Beyond the Scenery

 
Park News

Two more national park sites added to the list: #430 & #431

 •  The Blackwell School National Historic Site in Marfa,Texas is the newest spot in the Park Service relating to Hispanic culture. The schoolhouse and close by Band Hall are where Mexican and Mexican American children were educated segregated from other races.
 
 •  In Springfield, Illinois is the Springfield 1908 Race Riot National Monument, memorializing a vicious assault by a White mob on a Black community. Ironically, the Lincoln Home National Historic Site is nearby. This house was the only one Lincoln every owned, and formally became part of the Park Service in 1972.
 
    This racially-motivated attack gave rise to the civil rights organization now known as the NAACP.
 
And one will finally be completed…
 
The World War I Memorial on the District of Columbia’s vast National Mall will install the last and perhaps the most important part of the site on September 13. The bronze sculpture called “A Soldier’s Journey” will have its First Illumination that evening at 7:15 p.m., and the ceremony is open to the public. Find details at https://worldwar1centennial.org.

 
Most Disappointing Park??
 
Seems someone rated Mammoth Cave National Park “one of the most disappointing U.S. tourist attractions,” calling it “very dark” (what a surprise…). The park responded in good humor, writing on Facebook, “A world of regret awaits you!”
 
Free day in the parks!
 
As I’ve mentioned before, only 109 of the Park Service locations charge admission. This month has one of the six days where the entrance fee for those parks is waived. National Public Lands Day falls on Wednesday, September 28 this year. Explore for free!
 
Books, Books, and More Books!
 
My fellow authors at Pelican Book Group are again busy with new ebook fiction releases:
 
 •  M. Jean Pike’s King of Hearts comes out September 13
 
 •  Without a Dream by LoRee Perry is available on September 20
 
 •  Barbara M. Britton debuts Escape to Whispering Creek
   September 27
 
And my newest book is in its final editing stages! More Life Lessons from the National Parks: God’s Still Present in America’s Most Glorious Places has just been sent back to me by the top editor at Elk Lake Publishing! A final read-through for me to see her (few, she claims) corrections/changes/rewrites, and the manuscript goes to the printer!
 
No Darkness Here!
 
“In Jesus was life; and the life was the light” John 1:4
 
Caves are supposed to be dark. Jesus never is. The first chapter of John in the New Testament notes He is light that shines in every corner of this world, and darkness in no way overpowers Him.
 
Where are you searching for enlightenment? Look no further than Jesus. The book of John is a great place to learn about God “made flesh [to] dwell among us,” so we could “[behold] His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
 

 
Park news

The District of Columbia’s National Mall and Memorial Parks is loaded with monuments, commemorations, and statues in its over 1,000 acres. Known as “America’s Front Yard,” this space is part of the National Park Service, and includes Constitution Gardens, which celebrated its 50th anniversary August 1.

The land used to be beneath the Potomac River, until the US Army Corps of Engineers dredged it out to become Potomac Park. The Navy and the Munitions Department constructed buildings on the property during World War I. These “temporary” structures weren’t torn down until 1971, and the parkland became a living legacy to the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence. The memorial to these men who dared defy the British sits on a small island in the lake, accessible by a short boardwalk.

Yellowstone National Park’s newest addition

A white buffalo calf was born in Lamar Valley at the end of June, based on many sightings. Apparently it’s the first reported one in Yellowstone’s history.

How significant is this? Very, especially for the Lakota people. According to native legend, the rare occurrence fulfills a prophecy, and the animal is considered a sacred symbol as well as a warning “that a spiritual awakening must happen,” according to a TVL Network report, quoting a chief of the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota Oyate tribes. He believes the event signals all the world must come together in peace and caring for the earth, or face disaster.

The tribes held a ceremony and celebration of the calf’s birth, christening the animal Wakan Gli, meaning “Return Sacred” in the Lakota language.

Buffaloes are revered in indigenous cultures. The animals’ mass slaughter in the 19th century devastated the Plains tribes, who relied on the shaggy beasts for food, shelter, and clothing. The Buffalo Field Campaign, dedicated to protecting wild buffalo herds in their natural habitat, says the reason for their near extinction was because “[t]he buffalo and the Indian were obstructing the march of western civilization. Kill the buffalo and not only would the Indian wars be won…but the vast tracts of public land would be opened for the cattle business.”

The White Buffalo Hotel in West Yellowstone (outside the park) chose its name in honor of the revered symbol almost 60 years ago.

Also at Yellowstone… a hydrothermal explosion occurred July 23 from underneath Biscuit Basin’s Black Diamond Pool, located north of the well-known Old Faithful geyser. The release was due to water abruptly becoming steam, not volcanic activity. The park contains about half the world’s geothermal features.

Books from fellow writers

Pelican Publishing Group authors have been busy! Here are some of their just-released manuscripts, all in electronic format:

 • Without a Song, a contemporary romance by LoRee Perry
 • LoRee’s nonfiction Gratitude for All Moments
 • Book #3 in Lillian Duncan’s The Messengers series, Exile
 • Convincing Lou, Jodie Wolfe’s western romance coming out
  August 16, is also available as a hardback
 • Oh, all right, I’ll mention my not-new historical romance,
  The Christmas Child—a little early in the year to be thinking about
  Christmas, but I’ll bet holiday items will be hitting store
  shelves very soon…

Awakenings

Interesting that the word “awakening” was used to describe Yellowstone’s white calf. There have been four “Great Awakenings” here in America, spanning from the mid-1700’s to the Jesus Movement of the 1960s-1970s. Pastor and author Greg Laurie was the subject of the 2023 film Jesus Revolution, about his experience during the latter movement.

To be awake is to be attentive and alert, perhaps watching and waiting for, and anticipating something to happen. The word "woke," often used scornfully as a label for liberal views, really means to be “aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues,” according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, which isn’t a bad attribute to have at all.

Scripture uses the concept of staying awake and alert often, especially in the New Testament. “[K]nowing the time…now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than we believed” (Romans 13:11).

Sacred is another word associated the white calf, part of its name. This signifies the little buffalo is set apart and consecrated for a special spiritual purpose—in other words, the calf is considered holy by the tribes.

God self-identifies as set apart and holy, separate from evil and distinct from all other beings (Leviticus 11:44). Not only Jesus’s followers but opposing forces recognized Him as “the Holy One of God” (Mark 1:24, John 6:69, Acts 3:14).

Are you aware of the times? Do you appreciate it is “high time” to make peace with God before it’s too late? Here’s the amazing part—God imparts His holiness to us when we do (Hebrews 12:10)! No white calf needed…