Cliché Month: Tough As Old Ironsides
Boston Echoes
Over 35 years ago, the company I worked for assigned me within an hour of downtown Boston, Massachusetts. Standing in the historic heart of Boston has a way of resetting your perspective on the American story. When I took a tour of the city, history stopped being a hard-to-recall page in a textbook and became something real and memorable. I learned that the famous Battle of Bunker Hill was actually fought mostly on Breed’s Hill, and I got up close to the USS Constitution, the ship later dubbed Old Ironsides because of its resilience in battle. And because August 19th is “Old Ironsides Day,” it seemed the perfect day for this cliché.
Later, I stood captivated inside the Old North Church, where the acoustics let the soaring notes of a live violin echo right into my soul. That was part of the tour because of the famous Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.
Most of us picture Revere sitting in the window swinging lanterns, but he was actually the strategist on the ground! It was church sexton Robert Newman who crept up all 154 stairs to hang the two lanterns—”one if by land, two if by sea” —sending Revere galloping into the night.
That kind of courage has found its way into other historical events, and in my family, into our genealogy. In my family tree, my ancestor John Wisdom became known as “The Paul Revere of The South.” In May 1863, he rode nearly 67 miles through the dark from Gadsden, Alabama, to Rome, Georgia—swapping out exhausted horses along the way—to sound the alarm and save the city’s vital bridges and ironworks. Whether in Massachusetts or Georgia, history is forged by people willing to ride into battle and risk their own safety to protect others.
The Oak, the Copper, and the Broadside
That same resilience brings us to the harbor, where the USS Constitution still rests. On August 19, 1812, during a fierce battle against the British frigate HMS Guerriere, sailors watched in disbelief as 18-pound cannonballs shot by the enemy struck her hull and bounced harmlessly into the water. A sailor famously shouted, “Huzza! Her sides are made of iron!”—and the nickname “Old Ironsides” was born.
Her sides weren’t iron, of course; they were three dense layers of resilient white oak and southern live oak. But what held that indestructible wooden fortress together? None other than Paul Revere’s foundry, which forged the heavy copper bolts and spikes that pinned her hull planks tight under fire. Decades later, when the ship was slated for scrapping, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. penned his stirring poem Old Ironsides, rallying the public and cementing “Tough as Old Ironsides” into American slang for anyone built to take life’s hardest hits without breaking.
Taking the Hit and Standing Fast
Life has a habit of firing unexpected volleys. Hard news, sudden changes, and emotional friction can feel like a heavy iron shot headed straight for our hearts. Our natural instinct is often to retreat or fracture under the impact, but God designed us with holy durability as long as He is part of the layering.
2 Corinthians 4:7-9 BSB
[7] Now we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this surpassingly great power is from God and not from us.
[8] We are hard pressed on all sides, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;
[9] persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/2co.4.7-9.BSB
But spiritual toughness isn’t about being cold or unfeeling; it’s about what holds your frame together when the sea gets rough. When your life is anchored in faith and covered in grace, the enemy’s fiery darts and the world’s heavy blows simply bounce off. Hold fast to your course, stand firm in His strength, and trust that in Christ, you really are like the companion cliché to the one above: Tough As Nails. 🛠️
My thanks to Google’s Gemini for much of this history, and to Ancestry for the connections to my Great Great Great Grandfather.
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🎵 Route 66—Part 2; My Personal Memoir of The Mother Road
by Crystal A Murray (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
This time, instead of pictures, I’ll tell you a little story about my first introduction to The Mother Road. (Warning: I think this post shows my ADHD mind a little, but it’s got some fun stuff in it. 😁)
I was 15 and was still living with my grandparents who decided to move from the island in California to the desert in Arizona. The trip included a stop at a restaurant called Pea Soup Andersen’s where I had some of the most amazing split pea soup I can ever recall tasting. I know the two truck stops we gassed up at were in Buttonwillow and Barstow, CA. Looking back at the map, Santa Nella (where the restaurant is located) is about two hours north of Buttonwillow and over four hours from Barstow, so it must have been quite the driving stretch to make that stop.
Hey, I was a teen who didn’t drive (and didn’t want to back then), and I was mostly paying attention to my kitty who was not very happy with traveling for the first time. But I remember the soup like it was yesterday, especially how they put croutons on top.
Anyway, we got to Kingman, Arizona late at night, and it was so dark! It was actually eerie, so I guess it wasn’t one of those nights where the moon lights up the desert like it’s midday.
But it was in adulthood that I learned about the road that served as the main drive through that town. My Uncle Bob (rip) was enamored with the history of it—and the song. (If you click the history link, it’s got a short but interesting post about Route 66 and its decertification followed by some comments that add even more history.) Anyway, it turns out that when Uncle Bob was a firefighter in California, he went to the jazz nightclub where Bobby Troup performed. He even had Bobby write a song for his wife at the time.
So Uncle Bob became one of the biggest fans of my singing and, because of that connection, sent a tape to Bobby Troup who listened and said it was good, but added that nothing compared to his Julie. (Bobby was married to Julie London who played Nurse Dixie McCall on Emergency! where he played Dr. Joe Early.) He sent signed pictures for my sister and me showing him and Julie. Sadly, over the years, those pictures seem to have disappeared—along with a picture of us as little girls with Kevin Tighe. (Kevin played firefighter-paramedic Roy DeSoto on Emergency! We actually stumbled across an episode being filmed once in Sun Valley, so we stopped to watch. He was super friendly with all the fans; and when my stepdad asked if he could take a picture of us with him, he asked a kid near him to hold his coffee and said, “Sure!” with a big smile on his face.)
But I digress. Here is the Bobby Troup version of Get Your Kicks on Route 66 (which was also the theme song of the show by the same name.) If you listen closely, you’ll hear him sing the name of Kingman right after Flagstaff and Winona, and just before Barstow.
If you live along Route 66 in Arizona, you’ll eventually come across the Route 66 Fun Run. It brings out some of the most amazing classic cars to show off as they traverse the scenic stretch from Seligman (yesterday’s post) to Topock, Arizona. Between witnessing that firsthand and sharing in Uncle Bob’s excitement, it was natural to become a bit of a fan myself.
There’s way more I could share—from my numerous stops at Lou Mitchell’s in Chicago to the giant McDonald’s that arches right over the highway on The Will Rogers Turnpike, to the Route 66 museum in Oklahoma City. I’ve included plenty of links, so bookmark this post to come back when you’ve got time for some virtual touring. I’ll try to follow this up on November 11th when Route 66 celebrates its centennial anniversary, though I think that party has already begun in some places!
I have to say, the resilience of the travelers and fans that keep the history alive with memories and celebrations is amazing. It brings to mind the Scripture about remembering the old paths.
Jeremiah 6:16ab BSB
[16] This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths: ‘Where is the good way?’ Then walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.
https://bible.com/bible/3034/jer.6.16.BSB
I will close with the factoid that the song above has been officially recorded well over 500 times. The original was in 1946 by the Nat King Cole Trio. The most recent was by John Mayer in 2006 for the movie Cars, and somewhere in-between, there was even a dark synth-pop electronic version by Depeche Mode. My Aunt Shirley (Uncle Bob’s wife) really liked that version.
Here are those three videos for your comparative listening pleasure.
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Do You Bounce?
Some things hit the ground and go splat. Some hit and shatter. Some bounce. Obviously, bouncing is the best response because it means that instead of staying down, you will rise back up. The fancy word for this is resiliency. Resilient people can bounce back like cartoon characters who never seem to find a permanent splat even if they have to pump themselves back up. It’s an important characteristic that some have naturally, but which we can also learn.
Yeshua knew the ultimate bounce–from death to life. Today’s Infinite Supply talks about how Yeshua’s resiliency can help us bounce too.
Infinite Supply Image for November Twenty-Fourth by The School of Christ Click image to open a new tab/window to view the original article at The School of Christ dot org website.
November 24
Accomplished Through the Cross
“We were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”
ROMANS 6:4
The Cross is the means by which God reduces us to Christ, that we may be raised to new Life. What cannot be accomplished in a lifetime of self-effort is easily accomplished in God through the Cross.
We may take many shortcuts along the way and attempt to escape the inevitable, but the day we cease striving and meekly accept the Cross we find everything is done for us.
Source: Embrace the Cross by Chip Brogden
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The trick Yeshua used to bounce back is found in The Holy Spirit. Yeshua didn’t have to fear dying to His earthly self because He knew He would rise again in both body and spirit. He knew death was not permanent, and He knew His new life was worth more than His old life. He also knew the true value of His death–a new life for all those who trust in Him.
I find that people who don’t know The Lord are typically either hopeless or put their hope into things that are likely to destroy them in the end. If they choose the latter, they may look happy in the midst of their partying, but take it away from them and you’ll see how unhappy they are on the inside. If people put their happiness and security in anything this world has to offer, they are only happy as long as they are comfortable.
To the contrary, people who intimately know Yeshua as their Lord, Savior, and Best Friend have hope in spite of discomforts in their lives. The blood of Christ covers us like “Flubber” and helps us both endure and bounce. Serving and loving God gives us the resiliency to bounce back if only to rebound with enough hope to trust in the eternal life He has prepared for our future.
If you are on your way down and know you won’t bounce, it’s not too late to get covered by the blood of Christ in repentance and baptism. Accept the cross and fall at the feet of the Lord before you fall to the bottom of your life, and you can bounce up to a new life and a new hope. When you die to yourself, you open the door for God to raise you up to the newness of life. There’s nothing more resilient than resurrection. Do you bounce? If not, feel free to write to me and ask for more information.
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