Category: lighthouse

Trust: Assured Reliance on the Character, Ability, Strength, or Truth of

Intuition Diaries

This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls.
It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary.
 Hebrews 6:19 NLT

 

 
A pattern is emerging this last week of the trip, a modified routine. We travel to the next port, then stay a day, travel and stay, travel and stay. We plan to head home by the end of the week.

 After a day and a half at Frankfort, we set out to Luddington State Park about 48 miles south to climb 130 steps to the top of Michigan’s tallest lighthouse, the Big Sable Point Light. The waves were fairly tame that morning, but we still took it slow to conserve gas. We planned to spend the night at a marina in Luddington, where we could see the Badger again. A 1950s era, steam engine car ferry, which we encountered entering the harbor of Manitowoc, WI.

S. S. Badger
The wind picked up, creating bigger waves, which kept us at our slow pace. The hazy sky made the sightseeing bland, not as crisp as the previous days. But even with these conditions we were able to admire the dunes marking the shoreline of Lake Michigan.

After lunch, we were closing in on our destination. I had a bit of a headache, and was beginning to wonder if it was such a good idea to anchor offshore in 1-2 feet waves, while we wandered up to the lighthouse.

Les thought it was doable. I was hesitant. I was in unknown territory. Was it okay to anchor offshore from a state park? Would we get in trouble? (Irrational fears, I know.) But my biggest question centered on a trust issue? Would the anchor hold?

We dropped the anchor in three feet of turbulent water. The boat was rocking erratically and I was panicking. The boat was doing its job. The waves were being waves, but I just didn’t believe that the anchor would hold the boat in one spot. Les reassured me that it would be fine. So I reluctantly climbed off the boat into the lake and waded to shore, while our dear boat was tossing in the waves.
 
I revoiced my concern about whether the anchor would really hold. Les nonchalantly remarked, “It held the last sixty times we used it, why would it not hold this time?”
 
I mumbled, “I dunno.” We continued our walk up the beach to the lighthouse.

We climbed up the 130 steps, enjoyed spectacular views, saw our boat rolling gently on the waves from high above the lake . After viewing the vast landscape, we climbed back down the 130 steps, and headed back along the shore to the boat, which was right where we left it.
 

 

 
Our anchor held!

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Doubt: To Lack Confidence In

But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. ( James 1:6 NKJV)
The Intuition Diaries 
About midway through our Lake Michigan boat trek, I had a bout with doubt.

We left Rock Island early to cross the wavy sea to make our way to Escanaba, a small town on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The waves tossed us to and fro, as we were travelling in a beam sea, which means the waves push your vessel from the side. Nice rocking motion if you want to put a baby to sleep, or get seasick.

I tried to fight the motion sickness, and Les offered me the remedy; drive the boat. But even taking the helm was difficult today, because at first I had nothing on the horizon to focus on. I had to go on faith, trusting the computer chart to direct me. I wanted to quit driving, but I knew the alternative would be worse, headache with nausea all day.

I had to roll with the waves, and trust the unmarked route. I had to rely on the tried and tested navigation aids that would get us through this turbulent sea.  Several minutes into the rocking and the rolling, I spotted a stationary object on the horizon. Just the focal point I needed to persevere on the path.

 

This light stands out on the middle of the lake far from the shore. It marks an underwater shoal, a natural rock wall that can cause damage to a ship. Before this adventure, I didn’t even know that these lights existed on Lake Michigan.

 

This person of faith may know her destination, but at times when nothing is on the horizon, doubts buffet me like the waves of a beam sea on a vessel crossing the water.

 

Thanks be to God for putting unexpected markers along the route to realign my faith in Him, and lead me to the ultimate destination—forever with HIM!

 

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Sojourn: A Temporary Stay

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

(1 Corinthians 4:16-18 NIV)


The Intuition Diaries

As we travelled from port to port, we would either rent a transient slip (a boat “campsite” at a marina, assigned to those passing through) or we anchored out.

Upon arriving in the Door County area, we chose to anchor out near Sturgeon Bay, WI. We had a pleasant morning puttering our way up the coast of Wisconsin. We stopped in Kewaunee to use the post office and pick up a few groceries. We used their public dock and literally had to climb up to get on solid ground.
 
 

It was a quaint, quiet town with a very slow pace. Two things happened there that made us smile. Outside the post office we saw a man run the lawn mower up the sidewalk, while it was running. We had no idea why he did it, but he did. The postmaster was a hoot as well, whenever I made a comment, he would say, “You’re probably right.”

 I thanked him for being so agreeable.

We left there, and headed to the canal that cuts through the Door County peninsula via Sturgeon Bay. There we were greeted by a light that marked the canal. We stopped for gas and ice at one of the marinas along the canal. We were marked by peace and settling into this pace of travelling by boat with the expectations of more adventures and relaxation ahead.

 

With all the beauty around us, you’d think it would be hard to become discouraged, but even on vacation we faced “light and momentary troubles.”

Last night after we anchored out in a very picturesque cove, named Sawyer Bay, we were accosted by flies. The stillness invited the flies to swarm around our boat. I had brought along a handy all-natural fly contraption to catch them. It had some debris in the bottom, so I thought I’d just dump it in the lake. In doing so, I dropped the plastic container. In my desire to rid myself of pesky flies, I jumped into the lake to make a rescue effort. In my haste, I forgot that I had my glasses on my head. The impact of my kersplash into the lake caused me to lose both the container and my glasses.

We looked and looked for the glasses. I waded around in the three feet of weedy terrain under the water to feel for the glasses with my feet. I cried and cried because of my foolish attempt to rescue a plastic container. I went to bed discouraged.

 

But joy comes in the morning.  (A good cup of coffee and the rising of the sun reminded me that God is good, even if I am foolish.)

Temporary upsets cannot outweigh the Presence of God in our lives. He never leaves or forsakes us, even when we temporarily lose our common sense.

I never found the glasses, but I did find out that God loves me despite my reckless attempts to rescue something that I really could live without. The flies still pestered us, I never found the glasses, and I cried myself to sleep, yet in the morning I was still able to rejoice in God and his goodness.
I did have contact lens with me, but somehow after this experience I felt like I had clearer vision, as result of losing the eyeglasses.

 

 
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