I had the amazing opportunity to travel up the Big Chute yesterday. If you’ve had the chance to do this, you know what an unusual experience it is. This marine railway is an engineering marvel, lifting several boats at once, out of one lake, and delivering them to another.
Our boat was literally picked up, hauled over a hill, and across a road on a dry platform, and then released into another lake. It’s really quite incredible.
On board, we were (generally)at peace with the process. But if I could interview our boat about its experience on the Big Chute, I imagine it would express a very different perspective. Doing its boat thing in Lake Huron and then dry docked and hauled precariously up a hill, only to be placed in a new body of water.... I imagine, if the boat could talk, it would tell us the Big Chute experience was unsettling at the least.
Life is like this sometimes, isn’t it. We find ourselves dry docked or in situations we wouldn’t necessarily choose for ourselves. Unwelcome changes, losses, news.... these changes can be painful and scary. We may sit looking at the situation wondering how anything good could possibly come from this.
In my life, I’ve called these Big Chute experiences; Divine Re-positionings. When God plucks me out of one thing, and places me into another thing. It’s often awkward. It’s sometimes painful. And it always requires trust in Him and His hands.
And every single time, without exception, He’s right. His Big Chute, Divine Re-positions are better for me than any plan I could muster up or slug my way through. I don’t always see the rightness or goodness until later, but that’s the trust part.
I stood on that boat yesterday at the top of the Big Chute, and was in awe of this incredible experience. At times, the trip up was bumpy. There were some creaks and vibrations that left me holding my breath and looking to my captain for reassurance. But when we got to the top, and took in the beautiful view and the incredible engineering required for this trek up the hill, it all made sense. Gods plans are always higher. His ways are always greater. Even when the re-positioning is bumpy and the outcome feels uncertain. Even when I don’t understand and my heart aches. Every single time, my life is always better when I turn the controls over to my Captain.
I’m grateful for these real life examples that remind me to keep my eyes fully focused on Him. The Divine Re-positionings and Big Chute experiences are His hands in our lives. And how awesome it is to be loved so deeply by the Creator of the Universe that He finds us valuable enough to invest in.
~N
(For more information on the Big Chute Marine Railway, visit www.discovermuskoka.ca)