Little Round Top

Kimme and I spent the day in Gettysburg, PA. I absolutely love this town. It's sort of a reflective harbor for me. It's a place I go to look in deep. Today I spent about an hour at Little Round Top. Here, Joshua Chamberlain -one of my life's heroes, led the 20th of Maine against all odds to hold a tiny hill that if lost would have possibly changed the outcome of the Civil War. I spent about 10 minutes at the extreme right flank and another 10 at the extreme left. Strewn about in strange formation, a make-shift wall of rocks was made by these men around 3 PM on July 2, 1863. It still stands today, connecting the distance between each flank. Behind it, stood the 20th of Maine, a green/untried fighting unit led by a former school teacher. After raid after raid from Col. William C. Oates' 15th and 47th Alabama and ammo running horribly low, Joshua Chamberlain gave the order: "Bayonet! Forward to the right!"

Here is what Chamberlain noted of the events:

"At that crises, I ordered the bayonet. The word was enough. It ran like fire along the line, from man to man, and rose into a shout, with which they sprang forward on the enemy, now not 30 yards away. The effect was surprising; many of the enemy's first line threw down their arms and surrendered. An officer fired his pistol at my head with one hand, while he handed me his sword with the other. Holding fast by our right, and swinging forward our left, we made an extended "right wheel," before which the enemy's second line broke and fell back, fighting from tree to tree, many being captured, until we had swept the valley and cleared the front of nearly our entire brigade."

Today, I spent most of my time on a rock that now has a large monument commemorating this feat of heroism. It's supposedly the place where the order was given. I don't know why, but this place just rings so true in my heart and makes me think of my faith and the opposing forces among us:

Paul, a fellow church planter, noted of his own events:

2 Corinthians 4.7-12:
"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you."

My prayer is that the church will hear the call for bayonet... let's take on the forces of evil with a fierce faith and a bold love. Tomorrow, Horizon launches it's second church in Towson. I prayed at each section mentioned above on Little Round Top that we will used of God for something amazing, something unexplainable except for His involvement... that he would "show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us."