Friday, October 18, 2019

Day 17 - Still in Charleston

October 18, 2019

It was another beautiful day here. But first let me finish yesterday. We took the ferry out to Fort Sumter. It was interesting to see the remnants of the old fort and to read about the battles for Charleston. The problem is that history is written by the victors and the oft repeated lie that 600,000 Americans were killed during the War of Northern Aggression was all about slavery sickens me.

Can anyone believe that when the original nation/states were voting whether or not to join the "union" that they would have voted to do so it the Constitution contained a section saying, "If you vote to empower a central government, by joining the union, and at some future time decide it was a bad decision and want out, you won't be allowed out. If you choose to try and leave anyway the central government you are voting to support will invade your land, and beat you into subservience to it." The people had just fought a war to overthrow a despotic central government. They would never have voted to join another one. Yes, slavery was terrible, but it was Constitutional. If Northern states really wanted to end slavery they should have done so by amending the Constitution, not murdering and robbing those who lived in the Southern states. OK, I'm now officially off my soapbox.

The 900 foot long USS Yorktown, a WWII era aircraft carrier, is anchored, and open for tours. I'm sure it would have been interesting but neither of us felt up to all the walking. 
Have I mention the TRAFFIC here 😀? It took us 50 minutes to drive the 17 miles from downtown to the campground. Yesterday we thought we might do 2 days of downtown sightseeing but there is no way the 2nd day was worth fighting the traffic again.

Traffic is so bad that we have decided not to go to Savannah. Sunday we are starting our journey home. We hope than when we get 200-300 miles from the coast the congestion will become tolerable. We hope we can find some place where we can spend several  nights in the mountains on our way back.

Today we didn't do much, other make some decisions that we will spend a couple of nights in the Asheville, NC area when we leave here, and look for campgrounds in that area. 

I'm having issues with my phone. I can neither make nor receive calls while in the campground. I can access the Internet, I can text and receive texts, I can use my phone as a WiFi hotspot, as I am doing right now; but I can't make or receive phone calls. As bad as I hated to think about driving toward Charleston the only AT&T store I could find was that way, so we headed there to see if they could determine the problem.

On the way was the Angel Oak restaurant. Kathy had read a lot of reviews by people who raved about the food being great. Whatever she ordered was edible enough that she ate most of it. My macaroni and cheese over pulled pork (the most palatable looking entree on the menu, I tried ordering a plain salad but they were only available in the evening) was TERRIBLE! I managed to scrape off some of the macaroni and eat it but the pulled pork tasted rotten to me. Kathy tasted it and said it wasn't rotten, she said they actually spiced to to taste that bad. The good thing was that my phone started working properly while there. The bad thing was that since my phone seemed to be working OK we didn't continue on to the AT&T store. When we got back to the campground I couldn't make or receive calls again.

It is supposed to rain all day tomorrow but I'm sure we will go somewhere. It will be interesting to see if my phone works normally when we get away from the campground.

The following was today's daily devotional. I found it quite thought provoking:

DO YOU KNOW THAT YOU are the recipient of limitless ability . . . incredible strength? Just read a few familiar lines out of the Book, slowly for a change:
I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13).
“Each time he said, ‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness’” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
“And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires” (2 Peter 1:4).
And one more:
The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure. 1 CORINTHIANS 10:13
Wait a minute now. Did you read every word—or did you skip a line or two? If so, please go back and slowly graze over those four statements written to you, a Christian. It’s important.
When we face the tough trials in our lives, our response comes down to two common words in our vocabulary. Little words—but oh, so different!—“can’t” and “won’t.”
We prefer to use “can’t.”
Yet any Christian who really takes those four passages seriously will have to confess the word really should be “won’t.” Why? Because we have been given the power, the ability to overcome. The moment you begin believing the truth about God’s supernatural enablement that allows you to overcome your struggle rather than succumb to it, will be the moment you step into a whole new experience of joyful living and freedom. The question is not “why can’t you?” The question is “why won’t you?”
"Good Morning, Lord . . . Can We Talk?: A Year of Scriptural Meditations" by Charles R. Swindoll

God is good. May He bless you and yours.

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