My Button-Down Mind

(Some of) What I Did on Vacation

Lookout Mountain United Methodist Church at dusk.

Vacation: July 26 - July 29, 2005. First off, I have a question: When did vacations become such hard work? Was it when I became an adult? I don't remember having to work so hard to have a good time when I was on vacation as a child. I don't remember even noticing or caring how hot the temperature is, or what the humidity and perspiration was doing to my hair, etc. Oh well, I suppose that's part of the magic of childhood. Since this was an abbreviated vacation, I ended up spending a large portion of the time exploring the Lookout Mountain/Chattanooga area of East Tennessee. (See photos I took below). The area is rich in Civil War history. The defeat of the Confederate army in this area allowed Sherman to continue his march into North Georgia, through Atlanta, and eventually to the sea in Savannah, GA. In 1890, Arthur MacArthur, (yes, that was really his name), father of General Douglas MacArthur, received the Medal of Honor for his Civil War service at Missionary Ridge in Chattanooga.

I picked up two really interesting souvenirs while visiting the battlefield park on Lookout Mountain--authentic reproductions of the Confederate Soldier's Prayer Book, (scanned image above) and the Union Soldier's Prayer Book, both from 1861, in the same form as the booklets the Civil War soldiers carried with them during the war. Inside both pocket-sized booklets are prayers, scriptures to meditate upon, and beautiful hymns like "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross," and "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name." It is encouraging for me to know that these songs were being sung by American troops while in battle on the very soil that we as Christians do spiritual battle every day.