Etowah Indian Mounds

 Stretching near the hills and mountains of southeastern Tennessee in the plains of northern Georgia, strange plateaus rise toward the sky surrounded by vast expanses of flat farmland. Prior to large Native American nations such as the Cherokees, the Etowah tribe inhabited this area near modern day Cartersville. The first picture is my oldest son, Elijah, entering a mud hut replica that the natives would have lived in here called a daub.

There is a large trench that surrounds the village, which was dug out by hand using primitive tools for military defense.The trench is conspicuous against the flat plains that surround it.

Yet, the most conspicuous element in the area are the plateaus that protrude from the plains. This is the namesake of the historic landmark, the Etowah Indian Mounds. The highest mound rises 63 feet from the ground to a flat platform where the chief lived.
The original mounds appeared like primitive pyramids, resembling the much larger pyramids of the Aztecs and Mayans. The chief would speak to the people of the village from a particular corner, which I found would easily carry a man's voice some great distances. I suppose George Whitefield probably could have preached to 30,000 from this platform!

The view from the highest mound, entitled Mound A, is spectacular. One is able to see great distances in the flat lands that surround the mound, which is ideal for defense. In the distance, a series of smokestacks from Georgia Power's Bowen Power Plant.


 There is an enduring breadth of wooden stairs that reaches to the top of the Indian mound. The walk is good exercise, and beholding the view from the top is worth the walk. Imagine the chief forgetting something from his home and debating whether to walk up the mound to retrieve it or not!

There is a spot on the corner of Mound A where the chief would speak to his people. You are able to see one of the lesser mounds from here as well as the large flat land where the village would have been. Some of the lesser mounds have the remains of some nobles, who were buried with elaborate costumes and with earthly treasures for their idea of the after-life. From earliest times, humanity believed we could buy, bribe, or earn our way into heaven. Entrance into heaven is purchased in blood by a perfect Man, who is Christ Jesus, and the payment is not earned or bribed for, but given by grace through faith.


 One is able to see the hills that lead to Appalachia from this part of the mound. The stillness and breath-taking view of God's creation calms the soul. The Mississippians believed that these mountains and valleys were formed by an incredibly large vulture that settled here after a long flight, and after flapping its wings the ripples throughout the mountains and valleys developed. Seeing this wonderful view with the knowledge of the truth that God created this marvelous landscape with His word provides a peace these natives did not know.


The Etowah River flows on one side of the village area, which the natives would have been greatly dependent on for fish as well as water for drinking and cleaning. 

The view of other mounds from Mound B reveals a lesser mound and an excavated side to Mound A, along with the smokestacks in the distance. The smokestacks adds a bit of human technological advances to a primitive human landscape.

A Day in Atlanta

 Recently, my family packed the mini-van and headed south to the big city of Atlanta, Georgia. The capital city of Georgia is home to nearly 5 million in the metro area, of which the hectic traffic and massive interstates show evidence to. The city skyline is best viewed at night as much of Atlanta is new. The downtown high-rises are of differing contemporary architectural styles; hence, much of downtown is aesthetically pleasing to the eye. The first two photos are taken from the hotel balcony, which was on the ninth floor of the Hyatt Regency.
If you are not up for walking, the MARTA mass transit system has buses and subways to take you to any attraction the city has to offer. I took my boys to the Georgia Aquarium and Centennial Park (no pictures, sorry). However, Atlanta is certainly not to be considered a family friendly city. Downtown seems to be geared specifically toward businessmen, and family tourism seems an afterthought.
There is a nice shopping district in Atlantic Station. Again, this area is visually appealing and a good place to walk around. Yet, I found the locals to be incredibly loose with their language and very rude, including those in the service industry. Smiles were rare, and a great cultural depression seems to grip the city. Perhaps it is a culture in identity crisis; there is nothing uniquely Atlantan. It is a new city sort of bunched together like a term paper written the night before it is due.
There is a large number of homeless people as well as cheap liquor stores. The Lord presented a few opportunities to bare witness to the saving power of Christ with a couple while we were there. If you are called to missions, Atlanta is a place of great need for the powerful message of Christ and Him crucified.
 Atlanta is a city primed for good photography. Beside the stunning architecture, the city seems to be devoid of life in the golden hours of the evening.
I felt compelled to show you guys the inside of the Hyatt Regency (the black and white photo). The hotel is 22 stories high, yet you are able to see each room door from the ground floor. In the center of the hotel is a series of elevators which are basically glass tubes that resemble the elevator in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory, and shoot up and down at a high rate of speed. A ride on the elevator is an experience to be had!

Whether You Eat or Drink...

Italian Sausage Meatballs

The prophet Isaiah said that we were created by God for His glory's sake. John Piper adds, " that means that we were all created to express the infinite worth of God's glory" (Taste and See, 175). This means that God created man to worship the highest of all worth; indeed, to worship the infinite worth of God.

Penne Rigate

Paul states in I Corinthians 10:31, "whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." Add these two thoughts together, and Paul is saying that we must eat and drink and do all things in such a way that expresses the infinite worth of God. When I consider God's infinite worth, my thoughts move to the cross. Jesus died for His church, yet not because of my worth. Jesus died because of the infinite worth of God. God is mindful of us, lowly sinners (Psalm 8:4), not because we have such high worth, but because of God's infinite worth. God's infinite worth is not only expressed in the cross, but also in His sovereign providence in the daily tasks of believers. This leads my thoughts to baked penne rigate with Italian sausage meatballs.

God did not create all things in simply a manner of utility. What I mean is, God did not create everything to function like a giant, cold machine that simply works. He did not create food simply to sustain us. He created food that tastes good, drink that tastes good, and rather than by utilitarianism God created things to be enjoyed. You might call this hedonistic, and this would be fairly accurate. In sin, man takes this hedonism to different heights. Mankind takes food as sacrifice to idols (as in the context of I Corinthians 10:31) or make their appetites toward gluttonous indulgences as idols (Philippians 3:18-19). However, the ones called by the Name of Christ created for the glory of God is to eat and drink in such a manner to express the infinite worth of God. Baked penne tastes good and is pleasureful because God has infinite worth. We delight in food that tastes good and brings pleasure, but to Christians, God delights in blessing us with food that tastes good because He has infinite worth. The grand beauty of God in His creation of  food that tastes good brings pleasure to humanity who is blessed to enjoy food. Every time you eat food, consider the grand beauty of God in His creation of food that tastes good, His providence that blesses you with food, and let your heart and mind be held captive to the infinite worth of God that blesses us richly with even the most routine tasks of our daily lives such as eating and drinking. Fast to worship God as more valuable than food (which is His creation, so God is the greater), share food with others and do not omit telling of the glory of God when you do so, and receive and eat food with thanksgiving to God (I Timothy 4:3, I Corinthians 10:30). And whatever you do during the day, whatever task you are on whether at the dinner table or at work, do all things to the glory of God.

Final Product: Baked Penne Rigate with Italian Sausage Meatballs

The Glory of God in Autumn Colors

 Autumn landscapes are some of the most beautiful to view all year. In Kentucky, reds, yellows, oranges, as well as some green hold-outs color the trees and fields. With the high clouds, blue sky, and the perfect angle of the evening sun, one might sit and enjoy a sense of peace in the embrace of such surroundings. My mind wanders to the Creator of all things, and I marvel at the color of His creativity. He created our eyes to comprehend light waves, and the sense of smell to take in the full sensory joy of the moment.

I am curious as to what Darwin's explanation for all of this is. Perhaps there exists some element of survival in man's ability to perceive color, yet there is something inside of us that awakens with joy at the mere sight of something we call beauty. We try and capture this beauty in our cameras or with a paintbrush or pen, but leave much to be desired in our limitations and inability to create ex nihilo. Our own creativity as humans reflects on our sense of otherness, but we seem to be grand failures on an infinite scale compared to the authentic reality that stretches far beyond our eyes to capture and imaginations to ponder.

This is the problem within common grace; that is, within our common human capacity to define this or that as beautiful. Truth is, we cannot comprehend the vastness of the universe and likewise the grand and majestic level of beauty in creation, but we know that creation is limited. God is not limited, and His beauty is perfect and eternal. To those of us given faith in Christ Jesus by the grace of God, we who were once blind to the true beauty of all things now see the majestic glory of God in everything around us. Humanity finds enjoyment in the beauty of creation and may find brief rest in the silent moment of a gaze upon Autumn colors. I find enjoyment in the beauty of the Creator, and have the fullness of joy and peace in He who grants my soul rest in Christ.

Northern Mockingbird

The Northern Mockingbird is very common in Kentucky, and the mockingbird has come to symbolize everything from human innocence in Harper Lee's novel To Kill A Mockingbird to a bribe to get a crying baby to quiet down in the lullaby Hush Little Baby. Northern Mockingbirds have been recorded to have had hundreds of various songs covering anything from other birds, insects, even car alarms. Despite Harper Lee's portrayal of mockingbirds as symbolizing innocence, mockingbirds are fiercely territorial, attacking most anything including humans to maintain dominion in the region around their nests. As much as I enjoy listening to mockingbirds, I tend to see them to symbolize a loss of identity. Mockingbirds have many calls, and parrot the songs and noises in their environment accurately enough that other bird species believe the song is of another of its kind. Yet, the identity of a mockingbird apart from its mocking is lost. The mockingbird sings the songs of others, yet has no song of its own.

Parasitoid Wasp

While watering my tomato plants which grow in an old whiskey barrel on my back deck, I saw a caterpillar with white spikes dangling from one of the tomato plants. The white spikes indicate a parasitic invasion from parasitoid wasps. Wasps come to a caterpillar and inject its eggs into the body. The eggs hatch into larvae, which feed on the caterpillar while avoiding the vital organs to keep the caterpillar alive until the larvae have matured.
The parasitoid wasps are attracted to the caterpillar by an odor given from the tomato plant, which the plant emits out of a defense mechanism. The wasp larvae control the caterpillar, giving it the term "zombie caterpillar." The wasp larvae will cocoon and develop into adult wasps, and the final feed on the caterpillar ends its life. God's living nature is not always comfortable and aesthetically pleasing; yet, such an event which largely goes unnoticed by human eyes does have its purpose.

Orville Schoolhouse

 

Plant life has taken over the schoolhouse

 Near my home in Orville, KY, stands (somewhat) this abandoned, one-room schoolhouse. The schoolhouse has long since been vacated, and the exposure to the elements has proven to be too much for this old structure to handle. Many of the older population in the area remember attending school here, and especially Ms. Lila (Delilah Douthitt). Ms. Lila is reported to be the youngest teacher ever in the public school system in the commonwealth of Kentucky at the age of 17 years. She is now 85, and a wonderful woman to have a conversation with.

The schoolhouse now rests as the plant life slowly reclaims the structure. In this small field, a nearby cattle farmer stores hay rolls around the schoolhouse. In order to get to the interior of the schoolhouse, I had to climb and walk over the hay rolls, then climb down into the front entrance.

Before the county school system centralized the education countywide, the one-room schoolhouse was the most effective and efficient way of educating the children in the area. Nowadays each household owns at least one automobile, and bus fleets have become an expectation for school districts across the nation. However, not long ago, children walked to the nearest one-room schoolhouse to learn the three R's. 

This structure now suffers from decades of neglect. The wood is rotten, including the hardwood floors. The support beams have given way, and it is simply a matter of time before the entire structure collapses.

The roof is only partially collapses in the main room of the schoolhouse. This once "one-room" schoolhouse looks to have had walls placed in after original construction to have a small entrance room followed by a large front room and a small room in the rear of the building. Broken glass, splintered wood, and parts to the roof line the rotting hardwood floors. It is unclear what this small room was used for.

The rear door has an appearance to experience, which I think is best conveyed in black and white. It tells a story of what went on in this building, the people that learned to read here, the passed era which seems to have been forgotten in my generation. A time when communities were closer, work was harder, and families honored God's divine providence. This door opens to the rear of the structure.

In the rear of the building, I see clearly how far the structure is leaning and near total collapse. Trees that have grown larger since the schoolhouse's abandonment act as support beams for the walls, temporarily delaying the inevitable. Although the distortion from the ultra-wide angle lens adds a bit of extreme appearance of leaning, I assure you that this building is about to be captured by God's living nature.

The photo on the right is of the interior door just passed the small foyer on the front of the structure. You cannot walk through this door any longer. The roof has crashed through the glass of the door, and the collapse of the eastern wall has dragged the door back toward the rear.

The photo to the left is of the large, front room where school was likely held. This is the largest room in the structure by far, and even had a brick chimney, which if you look on the far wall in the center of the photo you may see the remnant of that chimney. The brick has since collapsed and has fallen through the rotten hardwood floors. On the right of the photograph, you can see an electric plug. There is evidence of electric light on the collapsed ceiling as well.

Vines and trees claim the exterior, southern wall. Some glass remains on this window. This wall has a deceiving appearance, but the rear and front of this wall is supported by trees. Without the trees, this wall would collapse.

The debris and soil build-up on some areas of the floor tells a story of a losing battle from a fierce war between human structure and nature. Buildings constructed by human hands has a beginning, and without constant maintenance, has an end. What is maintenance but the battle raging on? What is neglect but God's living nature winning the battle? People and the work of their hands come and go, but God is eternal.

Killdeer

Perhaps you have seen them, but more likely you have heard their call. The Killdeer is a type of plover with a loud and continuous caw that sounds like a high pitched "Kill-DEE" (hence, where this bird gets its name). You may find this bird walking around cattle farms or large parking lots with grassy islands in which to lay their eggs. They are quite abundant in Kentucky.
This Killdeer to the left is a mother protecting her eggs (bottom right of the photograph) which she laid in a grassy island in the rear parking lot of Oxmoor Mall in Louisville, KY. She spreads out and chirps loudly to warn me that I am getting too close. Afterwards, she limped and fluttered her wings as if one was broken, quickly moving away from her nest. This was an act called the "broken wing act," a distraction display for birds protecting their young.
I heard quite a few Killdeer in cattle fields that surround my house this past spring. They fly erratically constantly chirping as if in distress. An interesting behavior to note is their fast paced walk through fields. They walk quickly, occasionally  stopping and looking back. God created this bird with long legs, much like any shore bird. Their quickness through fields makes bugs jump, then with good vision are able to spot bugs when they stop and look back. The Killdeer is a good bug hunter, and a rare type of shore bird that reaches the interior of the U.S.

Following the Current

 

The day after a steady rain, I decided to get away and take a walk. I follow the stream that meanders through the hills and dense woods behind where I live. The water seems so fresh, so alive. Like a water color painter's touch, God lightly smudges the stream to carve out valleys through the Bluegrass.

Opening up the lens, I gave a five second exposure to God's creation. This is but a snapshot, not even a speck of the vast creation from God's hands. Yet here in the quiet woods, I marvel at His work. His providence is found in steady streams where life draws from His spring. His power is displayed in such a small stream, carrying large rock and flood waters taking down large trees. His restraint is revealed by the waters to only go so far and return to the stream.

I happened upon this stone wall near the creek. The wall looks old, and God's living nature is slowly reclaiming it. The wall stands quite the distance from any roadway and seems to have been raised in a hurry. This was likely an early settler's way of placing  up boundaries of his property. The moss and plant life is recapturing what was placed up by a man who has since passed. Who is man that God is mindful of him? We come and go, and You remain forever. You have given us dominion over your creation, setting us above your living nature (Psalm 8). Yet, what we build and stack is easily erased by Your mighty hand, Your gentle touch. How majestic is Your Name in all the earth!
We stack God's rocks into walls to mark out what is ours. I cannot help but find these efforts as futility, a chasing after the wind. Our work does not survive time; our lives find an end. The great work of God is eternal. How merciful is our God to permit to us participation in His great kingdom work.

By the stream, I came across a broad-winged damselfly. A most magnificent blue shimmers in the sunshine peering through the canopy of the deep Kentucky woods. God's mighty handiwork declared in such a diminutive piece. Even the smallest detail is not neglected by God's fingers. What could such a tiny creature do but glorify his majestic Creator?

 On Steven's Branch Road, the road home, I observed the setting sun peeking rays through the dense woods that line this secluded gravel road. One small dandelion rises from the grassy median of the gravel road. The luster from the sun shows the details of the seedlings from this once yellow flower. This flowering weed is not trampled on, and does not seem so cold and lonely with the brilliance of the sunshine. Not lonely, just secluded.

A farm gate sits quietly beside the roadway.  On the other side of this gate is the spring the locals used for water as recently as 1994, when water pipelines were finally completed. People would bring buckets or pumps in the back of trucks to this spring and draw water for cooking, drinking, water gardens, and for livestock. Now this rusty gate has a chain and padlock, slowly forgetting our past as we have grown accustomed to modern luxury.

At the corner of Steven's Branch and Gest Roads is this stop sign. It seems to be the custom to shoot at road signs. This stop sign is riddled with holes from what appears to be a shotgun. The setting sun shines through the holes for a nice photograph.

God provides a lovely sunset to end my walk in the woods following the current of a nearby stream. God is good to me, to us. God's majesty in nature is not simply in its function, but in its beauty. I am thankful to God for both. His Name is majestic, and His living nature is beautiful. How much more beautiful is the Word through whom all things were created? All of nature sings a beautiful song to the glory of the majestic Name of our Creator.

Gestville - Hotel

General store section of the building

 After several photo trips to Gestville, I have compiled a few after gaining access to a large, old building alongside the Kentucky River's Lock Number 3. This old building is recalled by many locals as the Gestville General Store.
Much time has passed since it had been occupied by store owners, and rented out as low income housing for a while. Nearly every room has an iron fireplace mantel, and the structure appears to be late 19th Century, which would be all indicative of this building having once been a hotel.

Note the ashtray

Drennon Springs is the next stop past the locks, where many wealthy people in the late 19th Century stayed for the reputation that the sulphur springs healed various diseases. This leaves Gestville to be a place where river boatmen were to stay the night. The locals tell of two different taverns in town, one directly across the street from the hotel. The dam and lock are no longer in use, but was active in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. All evidence indicates that this was a river boatman's hotel.
The interior looks worn out, yet much of the railing and floors look to be hand made and from local trees. Locals tell of their parents and grandparents ordering supplies from downstream towns such as Frankfort. I can imagine luxury furniture and beds in each room.
It seems that decades of abuse and many years of neglect has left this onetime gem a rotting shell. Its former glory now rests with chairs sitting in lonely, dark rooms next to empty beer cans and even an ashtray mounted in a wall. Water damage has buckled the walls and warped the hardwood floors.
An upcoming article on the history of Gestville, KY, is on its way. Much of what was planned for this town likely called for such a large hotel in the center. Until then, here are some teasers: Gestville was zoned and planned to be another thriving river city like Cincinnati and Louisville along the Ohio; a combination of a crippling cholera outbreak and the rise of the locomotion were likely culprits to the exodus of Gestville; of the at least three churches in Gestville, only one of those congregations exist today.

As many of you guys know, I am not a big fan of PhotoShop. However, I had some fun with one of my photographs making it appear old and worn.

PhotoShop made this photo fun.