Desoto State Park, Fort Payne, Alabama
He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. ~ John 1:10
I was curious which hymns were written during the Civil War. It wasn’t as easy to find as you might think. Below is all I uncovered. ☹
1861 – The Battle Hymn of the Republic
1862 – He Leadeth Me; There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy
1863 – Revive Us Again
1864 – My Jesus, I Love Thee; Shall We Gather at the River; For the Beauty of the Earth
1865 – Jesus Paid It All; Day by Day
And now maybe you’re curious as to why I was being inquisitive.
I was singing “A Mighty Fortress” as we were hiking near the campground today and wondered if maybe it was written during the 1800s; particularly the Civil War days. You know . . . because of bulwarks, and battles, and leaving goods and kindred and mortal life and all.
It was not.
I asked Blaine when he thought it was written and he got closer than I did, stating Old English and maybe the mid-1700s.
It was not.
It was written by the reformationist, Martin Luther sometime between 1527 and 1529! Both the words and melody! Granted it was in German, but still! There are over 100 English translations of the hymn so far, but the one we know best was done by a minister in the US, Frederick Henry Hedge, in 1853.
We never saw or heard another human being the entire 2 ½ hours we were out, except when we sat down by a waterfall to eat lunch.
I’m not sure how to find lost water though . . . .
Should we go back and change the sign?
It’s a pattern of “bubbles” or something on the water.
I just liked the look of it. : )
Nope.
It’s just a really bad map, and the signs usually aren’t very clear.
Well, a portion of it anyway.
The rock was a little chilly to sit on, but it was fine.
Guess which way we went. : )
It wasn’t a very large place.
It seems they only mined what they needed.
When we returned home, Blaine got our folding chairs out from under the coach and found a big surprise! Dozens of stink bugs had taken up residence inside the folds! Because of the cocoons he found, I did some research. According to the Orkin website, they are attracted to light and eat various types of plants. The female lays 20-30 eggs and attaches them to the underside of a plant (that’s what stinkbugs eat). They hatch 4-5 days later. So if they are attracted to light, and they like plants, what are they doing in our basement (where it’s dark all the time) and attached to our chairs, which don’t host any vegetation???? Is it because the chairs are green??? Crazy!
Once it was almost dark outside (which happens around 4pm these days!), Blaine got a fire going and we cooked hot dogs for dinner. No s’mores tonight because we have pie to finish, but we roasted one or two marshmallows. 😊
