finis
Journal 2006 09 23
finis.
“about 12 oClock we arived in Site of St. Louis fired three Rounds as we approached the Town and landed oppocit the center of the Town, the people gathred on the Shore and Huzzared three cheers. we unloaded the canoes and carried the baggage all up to a Store house in Town. drew out the canoes then the party all considerable much rejoiced that we have the Expedition Completed and now we look for boarding in Town and wait for our Settlement and then we entend to return to our native homes to See our parents once more as we have been So long from them.— finis.” The final words written by Sgt. Ordway. The words of the enlisted men. They look forward to boarding in town and getting paid. Two years in the wilderness made for a great savings plan. Not hard to save money when you haven’t been able to collect on it.
This concept of storing up pay for the future while performing risky work illustrates the principle of “storing up treasures in Heaven.” Live and work according to the principles the Kingdom of God has in place and you will reap an eternal reward.
Yesterday the men stayed in St. Charles until late morning because of rain and I bet because they were enjoying their stay. They arrived at a new fort and visited old friends who were now stationed there. A seventeen cannon salute greeted their arrival. They spent the night at the fort with many old friends and acquaintances. The new fort also had a huge storehouse of trade goods for the Indians upriver.
After outfitting the Indian Chief with them and his family Clark and the party set out for St. Louis arriving at noon. They fired three volleys from their rifles as a salute to the town where “we were met by all the village and received a harty welcom from it's inhabitants &.”
“…here I found my old acquaintance Majr. W. Christy who had Settled in this town in a public line as a Tavern Keeper. he furnished us with Store rooms for our baggage and we accepted of the invitation of Mr. Peter Choteau and <par> took a room in <the> his house <of Mr. Peter Cadeaus Choteaus> we payed a friendly visit to <Mes. Choteau and> Mr <Ogustus> August Chotau and Some of our old friends this evening. as the post had departed from St. Louis Capt Lewis wrote a note to Mr. Hay in Kahoka to detain the post at that place untill 12 tomorrow which was reather later than his usial time of leaveing it” Clark.
How quick a transition is this for these men? From hunting for meat and keeping a wary eye out for hostile Indians to socializing with the businessmen and governors of St. Louis in the short course of a day!
Lewis attempts to hold up the mail in the next town in order to get word to President Jefferson that his steadfast trust in his protégé had been well placed. He and all his men, save Sgt. Floyd who died of natural causes early, were alive and well. It was painful for Lewis to inform President Jefferson that rather than a navigable waterway there existed a spiny backbone whose height and breadth was unknown and unimaginable to men of the Eastern Seaboard of the United States of America.
As Sgt. Ordway declared his work “finis” I can’t help but hear the words of Jesus on the Cross of Crucifixion shouting similar words, “It is finished!” He too was going home. Ordway was looking for a room and to settle his reward. Jesus was going to Heaven to build a mansion with a room for everyone who cried out to Him for salvation. And He will be the one to reward all those who work in His fields of harvest with the treasures of Heaven.
Are we working day to day so we can live payday to payday? Can we take inspiration from the completion of this journey that we shouldn’t be afraid to set aside today’s reward for the riches of a greater adventure?
As I age, I ask myself constantly, what am I doing today towards those things that are important? And I pray that I am working those very things that God has set in store for me, and only me, to work. I pray for each of us that when we are “finis” that we were found in pursuit of the important work, the work assigned by God in faith, not lived day to day in fear.
Don’t we, like Ordway, want to be able to “considerable much rejoice” that we just completed a great and mighty work beyond our own doing? It started almost three years ago when Ordway and thirty other young men volunteered. Let’s raise our hands today and say yes to His beginning that we may see the end and its reward before we even embark to destinations unknown.
Proceed on.
finis.
“about 12 oClock we arived in Site of St. Louis fired three Rounds as we approached the Town and landed oppocit the center of the Town, the people gathred on the Shore and Huzzared three cheers. we unloaded the canoes and carried the baggage all up to a Store house in Town. drew out the canoes then the party all considerable much rejoiced that we have the Expedition Completed and now we look for boarding in Town and wait for our Settlement and then we entend to return to our native homes to See our parents once more as we have been So long from them.— finis.” The final words written by Sgt. Ordway. The words of the enlisted men. They look forward to boarding in town and getting paid. Two years in the wilderness made for a great savings plan. Not hard to save money when you haven’t been able to collect on it.
This concept of storing up pay for the future while performing risky work illustrates the principle of “storing up treasures in Heaven.” Live and work according to the principles the Kingdom of God has in place and you will reap an eternal reward.
Yesterday the men stayed in St. Charles until late morning because of rain and I bet because they were enjoying their stay. They arrived at a new fort and visited old friends who were now stationed there. A seventeen cannon salute greeted their arrival. They spent the night at the fort with many old friends and acquaintances. The new fort also had a huge storehouse of trade goods for the Indians upriver.
After outfitting the Indian Chief with them and his family Clark and the party set out for St. Louis arriving at noon. They fired three volleys from their rifles as a salute to the town where “we were met by all the village and received a harty welcom from it's inhabitants &.”
“…here I found my old acquaintance Majr. W. Christy who had Settled in this town in a public line as a Tavern Keeper. he furnished us with Store rooms for our baggage and we accepted of the invitation of Mr. Peter Choteau and <par> took a room in <the> his house <of Mr. Peter Cadeaus Choteaus> we payed a friendly visit to <Mes. Choteau and> Mr <Ogustus> August Chotau and Some of our old friends this evening. as the post had departed from St. Louis Capt Lewis wrote a note to Mr. Hay in Kahoka to detain the post at that place untill 12 tomorrow which was reather later than his usial time of leaveing it” Clark.
How quick a transition is this for these men? From hunting for meat and keeping a wary eye out for hostile Indians to socializing with the businessmen and governors of St. Louis in the short course of a day!
Lewis attempts to hold up the mail in the next town in order to get word to President Jefferson that his steadfast trust in his protégé had been well placed. He and all his men, save Sgt. Floyd who died of natural causes early, were alive and well. It was painful for Lewis to inform President Jefferson that rather than a navigable waterway there existed a spiny backbone whose height and breadth was unknown and unimaginable to men of the Eastern Seaboard of the United States of America.
As Sgt. Ordway declared his work “finis” I can’t help but hear the words of Jesus on the Cross of Crucifixion shouting similar words, “It is finished!” He too was going home. Ordway was looking for a room and to settle his reward. Jesus was going to Heaven to build a mansion with a room for everyone who cried out to Him for salvation. And He will be the one to reward all those who work in His fields of harvest with the treasures of Heaven.
Are we working day to day so we can live payday to payday? Can we take inspiration from the completion of this journey that we shouldn’t be afraid to set aside today’s reward for the riches of a greater adventure?
As I age, I ask myself constantly, what am I doing today towards those things that are important? And I pray that I am working those very things that God has set in store for me, and only me, to work. I pray for each of us that when we are “finis” that we were found in pursuit of the important work, the work assigned by God in faith, not lived day to day in fear.
Don’t we, like Ordway, want to be able to “considerable much rejoice” that we just completed a great and mighty work beyond our own doing? It started almost three years ago when Ordway and thirty other young men volunteered. Let’s raise our hands today and say yes to His beginning that we may see the end and its reward before we even embark to destinations unknown.
Proceed on.
posted by @2007 Dick Cinkovich | 4:19 PM
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