RV Havin Fun!

Hunting Island State Park, St. Helena Island, South Carolina

We now begin what’s been dubbed the Sermon on the Mount.  It takes about 15-20 minutes to read straight through the three chapters it covers.  My Bible divides it into the following teaching segments:  The Beatitudes, Salt and Light, Murder, Adultery, Divorce, Oaths, An Eye for an Eye, Love for Enemies, Giving to the Needy, Prayer, Fasting, Treasures in Heaven, Do Not Worry, Judging Others, Ask/Seek/Knock, The Narrow and Wide Gates, A Tree and its Fruit, and the Wise and Foolish Builders.  The Holy Spirit helps reveal scripture to me, but so does godly, wise teaching I’ve sat under for many years, as well as those who diligently research and provide commentary.  I deeply appreciate those who’ve gone before, especially when we’re talking the very words of Jesus. 

All throughout this teaching of Jesus’, He delineates between those who are His and those who are not.  He compares us to light and dark.  He tells us ‘not like that, like this’  or ‘not like them, like My child’.  He wants them (the people He’s speaking directly to), and us, to notice that His teaching reflects the Law given to Moses on Mount Sinai, where Moses went up on the mountain to receive the Law of God.  And similar to Moses, Jesus has gone up the mountain to give the Law.  It is a sometimes gentle, but sometimes emphatic call of the King to His people, the citizens of His Kingdom.

Our final days at this wonderful State Park in South Carolina were filled with riding bikes and/or walking the beach.  Since that’s all we did for two days, and then moved on, I’ve decided to put three days together.

April 16th:

April 17th:

April 18th:

Just as we were hooked up and ready to move on to a new campground, I took our trash over to the dumpster, and was met with a cute little surprise!  I heard crackling in the dumpster I didn’t use, so I lifted the lid and peeked inside.  There were two raccoons trapped in a virtually empty dumpster!  One was sleeping, but soon woke.  Both wanted out in the worst way, and they were so adorable, I was tempted to reach in and help them out, but better judgment kept me from that.  Instead, once we got moving, I called the office and let them know.  I sure hope the Park Rangers got the cute little darlings out!  Something to note:  the dumpster I’d used was about half full and there was nothing in the raccoon one.  I wonder if others knew and just didn’t say anything, or they did and the Rangers figured they’d get out on their own?

I didn’t have my phone with me or I’da taken a picture.

On the road, we noted that for quite a distance, I-77 south was closed for work.  That’s a lot of traffic to reroute!  Fortunately, we were headed north today!  Our drive was about two hours long.

Sesquicentennial State Park, Columbia, South Carolina

Hunting Island State Park, St. Helena Island, South Carolina

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness among the people.  News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, and the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and He healed them.  Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed Him.  Now when He saw the crowds, He went up on a mountainside and sat down.  His disciples came to Him, and He began to teach them saying: ~ Matthew 4:23-5:2     There is so much background within these few verses!  First, let’s look at the size of the area Matthew is covering for us –  we’re looking at an area within a 100-150 mile radius.  And many (maybe most) people walked!   Where did they stay?  Where did they get food?  What about other necessities?  Now consider that many brought along loved ones who were suffering in some way.  How difficult was their journey to Jesus?  Yet sometimes we complain if it takes us twenty minutes to drive to church, or if the kids are noisy in the car, instead of assuming an attitude of gratitude – that we don’t have to walk all the way, and that our children are healthy enough to make noise and jostle.  Moving on.  When a teacher spoke, he most often sat, and people gathered around to listen.  Jesus is about to rock people’s world as He prepares to teach His ‘Sermon on the Mount’.  He walked up (as Moses did), sat down and began to speak – to His closest followers which included more than the Twelve because they weren’t chosen yet – and also to the crowds below.  As our pastor once told us, think of Him as a Teacher, bending His head down to look at those closest to Him, and then up and out at the crowds.  Are you one who wants to be as close as possible to Jesus and His teaching?  Or are you just there for what you believe He can give you?  Or maybe you’re one who really just wants to see a good show?

We splurged on a boat tour today.  Splurged is a good word for it.  Especially when we discovered that the island Coastal Expeditions took us to was pretty much the same as the one we were already living on.

There were a few perks though – the viewing of a couple of ghost shrimp and a stingray in the marsh before we left, the wind in our faces and the goosebumps on our bodies when they took off at high speed, a small dolphin pod, a couple of tiny little sharks on the far shore (which I could barely see because of size and distance), and the privilege of being able to say that we walked on an island formerly owned by Ted Turner – and seeing his former house. 

AND if you’re interested, you can rent the house for $12,000 for a 5-night stay (that’s the minimum), or you can actually, I kid you not, rent the entire island for $20,000 for the same 5-night stay, which also gives you things like your very own Park Ranger led programs.

If you decided to visit St Phillips Island, in any capacity, you’d best bring bug spray, and lots of it.

So here’s how it works.  You purchase your tickets from Coastal Expeditions.  You show up in the morning up the street from us where you hop onto an open air, but covered boat.  They give you a ride to St Phillips Island where Mr. Turner made his retreat for over 40 years.  All the trails we walked on were put in by him.

Anyway, during the boat ride, they stopped a couple of times for the girl to talk about nature stuff.  We determined, based on her uncertainty in some of the questions posed that she’s more educated in the ways of dolphins than anything else.

Once you arrive at the island, you get off the boat and board a tram pulled by a pickup truck, for a slow and bumpy ride through the jungle.  Along the way, they’d stop periodically to talk about something and when they did, the arms would start flailing.  Remember the bug spray admonition?  I’m not sure how much people were actually paying attention to her.

When the tram reached its destination, we had about an hour and a half to ourselves to go and do and explore in any way we wanted.  Some brought chairs and bags of stuff, presumably to sit on the beach and look at the Atlantic Ocean and eat a picnic lunch.  We took off to find ‘his’ house, eat a quick bite on the boneyard beach, then walk as many of the trails as time would allow.  We even walked all the way back to the boat dock.  😊

As soon as we returned home, we set out to walk our own beach for about an hour or so before dinner.

Despite the way this post sounds, we did enjoy ourselves and met some nice people!  Although everything I said is completely true, I know I could’ve written from a more positive perspective.  Sometimes, the drama of it all seeps through my fingers and onto the keys and I’m unable to control it.  😊

Hunting Island State Park, St. Helena Island, South Carolina

Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John.  They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets.  Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed Him. ~ Matthew 4:21-22     Have you ever considered the men that Jesus called to Him?  Especially those He chose to spread His Gospel?  Very few were educated men.  Seven were fishermen (frowned upon by the general population because of their vocation – which I will never understand.  The people ate fish – a lot!  Reminds me of how we often look at trash collectors or public bathroom cleaners.  What if no one did those jobs?!?). One was a tax collector (They were despised by both the Jews and Gentiles. A Gentile is anyone who’s not a Jew.).  One was a Zealot (think politician or revolutionary), one was possibly an accountant as he kept the funds for Jesus’ ministry. And Jesus knew this man would ultimately betray Him.  The other two, no one knows hardly anything about.  Outside of the Twelve, we have the apostle Paul who was a Pharisee and most likely a tent maker who chased down and encouraged Jesus’ early followers to be arrested or murdered.  But regardless of their vocations and their education or influence, when Jesus called them, they dropped everything to follow Him. 

We crammed a lot of site-seeing into today.  That means more words and more pictures.  Some day maybe we’ll slack back off on our sightseeing excursions.  Nah!  It’s too enjoyable for us.  😊

First stop – go find the Chapel of Ease that was built in the 1700s. 

There was also an old cemetery there, but I don’t know how much you’ll be able to read.

And then we drove to the Penn Center.  We’d read about this being a wonderful historic area that held, among other things, a school for freed slave children and a cottage where Martin Luther King, Jr. stayed during his days as a Civil Rights activist.

We went into the Welcome Center expecting to pick up a map and some information and ended up being subtly coerced/guilted into purchasing tickets we had no intention of buying, for $15 each.  And on top of that?  A map of the large area for an additional $5.  Boy!  This woman was good!

And she also told us that across the dirt road was a National Historic Park, which we hadn’t read about.  Guess what?  The NP was free!! And so was the exact same map we paid for!  Good grief!

The only thing the Penn Center had that didn’t belong to the NP, was their museum.  Was it worth $30?  I would have to say, “No”.  It could benefit from a lot of work and upkeep, as well as updating many of the displays.  PLUS, a woman came in while we were there and told us we couldn’t take any pictures of the photos they had in there.  I snuck in a couple anyway.  I know.  I was deliberately defying authority.  My mom would probably tell you I was good at that.  And I wonder where our youngest got it! 😊

I will tell you that some of the pictures and stories are pretty disturbing.

We’re finished with the museum. The rest of our visit was all free.

In addition, there was a NP Ranger on his way to give tours if people were interested, but we would be gone by then.  His talk is also free.  Eye roll

We left feeling a small bit of enlightenment, but also a bit scammed and probably didn’t learn as much as we could/should have.

Here’s what we remember a week later –

The Emancipation Proclamation freed all the enslaved in the United States.  And so they were.  But right around the time the Civil War began, two ladies came to South Carolina and started a school for the children, because it had always been against the law in South Carolina for slaves to learn to read and write.

And so, after the War, it began – the Reconstruction of the South.  Everything had to be changed and much of it rebuilt because they no longer had slaves to do the work that needed doing.  And, as I read in a recent novel, many Union soldiers were recommissioned and sent South to make sure the slave owners really did free their slaves.  They also help the slaves get themselves off and running with their new-found freedom.  Remember, they owned nothing and knew nothing other than whatever work they’d been doing for their masters.

Almost immediately following the war, the Southerners began enacting “Jim Crow” Laws. 

Jim Crow laws were a collection of state and local statutes that legalized racial segregation. Named after a Black minstrel show character, the laws—which existed for about 100 years, from the post-Civil War era until 1968—were meant to marginalize African Americans by denying them the right to vote, hold jobs, get an education or other opportunities. Those who attempted to defy Jim Crow laws often faced arrest, fines, jail sentences, violence and death. ~ history.com

And they had help from the Democratic Party, President Andrew Johnson and the start up of the Ku Klux Klan.

During the Reconstruction era, local governments, as well as the national Democratic Party and President Andrew Johnson, thwarted efforts to help Black Americans move forward.

Violence was on the rise, making danger a regular aspect of African American life. Black schools were vandalized and destroyed, and bands of violent white people attacked, tortured and lynched Black citizens in the night. Families were attacked and forced off their land all across the South.

The most ruthless organization of the Jim Crow era, the Ku Klux Klan, was born in 1865 in Pulaski, Tennessee, as a private club for Confederate veterans.

The KKK grew into a secret society terrorizing Black communities and seeping through white Southern culture, with members at the highest levels of government and in the lowest echelons of criminal back alleys. ~ history.com

The KKK organization that began in Tennessee lasted only until 1870, when they were pretty much forced to  disband by the US Government, then reappeared in 1915 and they’ve been a driving force of hate ever since.  By the way, their name is derived from the Greek word, kyklos from which comes the English word, circle.  They added ‘Klan’ to make it sound and look good.

Also during the Reconstruction period, from 1865-1877, the whites discovered a new way to get themselves slaves without breaking the law.  They began arresting Blacks for any tiny infraction and leasing them out to plantation owners, etc. as prisoner work – often times indefinitely.  Basically, just enslaving them again. If you read the signs above, you already know this. So sad, and downright evil-hearted.

After spending more time at Penn Center that we’d originally planned, we went in search of “The Few, The Proud, The Marines”.  The Marine Corps Recruit Depot is on nearby Parris Island, and they have a museum.  Since we visited the Navy SEAL one the other day, we thought we’d check out the Marines.

It’s a lot more secure, and there were few signs to help us find it.  In fact, it got a little frustrating if you wanna know the truth. 

But persistence eventually paid off.  They have a nice museum, but I think we were on information overload already, so I just took pictures of information that seemed it would be interesting, but with the intention of reading later. And now you know one of my secrets.  😊 

I came away from the museum feeling like in order to be a Marine, besides being tough physically and mentally, you must enjoy screaming at people and/or being screamed at – up close and personal.  I don’t know about you, but the whole spittle in my face thing is a definite turnoff for me.  So is stressing my vocal cords.  Guess I’m not Marine material.

We felt the need for something a little more relaxing so our last two stops were nature trails – The Cypress Wetlands and Crystal Lake Park.

By the time we got home today, I was done going out, but not my active husband.  Honestly, if it weren’t for him, I’d probably be one of those wives who sit around and eat bon-bons all day.  Anyway, he took his bike and went out to enjoy part of the sunset from our beach.

Lovely way to end our day!