Reflections from a week in Virginia

My family and I recently spent a week in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.  We visited Skyline Drive and hiked down the steep hillside to the Dark Valley Waterfall.  God’s creation was on display in spectacular fashion and the fall colors were brilliant.  We were even given the privilege of seeing a mother black bear and two cubs far up some trees getting acorns (or something that they were knocking to the ground to eat…we didn’t get close enough to see what it was!).  We were within 30 yards of the bears, but once mom climbed back to the ground it was time to put a little more distance between us as bears are deceptively fast for short distances!  It was equally as amazing once darkness fell on Skyline Drive and the millions of stars, which He created and named, lit up the sky.

All of this brings to mind Psalm 147:1-9
¹Praise the LORD!  For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and praise is beautiful.  ²The LORD builds up Jerusalem; He gathers together the outcasts of Israel.  ³He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.  ⁴He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name.  ⁵Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite.  ⁶The LORD lifts up the humble; He casts the wicked down to the ground.

⁷Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praises on the harp to our God, ⁸Who covers the heavens with clouds, Who prepares rain for the earth, Who makes grass to grow on the mountains.  ⁹He gives to the beast its food, and to the young ravens that cry.

On another day we went to tour the Endless Caverns near New Market, VA.  We have toured several  caverns in PA and it is something we enjoy.  We could have spent the entire week touring caverns in VA, so if you like to do that too be sure to check out the many in the Shenandoah Valley.  Our great God not only made the ground and sky that we see everyday gorgeous, He made the underground splendid as well.  I never ceases to amaze me how a big hole in the ground can contain such beauty and wonder.  Of course, as with every cavern I’ve ever visited, at some point the tour guide turns out the lights and man, the darkness is overwhelming.  They say that within 20 minutes you mind starts to fill in the darkness with images it creates; so you begin to “see” things that aren’t there.  I kind of enjoy the moment of absolute darkness in the cavern, but I’m always thankful when the lights come back on.  I cannot imagine being down there without electric lights!  Of course, this always brings to my mind the darkness of sin of my life and how God brought His Light which chases away the darkness.

There are many verses that come to mind, but I’ll just mention two: Psalm 18:28 “For You will light my lamp; the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness” and 1 John 1:5-7 “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.  If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

Being a huge history buff, one of my desires for the trip was to visit a couple Civil War battlefields.  We walked the ones at New Market, the Wilderness, Chancellorsville, Spotsylvania, Cross Keys, and Port Republic.  Ever since I was stationed aboard the nuclear submarine USS Stonewall Jackson when I was in the Navy, I have had a particular interest in General Jackson.  He was a brilliant military tactician and once he was killed at Chancellorsville, General Lee knew he could never replace his trusted subordinate.  One could argue that the death of Stonewall Jackson changed the course of the war and of our united nation.  The pivotal battle of Gettysburg shortly after Chancellorsville may have been very different with General Jackson there, and if so, the Union likely would have found itself at war not only with the Confederacy, but with France and England as well.

My son told me, not long after arriving at the Wilderness, that I get into a rather strange mood when we tour battlefields.  I acknowledged his observation and explained it was the combination of being fascinated by the tactics and strategy of it all, combined with the awe of the fierceness of it all, with a heavy dose of grief, and sense of loss.  The carnage on these battlefields was terrible, so while I love being a student of the tactics, I am equally grieved by the tragic loss of life and the horror of how many of these men died.  It is a strange combination of emotions and thoughts that go through my mind when I visit these sites.  But something else is part of that as well, the historical accounts indicate the many of the men on both sides called themselves Christians.  General Jackson for instance, was a man of faith and prayed over his baby daughter as he lay on his death bed about to succumb to the wounds and pneumonia.  There many examples and this is a mysterious part of the Civil War for me; how we who are brothers in Christ can find ourselves in situations where we count each other as enemies.  It should not be that way.

I talked with an elderly man who was telling me about his church there in Virginia.  I don’t know the name of the church, but they recently split and according to the man, the pastor convinced all the young people to leave with him (don’t know what exactly “young” meant to the elderly man).  This to me is also tragic and gut-wrenching.  I don’t know any of the particulars, but what I do know that is that brothers and sisters in Christ parted ways with some resentment involved.  I’ve been around enough to know that this is not an isolated incident, it happens far too often.  It usually starts as a little thing, but because we don’t handle things by the Word of God, it becomes divisive and destructive to the Body of Christ.  It should not be that way.

This too brings to mind many passages, but I’ll mention 1 Corinthians 6:1-8 which says, “Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints?  Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?  Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?  If then you have judgments concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge?  I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren?  But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers! Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated?  No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren!”

Let me just finish by saying that what I saw again during this week is that God is awe-inspiring and always does the right thing.  As I see Him at work I know that we serve the One True God who is over all things including all angels, authorities and powers.  To Him be glory forever.