"THE TRUTH IS..."
I have traveled enough here and abroad to choose a favorite sleeping establishment here and there. Some are never going to see my face again but there are a few I will always return to if and when the need arises. I have always found it disturbing that the big chain motels pretty much offer the same drab uninviting quarters, while the big-chain hotels offer nicer and somewhat cleaner accommodations for the same amount of money. And even these vary - according to the tastes and considerations of the owners. A couple of weeks ago I visited the small city of Princeton, West Virginia where I had made reservations at the Sleep-Inn for one night. I wasn't sure what I would find there for I had stayed at a Sleep-Inn only once before at Claytor Lake, Virginia. It had been a fairly simple room, clean, nice and roomy enough, and the rates were about the same. But I wasn't prepared for what I found in Princeton, I was not prepared at all for the pleasant surprise that literally overwhelmed me... One walks into the main lobby of the Princeton Sleep Inn to find a very comfortable sitting area on the right, a check-in counter on the left, and a two-story cathedral ceiling, But on the ceiling partition wall just over the open second floor balcony hung the banners of the Boy Scouts of America, sporting their motto: Be Prepared. I almost shouted with sheer joy. Forty plus years ago I was a cub scout den mother. My sons were in the Boy Scouts, one daughter was in the Girl Scouts. My oldest son to this day is a troop leader. His son achieved his Eagle Scout award several years ago and today this Eagle Scout is a graduate engineer from Virginia Tech. But that was not all of the surprise. That evening when I returned to the hotel there were two hotel employees (ladies) sitting in the lobby taking a break. It was early, a little after nine and the hotel was so very still, I decided to sit down in the lobby and visit with them for a few minutes before going on to my room. The breeze coming through the front door was heavenly and the quiet was almost like a balm of Gilead. There was such peace in the air I didn't want to leave it so we chatted and laughed and then I saw it - on the lobby wall - a framed photo of the American flag emblazoned with the words, "IN GOD WE TRUST." Tears came to my eyes. I commented on it, overwhelmed to see it hanging there in plain view for the whole world to see - our national motto - in the same lobby as the Boy Scout Motto - and then I saw the Holy Bible lying on the end table at one end of the long sofa in the lobby. I couldn't believe it. Yes - most hotels and motels furnish Bibles in the rooms where they tuck them into the drawers of the nightstands, but this Bible was out in the open, in the main lobby, crying out to the passersby, "Look at me - I'm a welcome guest too. In fact, I actually live here..." I learned that the owner of that particular franchise also owns several other hotels in Virginia and West Virginia and because he is a Christian, he tastefully displays his faith for the sharing with all who pass through his doors. What a wonderful awakening that there are brave Christian patriots out there willing to speak up. While big corporations, banks, schools and perverted activists are trampling all over the Boy Scouts and robbing them of their rights, there are still good men in unusual places who are not afraid to say out loud, "We support the Boy Scouts of America - come on it and give them a hand..." And there are a few good men who are willing to hang an American flag on the wall emblazoned with , IN GOD WE TRUST or put a Holy Bible on the table in their business' lobby. How refreshing, how thrilling, how exhilerating just to see them on public display... I told the ladies at the Sleep-Inn I was going to share this story with my readers. And because this website goes out all over the world, I am hoping there will be business people out there who will take a tip from the Sleep Inn and fashion a tasteful display of their own. We can get the message out there if we all work on it. I have no business or lobby to work with, but I encourage those that do, even the churches, to be more vocal with their faith, more daring and certainly more supportive of those that are so heavily persecuted like the Boy Scouts of America. God bless them - they deserve our best support, they deserve our raves and reviews. And so does America's motto need a boost - a front-and-center reminder to Americans and to the world of who we are, and the Holy Bible always needs another table... Joan Krempel July 15, 2010 joan@joankrempelministries.com
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