We spent a wonderful morning in Lancaster, Pennsylvania getting ready for Thanksgiving. We helped shop for fresh vegetables and the turkey. We met people at a historic market. Then we decided to walk around the downtown area. We window-shopped down the street, peering in and occasionally going into different stores. We spent a long time in a Swedish candy shop. Then everyone agreed it was time to get back to the house. A chill was in the air and we were careful to walk in the sunlight.
While on the return journey I was playing Pokemon Go on my phone. It amounts to looking at the screen and noticing “points of interest.” These points have been marked by other games players and I have found in the past that they are like a shorthand to what local people think is important. One time in Salem, Mass we were playing and noticed something in the game. We diverted a block and found a historical marker to the place that Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. We would have missed it without the game. Last summer, we were driving down a highway on the Wind River Reservation and saw a sign to Sacajawea’s grave. I stopped as quickly as I could and headed to find it. I have made a deep commitment to the Lewis and Clark Expedition and was surprised that I did not know of this place. After turning off the highway we could not find any more signs. We decided to check Pokemon and sure enough in the distance we could see where the grave was marked and followed it to the right place.
I was so surprised, when walking down the street in Lancaster, Pennsylvania to see a marking in the game for a Lewis and Clark site. It was right on the way to the car so I diverted to see what I could find. I could not find the point marked on the map. Our car was at position #1. The family proceeded to the cars and everyone was feeling a little urgent as our side trips had taken longer than we expected. So I was in a hurry. Using the game I wandered through the parking garage which is where the game kept telling me the historical marker was located. I wandered all the way to #2 but was still not able to find the plaque. After about 10 minutes, I returned to the car very frustrated.
Once back at the house I looked up Lewis and Clark in Lancaster and immediately found that, in preparation for the great adventure, Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis to meet with Andrew Ellicott “a brilliant and adventurous Bucks County surveyor and mapmaker who served in the Revolution, planned Washington, D.C., and made the first topographical study of Niagara Falls. Lewis spent two and a half weeks with Ellicott in late April and early May 1803, learning everything he could about frontier surveying” (explorepahistory.com). I found Elliott’s house on the map-it is labeled #3. I missed it by 91 feet!
It’s funny how twice I have found things while playing a game that connect to my side hobby as a Lewis and Clark fan. Lots of other people play that game and I bet most would not have noticed the connections. We are alert to the things we care about. It’s the same way for me with Latvia and Ethiopia. I love those places and I see them mentioned in the news, in the movies, and in popular culture all the time, because I care about them. You see what you love.
Most people did not see Jesus when he was born. He was unknown. It would have been a non event. The inn keeper had no idea who was in the manger. The place was not marked. He was forgotten. It was not until years later that people began to understand the significance of that night. At that moment, the only ones who loved Jesus were Mary and Jospeh. I’m so glad God picked them. Now God has picked us to carry the story forward to tell others what happened and why it matters to the whole world.