I am heading south today for a week on Edisto Island where I intend to kayak with dolphins and work on my next book. (FYI, I finished Book 3 in the Unlikely Friends series and it is being fact checked by an expert and then on to my editor. I start Book 4 while recharging on Edisto Island! If you haven't started my series, I recommend it. It is filled with animals, God, and strong messages of overcoming, forgiveness, and hope in difficult circumstances. Click HERE for book 1.)
JUST IN CASE I track some amazing dolphins while kayaking on the intracoastal waterways, I want my camera hands-free ready. In the past, I have used a selfie stick to hold my phone, and then I extend that onto my kayak prow, and wedge it under my legs to keep it from falling in the water. It is not an ideal set up...though it works. I am able to keep kayaking while video-taping whatever creatures are in the water in front of me, but it is not a secure and fool proof set up. (And whenever I am involved, FOOL-proof is necessary.)
While pondering this problem, I thought of a possible solution. I have recently seen some pretty amazing new phone mounts for dashboards using magnets to secure the phone to the mount. I figured surely there would be a way to attach one of those mounts to my kayak, and then my phone can go off and on the mount easily with the magnet adhered to the back of my phone case.
HOURS later, I still hadn't found one that looked like it would work. In a last ditch effort, I discovered one that had a suction cup bottom, was a perfect height for a kayak prow mount, and used magnets to hang on to my phone. I then talked with folks in the hardware aisle about a glue that would be waterproof, instant drying, and that I could use to secure the suction cup bottom to my kayak bow.
They looked askance at me, as I though I were a little crazy. However, they helped me find what would possibly work.
Armed with my dubious plan and supplies, I headed home. I was a little concerned about permanently gluing the suction cup mount to my kayak. What if it didn't work? How would I get it off my kayak?
However, for several years I have tried jury-rigging some sort of solution, and nothing has worked perfectly. Maybe this was worth a try. If it didn't work, I would have only wasted $20 and a few days of the limited span of years left to me.
When I got home, I pulled my kayak out of the car. A metal plate is screwed to the center of its bow with the name of the boat model. It is right where I wanted my suction cup to go. Thinking there was NO WAY the suction cup designed to attach to the windshield would stick to the metal plate, I tried it anyway.
I was dumbfounded. It stuck. I yanked on it. It was stuck really securely. I attached the magnet to my phone cover and stuck my phone on the magnetic mount. It stayed. Everything stayed. Almost as though it were all designed for this purpose... almost as though some higher power was smiling and made it all work just because HE COULD.
Then I sat in my kayak on the driveway and turned on my camera on its new mount. The camera position was spot-on perfect for catching the water line that would be in my view and any dolphins in front of me.
I cheered. And held my arms up to heaven. I don't know why God is so good and so gracious and so attentive to so many of my silly needs, but there is no doubt that He is. I hope this story encourages you. For sure, God is in the big things in life. What a marvel that He is even in the little things.
(For you praying types, my mom goes to the doc today and for various reasons, we need a miracle that the doc will recommend she get her splint off and her dominant arm can start weight bearing therapy today. Thanks. I am hoping God sent the message of the phone mount to encourage me not to worry!)
*****************
Romans 8:26
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know
what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us
with groanings too deep for words.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.