Delavan to Council Grove; Distance = 14 Miles; People Met = 5+
After spending the first of several nights at White Memorial Camp, owned by the UCC, the morning was spent attending the service at the First Congregational Church in Council Grove. Pastor Cristy is a dynamic and theatrical type of preacher, not to mention busy as she preaches at three different churches. I’m sure plenty of people were moved by her sermon, as they would be by all her sermons.
Children's time at the service
As a person who rallies people to positively “Believe in Humanity” in order to care for each other, I do not agree with the negative approach that Pastor Cristy took. There tends to be a logical inconsistency in these types of messages, such as we should love Christ as He loved us, even though we can’t. I believe in being loved and cared for by God. Yet by extension being chided negatively about ourselves is the logical basis for ultimate dependence to be cared for by paternal government, corporations, interest groups—or ultimate dependence to be cared for by paternal religions or religious leaders setting themselves up to be iconic gatekeepers, sometimes with disastrous results. We need to be tapping into the innate kindness that most people have under natural conditions to take care of each other in the context of community.
For example, that afternoon we walked 14 miles rather briskly back into Council Grove. Perhaps the briskness of our walk, along with temperatures in the thirties, caused some concern by motorists driving by. We were stopped for the second time by a county sheriff, only this time he did not ask for our ID. Instead, Dan Good was responding to people calling in concerned for our welfare. He asked if we were warm enough and if we had a place to stay that evening. We shared that we were staying at the Camp and that we were being taken out to dinner in town by a man named Don, who we met at the Congregational Church. “Oh, that must be Don Peterson,” Dan informed us, “He’s a good man.” We engaged in a hearty handshake with Dan before continuing on our way.
Sheriff Dan Good
The entire town of Council Grove is a historic district, due to its significance in the westward movement. Don took us out to dinner at the historic Hays House, renovated to keep the feel of those days. Don is 81, yet keeps abreast of technology as well as people in their twenties. He grew up a farmer and is now involved in crop and livestock insurance. Considering the recent drought in the southern portions of this state he still keeps pretty busy. He also does grid soil sampling for farmers using GPS; meanwhile, he heats his house with geothermal.
Don Peterson
Don informed us that this area averages about 31 inches of precipitation a year, dramatically up from the 12 inches that southwest Kansas receives. That explains why we are experiencing a lot more overcast skies these days. Don also was going to work a connection to find us a place to stay in Ottawa for Thanksgiving.
Historic Hays House
Our waitress Jill at Hays House
