I had four weeks off work while they re-did the line for the new vehicle that was soon coming out. During that time, my friend Debi and I decided to go up north for the last nine days of May to look at waterfalls. Her Mom has a cabin in Marquette County and let us use it.
Sunday night, I stopped at Debi’s house. She told me that her Mom had given her some stuff to take up to Brad (Debi’s brother) who lived near the cabin. She wanted me to remind her the next morning to pack it in my car. Uh huh.
The next morning, Monday, came. We were all packed (at least, we thought so) got in the car and were ready to go. We decided earlier that we would put an equal amount of money into a kitty for mutual expenses. As I was about to pull out, I asked Debi if she had an envelope for us to put the money into.
“Yes. There’s one in my car,” Debi said. “Oh! We’ve got to get the stuff for Brad out of my car!” She got the envelope, we packed Brad’s stuff in my car and were off.
Thank you George!
Shortly after we got on the road, it started raining. We were heading north on I-75, up the mitten. There’s a rest stop heading north near Indian River. It has a scenic over-look where people can go stand on it and wave to the people going by on I-75. We wanted to do some letter-boxing while we were on our vacation and there was one at this site. Even though it was pouring down rain, we pulled off as planned. Just before we parked the car, it stopped raining. We got out, looked for the letter-box, did “the wave” and got back in the car. Soon it was raining again.
When we crossed the Mackinac Bridge, we stopped on Highway 2 to get pasties for lunch at Lehto’s. Again, the rain stopped for us. The next rest stop we stopped at, the rain was pouring down when we pulled in. We were sitting there for a second because we were going to get drenched.
The rain stopped.
All day long the rain seemed to be stopping for us. It wasn’t raining while we were at Brad’s, Wagner Falls or Autrain Falls. When we reached Laughing Whitefish Falls, it was raining so we went on by. Quickly, I turned around. “Why not?” we decided. We came to see waterfalls and we were going to see waterfalls. We got out and it was sprinkling just a few drops, but in a few minutes – you guessed it – the rain stopped. We saw the falls, we got unpacked at the cabin and then later that night it started raining again.
Thank you George!
Tuesday morning we headed out to the Visitor’s Center in Marquette. We let them know we were there to see waterfalls. What could they tell us? They had a pamphlet behind the counter that they gave us about all the waterfalls in the area. They only had three left. When we got in the car, Debi said she would put that special pamphlet in the sun visor so we could find it. Uh huh.
All day it was overcast. I didn’t even wear my sunglasses once that day. We first went to Presque Isle. After that we ate a lunch at McCarty’s Cove on Lake Superior. We got in the car and were looking through all our pamphlets, maps, booklets, etc. to find that one special pamphlet about waterfalls. We couldn’t find it. Just then, the sun started shining brightly through the car window.
“I can’t see,” Debi said, reaching up to pull the visor down. The pamphlet we were looking for fell in her lap. We couldn’t believe it. We spent an awesome afternoon at Dead River Falls.
Thank you George!
For the whole nine days we were there, the rain never once interfered with our plans. It seemed to be timing itself around us. The temperature through the days were mostly in the 50’s, which was perfect. It kept mosquitoes and flies away because it was too cold. Also, for hiking along trails and looking for waterfalls, it was the perfect temperature. If it was hotter, we would’ve been roasting and miserable.
Thank you George!
By now, I’m sure you’ve guessed that when I’m thanking George, I’m talking about God, my Lord and Savior, but you’re probably wondering why I’m calling him George. I will share with you the story about how that got started.
When my kids were young, I didn’t work outside the home but I did do a lot of babysitting. One day I took my two sons and the three brothers I was watching to Price Nature Center. When we were walking back to the car it started raining. We all ran to the car. After a couple minutes the rain stopped and the sun came out.
The oldest brother threw his arms up, looked up to the sky and said, “Thank you Lord!”
His younger, three-year-old brother, wanted to be like him. He looked at the sky, threw his arms up and shouted, “Thank you George!”
Priceless.
Ever since then, I would sometimes think of that, smile and refer to God as George. Some people would say that’s disrespectful. I don’t agree. My Grandfather’s name was George. He was a fun, easy-going man who loved his family, neighbors and friends. There wasn’t a thing he wouldn’t do to help others. That is how I think of my God.
When a big miracle happens, most of us recognize this as God’s doing and give him the credit. However, we tend to brush the little miracles off as a coincidence or having a run of good luck. I don’t believe luck or coincidence has anything to do with it. God loves us and cares for us. He is there for us in the bad times and even helps us with the little things that make life so grand.
So, for all the big and little things He does for us, I just want to say one more time…
THANK YOU GEORGE!
Michigan Mary 