Rock Eagle

Here's Mommy and Madison at a quick stop on the way home.  We tried an alternate route, and for the most part, it was pretty nice.  We may make some adjustments the next time we try, but we certainly didn't have to worry about all that Atlanta traffic - or Henry County - this time around.

The place we stopped at here was a very significant one for Daddy some time ago.  It was Rock Eagle.

Here's Madison in the tower that overlooks the large eagle shape, made from thousands of stones.  You can see our car way in the distance there - we walked up to the tower, and it's about three flights up, so it wasn't a huge deal.  Also, the weather was slightly overcast by this point, so the temperature was better for us.  It was just good to get out of the car and stretch our legs for a bit.  Today, we went up the coast on I-95, and then took I-16 up to around Dublin.  That latter road was a long, long stretch of nothing.  We think that it would be better to take I-75 up, and then get to 129 to Eatonton next time - and then go north.  And that's where Rock Eagle is.

Nobody knows why it exists.  Some people who are more clever than others determined that it is anywhere between 1,000 and 3,000 years old, put together by Indians.  Or aliens.  They don't really know, but they do think the people that assembled this were not the more modern native Americans of more recent centuries.  As to why it is built, that too is a mystery.  There is another one built nearby, also in Putnam County.  And that's pretty much it.  Madison observed that it almost looks like a sea turtle.  And that it's head looks more like a vulture than an eagle.  Which goes along with what some others have observed:  vultures are a symbol of death, and perhaps this was a grave site.  The people who constructed this were simply signaling to the vultures overhead, "Hey, come on down here!"  But Rock Eagle sounds a whole lot better than Rock Vulture, so I suppose for tourists later on, this was the better option in a name.  

ANYWAY, nearby this mound of rocks is a camp where Daddy stayed quite a few times when he was younger.  It was a Y-Club camp, the place where he made lots of friends and had lots of fun.  It really changed my life for the better, changing me from a introverted teen with no confidence to something else slightly better at least.  We may talk about those memories later.  Daddy was tempted to drive through the cabin area, but we were later in the day here and ready to get home.

We got home safely, and pretty tired too.  It was a long week, and a long drive too.  This morning, we started out saying goodbye to Nana and Ba-Ba, and then we went off… to Lowe's.  Yep, the Build and Grow program is nationwide, and so we signed up to do the next Marvel character not at our usual spot in Gainesville, but instead at the one in Port Orange, Florida.  Yeah, we signed up for this location about two weeks ago, and here we were, walking into a new Lowe's that had its act together.  There were plenty of workers there, one with a vest just covered with patches.  Madison's apron has about 34 patches on it, so these two had quite a bit to talk about together.  Soon, we were in the shade, outside there, working on the next wooden creation.  It was Thor, and his mighty hammer.

This ties to tonight before bedtime.  Daddy got to the place in the devotional tonight, and each message in the devotional is devoted to a different sport in the Olympics.  Today's reading was about the hammer throw.  Here it is, in fact:

     The hammer throw is one of the most unusual and exciting field events at the Olympic stadium. Muscular athletes pick up a heavy metal ball attached to a wire and handle, and then begin to swing it around and around. Faster and faster they spin, until with all the force they can, the athletes release the hammer and send it soaring at the target, over eighty meters away.
     There’s no question about it: you don’t want to be around a hammer when it comes crashing down. It’s a sixteen-pound meteorite that can do some serious damage!
     Compare this to the Bible, and the power of each chapter inside. In the book of Jeremiah, God says this about His Word: “It is like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces.”
     That sounds about right, doesn’t it? Officials stand a safe distance away until they see it come down, otherwise they’ll be making an unexpected trip to the hospital!
     God’s word is definitely like a hammer. Want proof? Back in the book of Genesis, God brought the hammer down on Satan, telling that devil his head would be crushed. Ouch! You certainly don’t want to be on the business end of that hammer!
     The next time you feel temptation lurking, why don’t you grab that same hammer, God’s Word? It’s a promise that has a whole lot of weight, and a whole lot of power. Pick it up, and hold on to it tightly for a bit. You want to see someone scatter? The Bible says the devil will flee – and if he doesn’t, he’ll find himself on the receiving end of a crushing throw. God’s Word has power, and when you throw it at any situation, you’ll see some changes, that’s for sure!
     Ready to be victorious? Sure you are. If you’re ready to go the distance, then pick up that hammer, God’s Word, and get ready to see some real power: it’s hammer time! 

To help with devotional time for this Olympic-themed series, Daddy has been showing the different sports each night before bed, videos on the handheld iPad.  So, tonight we were watching different athletes compete in the hammer throw.

After reading the devotional, Madison said, "Hey, that's like Thor!  He throws a hammer."  And we all laughed a bit about this, because it was a funny little coincidence.  But not as much as a coincidence as this next thing:

We opened up the book "Mathilda" in order to read the next chapter, and lo!  The next chapter was called, "Throwing the Hammer."  No joke.  It was like that was the theme of the day for some reason.  Mrs. Trunchbull, the awful headmistress of the school, was - of all things - an athlete who did the hammer throw.  We read this, and then of course we read how she practiced this sport on the children, tossing them about.

It was a funny theme that kept popping up:  the hammer throw.  Daddy actually saw that event in person at the 1996 Olympics.  It's so obscure, but a lot of fun to see.

Okay, anyway, after that we were more than ready to turn in, although Daddy has quite a few lines to memorize for the skit tomorrow.  That should be fun. 

But we're grateful to God for the safe and easy passage home.  You can't ever take that for granted.