Sunset on the Lake

I was reveiwing my photos from last week and thought (pardon me for the brag :) how beautiful the sunset turned out. My mind wandered to the trip up and how I was soooo wanting to see a sunset on Lake Michigan. We were past our usual stop at South Haven (exit 20 to walk out to the lighthouse should anyone care to know) by the time the sun was going down. But Tony, trying to give me the desires of my heart, decided we would try getting off at Holland. I was reading the map and though it was several miles off the beaten path, I did manage to get us to a place called Castle Park, which looked to be right on the water.

After driving for what felt like forever we were coming to the end of the road and no park in site. Finally around the last curve, we spotted a sign that read, CASTLE PARK, PRIVATE PROPERTY. We were really aggravated to say the least because it was actually on the map. I guess I figured that things on the map were open to the public or that you could at least get in by paying an entrace fee.

We turned around and drove up the shoreline trying to find another way in to no avail. Finally we realized we were lost. We pulled over and thank the Lord for wireless laptops and yahoo maps were able to get back to the freeway with no problems. We also found out we'd been following the shore of an inlet, Lake Macatawa, rather than the actual lake.

After the week of seeing family and celebrating our nation's independence, we were once again working our way along the shore of Lake Michigan hoping to explore a few stops that we hadn't had time for on other trips. It just so happened that we came upon the little tourist town of New Buffalo and were able to find a place to stop as the sun was preparing to set. I hadn't even had my hopes up this time. But there it was right before us...that peaceful moment at the end of the day when all seems to be right in the world. Wow! Gorgeous!

My mind goes back to the verse, Psalm 37:4&5 "Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass." He really does want to give us things that we don't NEED to but WANT. I can think of a few examples:

• When looking around New Castle for a house to rent, we discovered one on Sunnyside Ave. We loved the location but the house was already rented. We ended up on the opposite side of town but shortly after getting settled, we were offered a position for minister's of music at the Pilgrim Holiness Church. Included in the offer was housing and guess where the house was? Sunnyside Ave...pretty much across the road from the house we initially looked at - and rent was free!
• A few years later while renting a house in Michigantown with no plans to move anytime soon much less buy our own home, we were at Tony's parents for Christmas. On a drive to his grandma's we passed a little house with fancy scrollwork in the corners of the porch. I told Tony that we needed to have his dad take a picture of it for us sometime. When we got ready to buy our own house, that is something I would like...not too fancy but just enough embellishment. Five months later, we found out we might need to move as someone was interested in buying the house we were renting. We started looking and in answering a rental ad found out that the landlord also had a house being renovated that would soon be for sale. We went to look it over and yep, you guessed it, fancy scrollwork in the corners of the porch. I was convinced immediately that it was meant for us.

And these are all just little details. But I feel strongly that they show if God cares about these little things, how much more He cares about the big things. Now if we could only remember that when it's important!!