RFTW Day 9: We are rockstars!

As the Hall of Fame baseball announcer Dave Niehaus used to say, “My Oh My!” So many things to share about today. It was almost as if we crammed two days into one.

Morning started with rain on our 13 mile ride from the hotel to our staging location. We P1000224fully geared up. It was worth it for that ride as it hit us pretty good. However, during our morning briefings it cleared up nicely which caused us to get wet anyway! Plastic rain gear and 75 degrees with 98% humidity don’t mix. After the briefings we had just enough time to shed the gear and jump on the bikes for a short ride to Charleston, the capitol city of West Virginia.  There, we were given special access to drive through a security corridor to a circular drive in front of the Capitol steps. P1000217The Governor addressed us proclaiming May 26th to be Run For The Wall Day which was pretty cool. Dad and I took a stroll around their War Memorial and snapped a few photos of Gunney’s flag in front of the Vietnam section.

After the Governor’s proclamation, we took a group photo on the Capitol steps. I found myself at the top of the group, so I thought I’d see about gaining access to the rotunda for a comparison to Washington’s Capitol. I found they don’t allow folks in the main doors, instead requiring the public to enter through a security door, complete with metal detectors via a side entrance. While a kind young lady was explaining this to me and giving me directions I was approached by a tall, all business looking man, who asked me to quietly follow him. Yikes, that could’ve been scary, but instead I found myself escorted into the rotunda via the main door and on a guided P1000235tour by the House of Representatives Sergeant-at-Arms.  That is some kind of favor right there. He told me about the number of lights and how they represent each county, described to me the chandelier, where the marble came from and then took me inside the House Chamber on the main floor.

Inside, he introduced me to three Representatives who were sitting at their 100% original wooden desk furnishings which were all hand-made for the room when the Capitol was first opened. The place was beautiful. Before we left the chamber, he had me stand behind the Speaker of the House’s lectern at the front of the room so he could take my picture using my camera.  Unfortunately, he didn’t push the right buttons so we didn’t actually capture anything. No worries, the visit wasn’t about me. It was about access to a place where laws are made and policy is set. It’s a seat of authority.  God granted me favor to go in there carrying His authority. It was an opportunity, not just to marvel at the craftsmanship of man, but to quietly pray for the fine men and women who sit in those chairs to make Godly decisions. It was a huge honor.

The second half of our day was spent at Rainelle Elementary School in Rainelle, WV. This is an amazing place in a severely hit economical region. What once boasted the biggest logging mill in the region and a flourishing coal mine, is now a town gasping for life. The mill has shut down and regulations have drastically reduced mining operations. All along our trip, starting in Ontario, our group of riders has had raffles, auctions, passing of the hat, military branch of service challenges, all to raise money for this school. RFTW has been doing this for a very long time. When I went inside to eat lunch, I saw on every wall lining the main hall, poster boards full of photos with the years they were taken clearly imagemarked. There were also newspaper clippings from media coverage and patriotic artwork done by the students. All totaled, we donated just over $21,000 dollars.  The Principle was all choked up when she received it.  I told her she needed an armored car. Very little of it was in the form of a check. We’d collected it as cash money and passed it on to her that way.

This was all really awesome, but the highlight of the day was when we first arrived in Rainelle.  I’d heard we’d be able to interact with the students and should come prepared with things to give away. The Army Recruiting Station at home sent with me 100 pins and lanyards to hand out.  I gave 25 of the lanyards to another Army guy to pass out and I held onto the remaining 75 items. The kids mobbed us. They treated us like rock stars, heroes, who they wanted to meet and talk to.  Each of them had a little bag for the gifts we brought and they carried autograph books and pens for us to sign our names in.  This gave me 75 opportunities P1000244to sew a seed in a kid’s life and I took full advantage of it. I didn’t just write my name in their books, I sewed seed of identity into them picking out of them a golden nugget of who they are and writing it down so they’d see it and hear it from someone else. I’m sure God will water these seeds, He had me there for that time and place for a reason.

It was an amazing day. Looking back, I’m seeing now the connection between my experience at the Capitol and the school. It was a day of generational gardening in the fields of West Virginia for God. He will bring in the harvest when the time is right.

I have a good number of photos to post, but the hotel wifi isn’t playing nice. I’ll try again tomorrow from Washington DC!

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