God Gives and Takes Away

Back in February, our church did a Lent sermon series on the book of Job.  It seems like a lifetime ago, but it was only a few months back.  My recent vacation with my family reminded me of the theme verse of that series, Job 1:21.

The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.

In late June I tore my calf muscle playing pickleball with my wife.  I had to wear a “peg-leg” or use a scooter just to get around.  The timing was terrible.  I had a vacation coming up to one of my favorite places, the Porcupine Mountains in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  What do you do in the Porkies?  You hike!  Well, that is, if you have use of your calf muscle.  It has been a long time since I had taken a vacation, and this one meant a lot to me.  Ruth and I had honeymooned in the Porkies 20 years ago.  Now we could bring our 4 boys back to enjoy the same sights.  I had to consider whether we could go on the trip at all.

I didn’t consider that very long.  I was determined to go and make the most of the trip.  I rested and iced my calf.  After about a week, I gingerly tested how to walk with minimal use of my calf muscle.  If I did too much too quickly, the muscle could tear again and make things worse.  Every day I felt a little stronger and could walk a little further. 

When we got to the Porkies, we decided to get a fishing license so I could rest my leg while fishing the streams and at least catch some trout.  Meanwhile, I had become rather skilled at walking without my calf muscle, using hiking poles to assist.  I could navigate the many steps down to Lake Superior and the beautiful waterfalls of the Presque Isle River.  I rested frequently on our short hikes, praising God for every beautiful sight I could enjoy with my family.  I fished almost every night and even swam in Lake Superior! 

Every day brought new adventures that filled my heart, but one meaningful hike remained.  Pinkerton Trail was the favorite hike on our honeymoon and I dreamed of taking our boys on it.  The problem?  It was a 6-mile round trip.  We saved it for Monday, our last day there, hoping I could make the journey.

Appropriately, we took Sunday as a Sabbath to rest my leg and take a breather from all the adventures we had.  Ruth and I were sitting on the shore of Lake Superior with our feet in the cool water.  I remarked how grateful to God I was that I could do so much, even as my leg was healing.  Then it hit me.  As good as the hiking was, my luck fishing was lousy!  I turned to Ruth and said, “You know the one thing I haven’t seen on this trip? A FISH!”  Moments later, we looked up to see a bald eagle flying just above us.  What was flopping around in the bird’s talons? A big fish!  There it was!  The only fish I would see on my vacation was caught by the real fisher, an eagle. 

The next day, we hiked the Pinkerton Trail, all 6 miles of it.  We walked the boardwalk and saw the majestic Hemlocks in what looked like an enchanted forest.  We ate lunch on the shores of Superior.  We played in the gentle rapids at the end of the Little Carp River.  The Lord had given.  As I reflect on the experience, the lasting image is the eagle.  I thought God was going to take away my hiking, but He didn’t.  In a show of raptor power, He showed me what He had taken away― my pride.  Thank you God for giving and for taking away.