Inspiring Summer Vacation...

I just returned home today from my family vacation to Virginia... we took forever to decide just where we were going to go this year, but decided once again on a place that's come to be our "old faithful" vacation spot. We love it! We went to Chincoteague Island, hung out on the beach there for a few days, and then I got into full history-nerd mode when we got to Colonial Williamsburg.

If you've never been to Williamsburg, please...do yourself and your family a huge favor and GO! I've been there more times than I can count, and it never gets old. If you've never been there... within the town of Williamsburg is an area that has been in existence since the very early days of America. The main street, Duke of Gloucester, is lined with restored buildings according to how the town looked in the 18th century. There are a few original buildings, too (my favorite...) including the George Wythe house, most notably. This house is where George Washington spent time before the siege of Yorktown (just a short drive away, also an amazing place to visit...). Reenactors dressed in 18th century clothing take on 18th century characters and you're really taken back in time when you visit the historic area. (And aside from the historic value, the food is amazing...) :)

I'm going to show my nerdiness here, but as I was walking down that street, seeing the original buildings as well as the restored and renovated ones like the Capitol and the Governor's Palace, it was amazing to me that people who were so instrumental in getting this fledgling nation off the ground had stood in the same spot I stood over two and a half centuries ago. When you're standing in front of a house in front of which George Washington and his staff stood and resided in before winning the siege of Yorktown, those people you only read about in textbooks in school become more real than ever!

Every once in awhile, I get discouraged and depressed as to where this country is headed. I look at the principles embodied in the Declaration and the Constitution, that our Founders believed so strongly in, and then I look at the self-interest and arrogance of political leaders today, and in the apathy and entitlement of American society today, and the past and present disturbingly contrast each other. But in that time that history becomes more than just words on a page is when I become more motivated. Motivated to do my part to protect the ideals that the earliest Americans pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor for; ideas of individual liberty--not widespread entitlement--and self-government--not the mindset that a few elites know best how to govern a dependent people.

In other words, this trip to Virginia was a huge inspiration to keep on doing my part, fighting the good fight to preserve liberty, and to continue relying on God to show me how I can serve Him and others.