We found a Groupon for Lake Lawn Lodge for three of the nights, and we do love that place in the summer. They have the best pool around here, overlooking Lake Delavan, and a summer afternoon there is just splendidly beautiful and relaxing. So I searched for other options for a couple more nights, and kept coming up with nothing. Finally, I figured we might as well see if Lake Lawn would give us a couple more nights at the Groupon rate, and they did! So we were booked for most of the week. And then we wondering, "Well, other than eating at our favorite restaurants, what are we going to do all week?"
So I thought: Boat. We're on Lake Delavan, and Lake Geneva is next door. We need a boat.
There were a couple problems, though. My sailboat was still Up Nort, an hour from Green Bay (Go Pack Go!) since it had just been a crazy busy Spring and Summer, so I'd not had time to get it or sail it. And, we don't own another boat. So I searched out rentals to see if that were feasible. Not. Unless you think $400 for a half day is ok. I don't.
A few days later, I kept thinking, we really need a boat. And I thought, I have friends who have boats who won't be using them, surely someone would let me borrow one. But how do you call and ask, "Would you loan me your boat for the week?" It's just not like borrowing a lawn mower, you know? And I thought about all the people I know and stories I'd heard where they need something, pray for it, and Bang, there it is. Right. We usually just go buy what we need instead, right? But buying a boat for a week (though it did occur to me that I could return it....) wasn't in the cards.
And then, I felt something in my spirit that said, "Why don't you ask God for a boat?" And I'm like, right. Really. But for one brief moment in time, I actually believed I could, and so I did, and for one more brief moment in time, I actually believed that God would come through. I know. Crazy. (But He's crazy, too!)
Two hours later, I get home, see my neighbor a couple doors up pulling weeds around his mailbox, and stop the truck to chat. I told him we weren't headed to Annapolis after all, but to Lake Lawn. He'd first introduced us to the place a few years back when they got a Groupon. So he asked if we got a Groupon, and I told him no, and then the story of how we booked it for the same price anyway. And then he said, "Are you taking a boat?" And I about fell out of my truck. First, he knows I don't have a power boat. And he knows my sailboat is still Up Nort. And I said, "No, but I need a boat." And he said, I kid you not: "I can get you a boat..."
And so the next day, we went and got the boat from a friend of his.
So many questions...like, why the boat? Boats don't matter much in the grand scheme of things. Why don't I pray like that for more important things? Well, I do...but do I just say words, or do I believe? And even when I do believe, God often says, "No. Not now," anyway. But for whatever His reasons, this time, He said, "Oh, I've got to do this and blow him away!" And He did. It was crazy, loony, fun, and silly...and just like our God. He reminded me in THIS, that He's hearing all the prayers, knows our hearts, has NOT abandoned us even when we think so, tells me not to believe the enemy's lies, and to never give up. Never. And He reminds me that He really does love surprises, and to delight His beloved.
I just wanted you to know this story. God is good. He proved it with a boat, and drove it deep into my heart at full throttle.
