Ask the Creation, and It Will Tell You

I snapped this photo just a few moments before a speeding motor-boat swamped me and filled my kayak with freezing water. More on that later.

The day started well. I went on a long walk on Edisto beach in the morning and snagged that huge conch shell and a couple of smaller ones. My shell collection is growing. Look at the beauty and variety; colors only a master artist could produce!

Then I headed off to kayak, a little worried because the wind was very strong and there were whitecaps on the water. (Remember this is a river right off the ocean, but it is not the ocean itself.) Still, how could I not go when dolphins and eagles might be seen?

The video below shows how strong the wind was to produce such waves. Note that in that video, I am cruising against the current, but the wind is at my back. Most of my three hours kayaking was going against this wind. GRRR.

I was willing to endure the wind and rough sea because the Bald Eagle family was putting on an amazing show for me. The two eagles circled each other high above me, and then swooped lower. They were so graceful, and the only thing I could imagine they were doing was flying for the sheer joy of it. They did not appear to be hunting for food, but playing in the sky!

I was so transfixed watching the eagles, that when a motorboat approached at WAY over the "no wake" speed limit, I didn't think to signal that it better slow down. I didn't worry about my kayak since I was all the way across the river. In fact, I was right next to the opposite shore.

When the waves from that boat crashed into me, they were tsunami proportion (at least to a tiny kayak.) My kayak half filled with water when the first wave crashed over the side of my boat, and then fully filled with the second.

I was very lucky that I was right by shore and it was a muddy patch without razor sharp oyster beds (like most of the shoreline). I stepped out, sank to my ankles in the goop, and began bailing. It took about half an hour. (Note to self: put bailing pump in kayak next trip.) The eagles etched circles in the sky overhead, encouraging me to persevere before the quicksand swallowed me whole.

Fortunately, it was a warm day, and the chill from the dousing passed quickly. Then I heard a motor behind me, and prayed it was not the wild motorboat returning. It was not. It was a slow, tiny motor boat pushing a barge with an RV on it. I wondered if this was his idea of a house boat?

He pulled up to the dock ramp, and a truck with a boat trailer appeared. It took them some finagling but they finally got the barge with the RV on the trailer. This is just not something you see every day, though not as thrilling as a Bald Eagle.

Since this was my dock, and now I was worried about more speeding boats, I almost got out. It might be best to call it a day. But God's messages the past few days have all centered around the following themes: do not be afraid, trust me, delight in the journey on which I am bringing you.

So be it. If I die, I die, but it will be praising the God I love, doing the things I love, in the beauty of His creation I love. Maybe that should be my epitaph. I kayaked on, in search of His wonders.

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Job 12: 7-10

7 “But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you;

8 or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you.

9 Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this?

10 In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.