The Lantern
It is with great admiration and love that I read
about the history of our forefathers.
Books like “1776” by David McCollough, “The
War that Made America: A Short History of the French and Indian War”
By Fred Anderson, even the little known writings of Joseph Plumb
Martin, a young 15 year old minister’s son whose journal documented the
hardships of the common revolutionary soldier, have taken me back to
times and places where honor, patriotism and faith seem to have
flourished.
Of course, so has the worst of humanity.
It is this interest in history that led me to join a group of
likeminded people, the
Florida
Frontiersmen,
who not only enjoy history but enjoy making it come alive again.
Years ago, I was looking for
activities to share with my two grandsons, then 6 and 9 years
old, I discovered this wonderful
group of people, who have spent over 35 years meeting, fundraising,
sharing skills and living history.
Today,
this non-profit organization owns 323 acres of land in Florida, operates
debt-free, improves the land each year and hosts an event called the “Alafia
River Rendezvous.” This event, held the third week of January,
provides an opportunity for over 1,000 adults and several hundred
children to set up a temporary community based on their interest in what life would have
been like prior to 1840 (the 18th century).
Why 1840?
Well this date allows for the inclusion of
our Indian and Early American cultures but sets aside those times of
civil and modern warfare.
It is also believed that the last
rendezvous for mountain men was held around that time in Wind River
Valley near Yellowstone. The Alafia River Rendezvous a modern day
version of that historical event. Alafia is open to
the public and it is not unusual to host close to 10,000 visitors.
When we camp today, canvas is the
building material of choice.
Primitive tents and tee pees are set up to
form a community of people who demonstrate a host of skills such as
blacksmithing, spinning, weaving, wood carving, rifle making, tanning,
cobbling, tin smithing, copper smithing, fabric dying, beading, sewing,
and the list goes on and on.
Camp life centers around cooking over an
open fire, period music, story telling, archery, black powder shooting,
highland games, and a great Indian Pow Wow. The
Metis’ Indians camp with us and are active
members of the Florida Frontiersmen. One of the favorite days for me is
the day we open our site up for school tours.
Every year, over a 1,000 children wonder
through the grounds on a day dedicated to them. They experience first hand what they only
have seen on the
pages of books in their schools.
So where is this lantern story? Well, it starts here.
When you walk about on over 300
acres and there is no electricity, lighting is by candles.
I had spotted a lantern in a catalog and my
wife had remembered it.
Low and behold one Christmas, a copper
lantern appeared under the tree.
It came from the
Monticello
Foundation, a group that has restored and
maintains the home of Thomas Jefferson.
The lantern was described as a copy of one
found on Thomas Jefferson’s estate.
It was large, 16 inches high, 8 inches wide
and 5 inches deep, with a handle for hanging.
It was beautiful.
Out I went on our next Alafia experience and
I was sure that I had the best lantern there.
But I was quick to learn much more about
lanterns and of course, much more about Thomas Jefferson and our God.
The Monticello Lantern has a
mirror in the back and is shaped in a triangle.
Candle light reflects off the mirror and is
projected outward.
I also noticed that the handle of the
lantern was placed so that you could not hang it on a wall.
It was 90 degrees in the wrong direction for
that purpose.
So the lantern was meant to be held in your
hand.
As you walked, the mirror was perpendicular to the
handle and light projected forward toward your destination.
Yes, it was an Early American flashlight.
It is fun to think that our
great leader Jefferson might have taken a late night walk, to clear his
thoughts when he was authoring that most famous document, “The Unanimous
Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America.”
We know that Jefferson often played the
violin to help words flow from thought to paper.
A nice evening walk could have been just as
effective.
As I learned more about Thomas
Jefferson, I found out that he had made an attempt to even write his own
Bible.
He just rewrote the original Bible, the one
probably entitled “1611 King James Bible” and left out those things he disagreed with.
The 1611 Bibles were printed in England and
shipped here.
America did not have the infrastructure to
publish something as complex as a Bible.
So we used the King James Version of the
times, one originally published in England.
I find it most interesting that
someone as great as Thomas Jefferson would think he could rewrite the
Bible.
Many of us still attempt to do that today.
Rather than accepting God’s words as God gave
them to us, we like to pick and choose those parts that suit us best.
In a way, it is nice to know that our
forefathers, our great leaders were just like us, struggling to
understand and accept the teachings of our God.
I think that is why Thomas Jefferson was
able to write a Declaration with such foresight.
He knew deep down inside that the threat to
any Declaration, the one about to be set forth for the New America or
even the one for a human
soul, can always be rewritten to suit someone else’s desires.
What is most comforting is that our early
leaders recognized that there was a God and that without God, freedom
cannot not exist. They recognized certain inalienable rights that no man
could take away (rewrite).
This understanding manifests itself into a freedom that is unique in the
world. It is what makes our country great
and gives us the strength to overcome the errors of judgment that come
again and again from our leaders.
So let’s go back to the
Alafia River Rendezvous and take a walk with that 18th
century flashlight.
What is it that God can teach us with a
candle? Well, the
first thing you understand is what God meant in Scriptures.
Our modern world is changing things and we
are loosing so many of the meanings that were evident to the people
during the time of our Biblical History. Take King David's Psalm 119:105-106
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. I
have taken an oath and confirmed it, that I will follow your righteous
laws.
What you learn at Alafia is that when you walk with a lantern, one candle in power, you only see a few feet ahead. You never really see your destination. You look immediately in front of you and you walk in faith that you can recognize the path. This is most important when you consider that the over 1,000 tents have stakes and ropes that stick out to hold them in the wind. This adds up to ten’s of thousands of stakes and ropes everywhere you walk. One of those stakes always seems to want to jump out and snare your leg, especially in the dark. So you walk carefully. Now look back to that Psalm. Isn’t that what is being said? You will not always see your destination but, instead, you will find in God’s Light, what you need to know to avoid the inevitable traps of life (those tent stakes). Of course the light of men today is found in our Savior (John 1:1-5)
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.
Too bad it takes going back to a simpler life to see this lesson. Street lights, high power flash lights, night vision goggles all make us think we can move swiftly through the night to any destination of our choosing. God says, however, "just follow my Words, follow My Son, My Lamp for your feet, and you will arrive at My destination for you, safely."