flowing water of the Columbia River and the salt sea of the Pacific Ocean. As powerful as the flow of the tamed Columbia River still is the power of the Pacific Ocean is multiple times more powerful. The ocean tide flows ashore against the beaches and cliffs forcing their destruction. This same tide pushes into the rivers adding water to their channels and resisting the massive gravitational push of the full volume of water a river holds. Because this collision is liquid we see it as a mild mixing of water rather than the massive collision of power that it is. Because it is liquid it is measured by its rising and falling.
Do you have problems colliding, flooding your daily flow of life today? Do you need massive power to come to bear on your behalf to stop the seemingly endless push of power attempting to submerge your pursuit of life? “Do not let the flood of waters overflow me, nor let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut its mouth on me.” (Psalms 69:15) “And the serpent cast out of his mouth water like a flood after the woman, so that he might cause her to be carried away by the river.” (Revelation 12:15) Floods bring fear. They overwhelm, overpower and carry away everything in their path. Facing a flood we need power. Power far beyond the ability of man to marshal against its push.
Maybe the water is only rising nine inches in your life every day and it recedes to a tolerable level before day’s end. The crush, the power, the absolute overwhelming power generated by the tide will retard your movement. We need something, someone, more powerful than the ebb and flow of the tide. We need someone, something, more powerful than any flood to push back on our behalf. “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.” (Isaiah 59:19)
The Spirit of God. Invisible to the human eye. Compared to the blowing of the wind and the washing of the waters. Can you see the water rising? You need His power to push it back. Call on His name today and He will raise a standard, His battleflag, over you today against your enemy who, unimpeded, will overwhelm you like a flood.
Rising Waters
“The ebb tide rose here about 9 Inches, the flood tide must rise here much higher— we made 29 miles to day from the Great Shute-”
Once again the Corps of Discovery enters “new ground.” Tidal waters of the Pacific Ocean. Having passed the last great Cascades of the Columbia the expedition makes twenty-nine miles on the river, passes Beacon Rock and camps at what is today Oregon’s Rooster Rock State Park about twenty-five miles east of Portland.
As has long been their pattern, the men rise, travel and then eat. Before breakfast this morning the non-swimmers carry much of the gear around the cascades while the rivermen guide the lightly loaded canoes through the rocks. Three canoes are damaged in the process and repaired later in the day.
Bonneville Dam has submerged this long stretch of white water and we can only imagine and examine old pictures to capture a sense of the wildness of the Columbia River. We see the Columbia as a wide, slow moving river suitable for deep water navigation up to the Port of Pasco. That is right, Pasco, WA home of sagebrush, rattlesnakes and nuclear powerplants is a port city because of the damming of the Columbia River. The water was raised far beyond the nine inches of tidal action observed by William Clark as the flow of Pacific Ocean forced its influence miles upriver.
Have you ever thought of that concept before? The Columbia Bar is not a strict separation between the fresh flowing water of the Columbia River and the salt sea of the Pacific Ocean. As powerful as the flow of the tamed Columbia River still is the power of the Pacific Ocean is multiple times more powerful. The ocean tide flows ashore against the beaches and cliffs forcing their destruction. This same tide pushes into the rivers adding water to their channels and resisting the massive gravitational push of the full volume of water a river holds. Because this collision is liquid we see it as a mild mixing of water rather than the massive collision of power that it is. Because it is liquid it is measured by its rising and falling.
Do you have problems colliding, flooding your daily flow of life today? Do you need massive power to come to bear on your behalf to stop the seemingly endless push of power attempting to submerge your pursuit of life? “Do not let the flood of waters overflow me, nor let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut its mouth on me.” (Psalms 69:15) “And the serpent cast out of his mouth water like a flood after the woman, so that he might cause her to be carried away by the river.” (Revelation 12:15) Floods bring fear. They overwhelm, overpower and carry away everything in their path. Facing a flood we need power. Power far beyond the ability of man to marshal against its push.
Maybe the water is only rising nine inches in your life every day and it recedes to a tolerable level before day’s end. The crush, the power, the absolute overwhelming power generated by the tide will retard your movement. We need something, someone, more powerful than the ebb and flow of the tide. We need someone, something, more powerful than any flood to push back on our behalf. “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.” (Isaiah 59:19)
The Spirit of God. Invisible to the human eye. Compared to the blowing of the wind and the washing of the waters. Can you see the water rising? You need His power to push it back. Call on His name today and He will raise a standard, His battleflag, over you today against your enemy who, unimpeded, will overwhelm you like a flood.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)