Norm, Pat, Richard and I had come over to Mt.Rushmore earlier in the day to get some pictures and the lay of the area where it is located. We were fortunate enough to be camping about two miles from it. As you enter the area up ahead you can see the Avenue of the Flags - flags of all the states were hanging there. On the columns were the names of the state and the date they entered the union. Right past the avenue, there it was--Mt. Rushmore. It was a breathtaking sight! I had no idea the impact it would have on me. A gentleman came along and asked if I wanted my picture taken with the monument in the background. I immediately said yes. I continued walking around and took some more snapshots of the carving. As I walked through the gift shop, there was a man who had been one of the original drillers for the monument signing a book. WOW! Hard to believe!! He looked to be about 90. We left that afternoon with plans to return for the Evening Lighting Ceremony.
About 7:00 pm, the bottom fell out. We had a terrible thunder, lightning and rain storm! Oh no, I thought. We are going to miss out on the Lighting Ceremony. I was really glad we had gone to the monument earlier in the day. Thank you Lord for that. However, about 7:55 pm, everything stopped. Pat and Richard were taking a nap. Norm and I decided to go ahead and go over to the monument, even if we missed the ceremony, we could still see the monument after the lighting!
Much to my delight, we got there in about 10 minutes. Many folks were going into the monument, but the parking garage was not full. YAY!!!! We headed to the amphitheater, hoping they were still having the ceremony. They were and it was only about 7:40 PM. We decided to go ahead and find seat in the amphitheater, although a lot of folks were standing because the seats were wet from the storm.
The ceremony started promptly at 9:00 PM. A ranger began by giving some information about the Roosevelt family, the father and sons. Then we watched a movie called Freedom, about 20 minutes long. The movie about the influence of the four gentlemen who are a part of the monument: George Washington, as the father of our country; Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and Theodore Roosevelt. All had a part in our nation's freedom, democracy, solving adversities and holding true to our beliefs in freedom. At the end of the movie, they sang America, the Beautiful. During the last stanza, they lit up the monument. What a moment! After it was lit, we sang our National Anthem. Afterwards, they had all the veterans go to the stage, and were given a standing ovation until they were all on stage. Four of them participated in lowering the flags, and lastly, they each gave their name, rank and what branch of service they were a part of. WOW! It was a very touching ceremony! What a heritage we have here in this great land- the United State of America!
This led me to thinking about our spiritual heritage. Many of you might be very fortunate. You have family members who went before you as Christians, maybe a mom, dad or grandparents. They prayed for you, took you to church, read you the Bible, told you the stories and sang the songs with and to you. You just don't have any idea how fortunate you were to have those folks as a part of your life. I was not so fortunate. My mom and dad sent me to church on the holidays, Easter and Christmas. Other than that I knew nothing about church. Norm grew up in the church. Before we got married, we discussed spiritual issues and he told me he wanted his children, if we had any, to be brought up in the church. He had not been in several years, but knew that was the right thing for his family when he had one. We married, me with Angie who was 6 years old. I got pregnant about 4 years later. When I was six months pregnant with Meagan, we went to an Amway convention with a couple, Roy and Tena Hoyle. I met Tena at a teacher meeting. She told me her husband was a preacher. Later, they invited us to their home for a business meeting. Norm wanted to go because Roy was a preacher. We went and became a part of the Amway business with them. At the convention we attended, on Sunday morning they had a church service. When they gave the altar call, Norm and I responded. That was 32 years ago this coming August 7th. We have not looked back since that day. We got baptized and joined a Wesleyan Church with Roy as the pastor. I have been blessed by the spiritual "leaders" in my spiritual life through church and the Christian Motorcyclists Association. We want our kids and grandkids to have a heritage. We want them see how important our relationship with Christ is to us and how much He impacts every area of our lives. Thank you Lord !!
How about you? What will your kids say about their spiritual heritage? What kind of example have you been? It's never too late to start. Today is a new day!!!
Beautiful and Breathtaking! Jimmy & I were Amway Reps as well. The highlight of those weekends were definitely the church service Sunday morning!
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