Attacked
Journal 2005 02 14
Attacked!
Valentine’s Day on the prairie. I don’t think we were celebrating Valentine’s Day in 1805, but if we were, the boys on the expedition got jilted. Having returned about thirty miles to Fort Mandan the previous day, Clark sends a fresh party of men with four horses and sleds to retrieve a large cache of meat left by the hunters. Over one hundred Indians, Sioux they thought, attacked them. Robbing the men of their horses and knives the attackers rode off with their spoils. Rifles broken, no meat or horses the men return to the camp. No mention of their mindset. But they must have been ready to wage war against those who attacked them.
Evidently the Indians had been following them and watching them collect and cache the game and were waiting for an opportune moment.
Life had been so tranquil with the Mandans, Hidatsa and Arikara tribes that they weren’t thinking about being robbed. Clark had learned the hard way that he had to cache the game to protect it from wolves. So they built a wooden “pen” of pole-like rails enclosed on the top. Their fear of humans was minimized.
And life is the same today. We work to make our life as safe and secure as possible and in our most needy of times the wolves and the robbers come to take what little we have. They come in the dead of winter when their need for survival pushes back any self-restraint or fear that may have been holding them back.
Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. It sounds lofty and impossible. Eternal vigilance? How can we possibly do anything eternal? Perpetual would be a better work to use since it implies slightly more human characteristics.
If we have worked hard for a fruitful harvest are we to leave it lie that it can be consumed by whoever passes by or lays claim to it? We are charged to keep that which has been committed to our care.
Eternal vigilance can be achieved if we place our eternity in the hands of the One who holds eternity. Security experts tell us that perpetual vigilance is difficult to achieve because without a constant, real threat it is difficult to maintain a heightened sense of awareness to potential danger.
All the more reason for us to call upon and depend on the One Who Knows All and Sees All and has sealed our hearts and given His Holy Spirit to lead and guide us. My charge for all of us today is to be Eternally Vigilant to Him that we may find real eternal security.
Attacked!
Valentine’s Day on the prairie. I don’t think we were celebrating Valentine’s Day in 1805, but if we were, the boys on the expedition got jilted. Having returned about thirty miles to Fort Mandan the previous day, Clark sends a fresh party of men with four horses and sleds to retrieve a large cache of meat left by the hunters. Over one hundred Indians, Sioux they thought, attacked them. Robbing the men of their horses and knives the attackers rode off with their spoils. Rifles broken, no meat or horses the men return to the camp. No mention of their mindset. But they must have been ready to wage war against those who attacked them.
Evidently the Indians had been following them and watching them collect and cache the game and were waiting for an opportune moment.
Life had been so tranquil with the Mandans, Hidatsa and Arikara tribes that they weren’t thinking about being robbed. Clark had learned the hard way that he had to cache the game to protect it from wolves. So they built a wooden “pen” of pole-like rails enclosed on the top. Their fear of humans was minimized.
And life is the same today. We work to make our life as safe and secure as possible and in our most needy of times the wolves and the robbers come to take what little we have. They come in the dead of winter when their need for survival pushes back any self-restraint or fear that may have been holding them back.
Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. It sounds lofty and impossible. Eternal vigilance? How can we possibly do anything eternal? Perpetual would be a better work to use since it implies slightly more human characteristics.
If we have worked hard for a fruitful harvest are we to leave it lie that it can be consumed by whoever passes by or lays claim to it? We are charged to keep that which has been committed to our care.
Eternal vigilance can be achieved if we place our eternity in the hands of the One who holds eternity. Security experts tell us that perpetual vigilance is difficult to achieve because without a constant, real threat it is difficult to maintain a heightened sense of awareness to potential danger.
All the more reason for us to call upon and depend on the One Who Knows All and Sees All and has sealed our hearts and given His Holy Spirit to lead and guide us. My charge for all of us today is to be Eternally Vigilant to Him that we may find real eternal security.
posted by @2007 Dick Cinkovich | 11:09 PM
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