The Weekend

2 Samuel 22:29

There are many sights in which God has stirred much emotion in my soul, however, very few are as humbling as the reconciliation and eventual memorialization of war.  To cap off an awesome weekend, we visited the Gettysburg National Battlefield Park.   I am a big statistics and facts person when it comes to history.  The battle of Gettysburg is filled with lots of large numbers.  The Army of the Potomac (Union) alone had over 35,000 soldiers present at one point or another during the course of the 3 day confrontation.  Fighting elbow to elbow was an under statement at some locations on the battlefield.  Although the battle was spread out over an approximate 10 mile radius, at time there were soldiers laying next to each other trying to frantically reload their black powder rifles.

I found this to be such a stark contrast to what the people of that town were typically use to.  Gettysburg wasn't a tiny piece of real estate, but it wasn't like Baltimore or any other large city either. Such great loss brought to such a quiet town through choices made by men.  General Robert E. Lee made it seem as if the area near Gettysburg was predestined to be the next showdown between the Union and the Confederacy, however, it was his personal strategic choice which brought these events to fortuitously play out.  We each make choices during good and bad times in our lives.  The concept of personal choice brought forth the memory of a line I heard on the radio two days ago.  Hopefully I never forget it this week, and in weeks to come.

 "We practice in the dark, what we learn in the light."