Final Day of the Heroes, History, & Hope Tour!

The last day of our tour, we spent once again in Plymouth.  We began at the Forefather's Monument.  This impressive statue is sadly unknown to many Christians in this country.  However, thanks to the film "Monumental" with Kirk Cameron, it is becoming more well known.  There is so much rich detail in this stone monument but we were forced to be very brief in our visit because of the inclement weather (it actually started to rain while we were standing at the monument!)

The Monument!

The signing of the Mayflower Compact

Lady Faith, atop the monument, looks to East, where the Pilgrims came from

The Pilgrims setting out for the New World

The List of Heroes

Signing the peace treaty with the Indians

"Let the glorious name of Jehovah have all the praise."  Amen!!!

Landing at Plymouth

After our brief stay at the Forefather's Monument, we headed over to the Pilgrim Hall Museum.  This museum is, in my humble opinion, the BEST museum on the Pilgrims in America.  If you haven't visited it yet, you need to take a trip to Plymouth and make a stop here!  There are two floors crammed full of information, pictures, paintings, sculptures, artifacts, and documents all about the Pilgrims.  This was definitely one of the highlights of my trip out to the East Coast.  Sadly, no photography was allowed in the museum so you'll have to be content with the photos of the outside architecture :)

The best Pilgrim Museum in America

Commemorating our history

The Pilgrim

The Heroes, History, & Hope Tour Group!

With the Heroes, History, & Hope Tour concluded, Cody Winton and I took several friends to see some final sites of historical importance.

Walking in the rain!

We took the Bartons, Fourniers, Hamanns, and Kaisers to the Myles Standish Monument.  This 116 foot tall monument is located in Duxbury, Massachusetts.  Construction of this monument  began in 1872 and was completed in 1898.  On some days you can actually climb to the top of the monument and look at the surrounding area; the same land that Myles Standish settled so many years ago.  Unfortunately, due to the weather, we were unable to climb the 125 steps to the top.  Maybe someday I'll come back and make the trip to the top.

The tower

Cold but happy...sort of :)

The New England states

Tyler Kaiser

The indomitable Captain

This figure, just like the Forefather's Monument, looks to the East

Emily Fournier, Ruth Barton, Cody Winton, Tyler Kaiser, Samuel Barton

To end the day, Cody and I visited the burial ground of the Standish family.  In this same graveyard, John and Priscilla Alden are also buried.  There is a great poem/ballad which was written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow called, "The Courtship of Myles Standish".   It is a lot of fun to read and you can find it on Google books for free.

Mary Standish

The grave of Myles Standish

Lora Standish - A daughter, I think

Cannons stand at the four corners; a fitting reminder of the way this man served as the resident military expert at Plymouth

John Alden's tombstone

Beloved wife Priscilla

Tim was smart and actually brought a coat with a hood :)

Interns and Kaisers

That concludes my photos from the Heroes, History, & Hope Tour!  I hope you all enjoyed following my adventures on the East Coast.  This whole trip, starting with the Calvin Conference at Princeton Theological Seminary, and ending at Plymouth, MA, was definitely a big highlight of my time as an intern with Pastor Marcus Serven!

A friend asked me afterwards what was one overall takeaway I had from the tour.  I answered that my biggest takeaway was this:

God works amazing things through dedicated individuals and minorities.  

At the Princeton graveyard, I spoke about the Rev. Charles Hodge.  This one man was used by God to teach at Princeton for 58 years, teaching over 3,000 men who would go on to become pastors, teachers, seminary professors, missionaries, and elders.  Hodge wrote a Systematic Theology which was (and still is!) used by thousands of laymen and pastors.  He cast a multi-generational vision for his sons and grandsons of theological orthodoxy which would profoundly impact the American Protestant Church.  His son, nephew, and grand-nephew would continue to carry on the name and legacy of Hodge at Princeton Theological Seminary, staunchly holding to the essential truths of Scripture despite the growing liberalism in the seminary.  All of this was done by just ONE MAN!  God performed incredible deeds through the faithful service of this one man; Charles Hodge who said this about his vision for the Seminary:

"We would in a single word state what it is we desire. It is that true religion here may be dominant; that a pure gospel may be preached, and taught, and lived; that the students should be made to feel that the eternal is infinitely more important than the temporal, the heavenly than the earthly."

It was truly moving for me to stand at the grave of this man of God and consider the legacy and impact he made on this world.

Moving on to New Haven, CT, I continued to learn about how God accomplishes incredible feats with faithful Christians.  Jonathan Edwards is considered one of the most important theologians which America ever produced.  His life and the legacy he created is another testament to the power of God lived out in the life of a believer.

Finally, in Plymouth, MA, I was forced to stop and marvel at the fact that just one church congregation in England was used by God to cross the Atlantic, brave innumerable dangers, and begin a new life for their future descendants.  It was absolutely incredible to think about the foundation this country received through this little band of Pilgrims.  The future descendants of the Pilgrims would be the men who forged our nation and gave it a distinctly Christian foundation.

So, to all my readers, I want to encourage you.  We serve a glorious God who delights in confounding human statistics and probabilities.  Never underestimate what God can do with a mere handful of men, women, and young people who are committed to bringing God the glory in all that they do and who hold fast to the sufficiency and infallibility of the Word of God.  This truth should bring us all hope today.  Even though times seem dark right now in both the American church and on the political scene, there is still hope!  Even though the Reformed Christians seem hopelessly outnumbered by those who oppose our beliefs and worldview, the battle is not lost.  "The people who know their God will display strength and take action." (Daniel 11:32).  If we, as individuals, as families, as churches, and as communities across this nation, commit ourselves to holding fast to the faith, never compromising our beliefs, fighting the good fight, and fulfilling the Great Commission, there is no limit to what God can do.

Remember our Christian heroes, study and learn from history, and gain hope for the future!

Soli Deo Gloria!