Yesterday my daughter gave me a picture of my grandson Jude that I had forgotten about. She took it as he reached out to touch a little horny toad that a friend brought to me in the spring. Seeing that picture made me smile because I remembered how much I loved the surprise of the horny toad. I grew up chasing and catching them as a child in Oklahoma, and had not seen one in over 35 years. I know most of you won’t get this, but trust me when I say it meant something significant to me and my Father who created it and brought it to me, knew that it would. That reminder also made me think of the other times God has surprised me with things I will never forget. Like a daddy who brings a present home for his little girl but keeps it inside his pocket until the time is just right to pull it out, and then, the precious daughter squeals with delight as the perfect gift appears at her side.
For me, these gifts usually come in a simple creation package, like an unexpected horny-toad or croaking frogs that I thought were gone forever, or a blackberry bush that I thought had died. Things significant only to me. Other times they arrive in a Mother’s heart box, like a phone call from my son, or a text from my daughter, or the precious voice of my Grandson saying, “Oh hi, Mamo Pam. What you got?”
And my biggest surprise came in a huge box that overflowed. It was the box that held the whales…
The beauty of God’s creation has always mesmerized me, but shows about whales literally glue me to the TV screen. I have a clear memory of watching a film by Jacque Cousteau on whales when I was about 10. My Dad had just bought our first color TV, and I sat with my mouth open as the camera followed alongside a giant humpback whale and its baby. I was hooked from that day on. Then, when I had children, I would gather them around the TV any chance I got to watch the discovery channel and Planet Earth.
Then, a couple of years ago for my anniversary, my husband took me to a bed and breakfast near Carmel to celebrate. As we checked in, we asked some questions and gathered up a few brochures about what we could do in the area, and then went to our room. A while later, I found that amongst the brochures was one about a whale-watching excursion and my enthusiasm was not lost on my husband.
The next morning he asked the girl at the B&B about it, and she said she would check into it for us. He also told her that I get seasick, and wanted to make sure it would really be worth it.
Later that day, she told us that the Captain of a particular whale ship had laughed over the phone when she asked him if they had seen any whales in the last few days and that he told her she should take the day off and come with us.
As we waited to board the boat, the Captain came down to introduce himself, and told us that we were in for a treat. He said that they had not seen whales like they had in the last 2 days in over 50 years. It had something to do with the way the currents were flowing in this one particular area and how the currents were pushing up food from a deep pocket right where the whales where feeding.
As I squeezed Paul’s hand and looked up at him, I am sure what he saw on my face resembled the face of a little girl on Christmas morning, and my heart raced as we boarded the boat.
As the ship cruised out to sea, the Captain spoke to us again over the loudspeaker and told us that there were three types of whales that feed in this area. Baleen Whales and Humpbacks were the most common, but sometimes throughout the years, although rarely, a Blue Whale had been spotted. He said he would talk to us again when we got closer.
About forty minutes later, he told us that he just got off the radio with his colleague who was already in the whale space, and that they were seeing even more whales than yesterday, and that yesterday, they saw fifty. He then told us to find a spot, settle in, and start looking for the sprays that come from the blowholes.
I then wiggled my way up to the front of the boat, settled on a wooden plank and leaned against the railing.
Within minutes, we began to see the sprays, and then a body would surface and a tail would come out as the whale dove back under the water. Then, a few moments later, a giant humpback came out of the water 20 feet in front of me. Its eye was parallel to me, and I could not believe the size of it. Its face was covered with bumps, and I watched it roll onto its back before it dove down and I saw its huge tail come up and out of the water. The force of it sprayed my face and the seawater mixed with my tears. God’s love was all over me as He reminded me how long I had carried this desire in my heart, and how happy it made Him to give this gift to me.
The Captain came over the radio again and said that although Humpbacks were especially playful and curious, he had not seen one get that close to his boat before.
A few minutes later, the Captain came back on to point out a pair of Blue Whales about 150 feet in the distance. In his excitement, he told us to watch for their sprays and that was how he knew they were Blue whales. Still overwhelmed with awe and overwrought with emotion, I saw the sprays and knew what he was talking about. They were so huge I could not believe it. The Captain continued and told that these whales mated for life and that the air comes out of their blowholes at 250 MPH.
Because they were so far away, I could not really get a good read on the enormity of them until one of them dove and its tail came out of the water. Wow! Talk about a tail.
The day could have ended right there and I would have been walking on clouds for hours afterward, but God was not finished with me yet. He had one more surprise in his pocket.
As the boat made a final loop and turned to head back to shore, a family of humpbacks, three of them, popped right out of the water 30 feet to my right. They swam along side the boat for several minutes. First their heads would come out, then their backbones as they rippled along in the water and blew air. After a few minutes, they simply dove away and were gone.
However, I will never forget those minutes. In the precious gift of that time with the whales, nothing on earth existed except my Father, His magnificent creation, and me. Actually, it was three of his magnificent creation to be exact. And that picture, the picture of a Father’s love in giving his daughter the desire of her heart, is one I will cherish and know as long as I live. That is love in its purest and truest form.
