Yep, today's the 145th anniversary of General Ambrose Burnside's Mud March opposite Fredericksburg, Virgina, where my ancestor 'saw the elephant' on December 13th south of town with the 119th Pennsylvania Volunteers while supporting artillery that was being shelled by Stonewall Jackson's artillery. (Can I claim post tramautic stress syndrome, since I was 'in his loins' at the time, as the Bible would say?!!)Just to show you how 'God causes all things to work together to the good of those who love Him' (Romans 8:28), Great Grandpappy Jacob Antes ended up with frozen feet, made worse by sloggin' through knee-deep mud January 20-22, 1863, ended up in the hospital in April, got a medical discharge in August, met great-grandma, married, and all these years later, I'm here to tell the story! He also missed out on Gettysburg, the Wilderness, the Bloody Angle, and Petersburg battles where his Company H lost 33% of its men over the course of their enlistment.
His tendency to get cold feet (literally, not figuratively) got passed down to at least one of his descendents who has had to plow snow for the last 22 winters, 13 of them on an open John Deere tractor. The good of this is that I know when to get inside and warm up/dry off when possible, unlike poor old pappy could not.
So, what's my point? "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter trials of every sort, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. Let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." (James 1:2, 3) Of course, now that I've hopefully encouraged you with that passage, I'll probably have to live by my own exhortation!
Got dry socks?
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