God, Glory or Gold?

 I tried to post this last night but rain interrupted my satellite service TWICE and I lost the post!!  Here we go again.

This week we are finishing up our study of the explorers.  We have been on this unit for about 10 weeks and I am ready for a change!    One thing that we have noticed is how cruel so many of the explorers were to the native people.  Most of the explorers that we studied established settlements in South America, Central America and the islands of the Caribbean.  So much violence resulted in the quest to seek gold and glory.  Most of these explorers were from Spain.  A couple of years ago, Devin and I spent some time in Spain visiting my brother.  We toured a couple of cathedrals and I, being a simple Baptist girl from the South, was appalled at the tremendous amounts of gold used in decorating these cathedrals.  I was reminded of all the indulgences that Luther fought against and was saddened by the tremendous wealth put in these buildings when all around the cathedrals were people who were begging.  Now, we have seen where all the gold came from and how mistreated the native people were.  How they converted to Catholicism at the point of a sword while keeping their pagan superstitions and customs.  Coercion does not lead to true conversion.

We have read about those who explored the southeastern and southwestern US, DeSoto and Coronado, who were searching for gold and the ever-evasive city of Cibola.  The southeastern Indians kept telling DeSoto that, yes, there is much gold...far away from here!!  They were no dummies!  DeSoto and Coronado died with neither gold nor glory.  DeSoto treated the Indians so badly that when other groups began settling in the southeast over 100 years later, the Indians caused all kinds of trouble.

It is very interesting that North America was eventually settled by men who were not seeking gold or glory, but God.  Men who were seeking religious freedom were led to the New World and established many settlements.  I am looking forward to our studies of the colonies and early settlements and those who first came to our shores seeking liberty to worship God as they saw fit and to raise their children for HIS glory.  I am so thankful to be able to learn right along with my children, instilling in them a desire for learning and  desire to seek after God and not gold or glory.  The Lord is so gracious to allow me this time with my children.    Homeschooling is a hard job, but it's the only job I want.