Monuments, Memorials and the Road Home

Yesterday P.Rod posted about a season of spiritual warfare, especially since moving forward on the Helena church plant. Unexplained sicknesses, crazy things going on, etc. he’s been praying the 27th Psalm.
Curious I looked it up.
Good one to pray.

Very loose game plan today.

Regretted not getting mom that coffee cup with her name in Cedar Village at Yellowstone. Finally found something with her name at Mount Rushmore. Well, Casey did, because she rocks.

Mount Rushmore was cool, but not as impressive as the Tetons and Yellowstone. No Nicholas Cage running around.

What they look like

How they planned to carve them

How to carve a mountain

Same with Crazy Horse. I did like the museum. What impressed me is that it’s privately funded.

South Dakota has interesting rolling topography. Almost like a crater at times.

Stopped at a gas station. It was closed. Lady wanted gas. Only had cash and they were closed.
My first instinct was to pay for their gas.
I didn’t and now I wonder if I should have. They weren’t abandoned. The clerks were still there...

If I finish my current book I’ll have read 5 in the last week. Roadtrips allow for lots of reading time.

Staying at a jacked up Super 8. It’s gotten good and bad reviews. Looks beat up. Got stuck in a smoking room (even though Georgia quit). Casey gagged.
Run down car in the back had Dustin pull his pistol out and chamber a round.
I had a hand near my “travel knife” that Bobby gave me. Not my working blade. It’s sinfully dull. This may be an interesting night...

We survived, and made it home the next day. I powered through the final 298 miles back to Arkansas since I was so tired of sitting in a car at that point.

Reflections on the Road to Mount Rushmore.

Up early and on the road to Rushmore. A several hour drive. Eight if I remember right.

Dubois, WY is an old western town that was modernized. I’m liking this state.

Traveling Southeast across Wyoming towards Casper where Lena lives. No trees. Wide open. Really want to look at a starry night in big sky country.

Listening to music and reflecting. The past me and the now me. The amalgamation of people’s influence and experiences on a person. Getting to the bottom of me, becoming me.
The procession of trauma from my godson, Noah’s death. That feels like another lifetime ago almost.

Check engine light popped up on Daniels truck again. OnStar is running diagnostics. Haven’t heard back from them yet. Everything is broken yet the truck runs.
The suspicion is the truck's hard shifting on cruise control while pulling a camper the size of a small mobile home.

We stopped at a peaceful but crowded campground. No idea what we’re doing tomorrow.

The plan is to pack light and leaving after we see Rushmore. Joey will bring the rest to Jacksonville if necessary, if they don’t meet up with us in Oklahoma.

Taking in the stars. Finally getting to see the Milky Way. Looking at it through the binoculars and I can see even more stars. Reminds me of Psalm 147:4, “He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.”

If only my camera could catch that beauty.

What's The Story You're Trying To Tell?

Narratives occur in real life. The stories we tell ourselves about ourselves. Social media makes it easier to share such stories to the world with tailored pictures and posts.

It can be fun being the main character in a story. I remember as a kid in school always pretending to be a superhero. Spider-Man. Wolverine. Batman (I was an adult at that point 😉).

Something more than I was.

We do it still as adults. Trying to live up to the stories we tell ourselves about us. It's a lot of pressure to be a star.

Are we slaves to our "fame"?  Maybe instead we are actors upon the world.

What's the story you're trying to tell?

Reflections...

Last week a friend died. Unexpected. It hit on a lot of levels.

I met him before his son died. Then afterward, in GriefShare where I helped him walk through the grief journey.

To see the progression from grieving father who couldn't make it through the first cycle to someone who made it through the second. He came back.

Not only came back, he became one of us, and joined the team comforting as he'd been comforted.
Then he died right before the cycle began.

We looked at a new flock of wounded people while likewise wounded. Then the next day we went to his funeral. The videos we show have a new light to them even after seeing them at least 7 times now.

I have a slight fatalistic streak. It comes from so many dying at once.

One in an accident. Four the next year with two within days of each other. Two after that. Four more in 2016.

Accidents, sudden health issues, miscarriages...

It leads to odd thoughts. Like what are people going to say when I die? How many will be there? Will God let me watch my own funeral?

It's one of the painful parts of marriage when you think about it. When you say, "I Do" when the minister asks if you'll take your spouse until death do you part.

It's something that stays in the back of my mind. The eventuality that eventually I or my wife will die.

How will we deal with that?

Poorly I am sure. Sometimes I think about it, like an inoculation. When you consider the eventual death of a spouse it gives perspective.

Was that argument really that important?

Do you spend enough time with them?

Personally, I'm thinking we need to print off some pictures. We have tons of them. Time froze on paper.

Death makes you think...