Happy Monday, friends!
My schedule got very, very derailed in the middle of writing the Sunday Soak - which I will share next week instead. Today, I’m just going to share my unexpected weekend adventure and a word of worship at the end.
OK, so what happened was that I went on vacation to see my family. On Friday, as I was writing and periodically shooting red squirrels, we got news that my great aunt had a stroke. We spent a lot of time at the facility where she’s been living since her dementia took a hard turn. It was just a TIA, but a scary day nonetheless, and I wasn’t able to finish my post in time to leave for my next adventure.
On Saturday, I took a trip with my other aunt to “see what we see”. We ended up driving from Traverse City across the Mackinac Bridge to St. Ignace, where we went through the Ojibwa Museum and found ourselves amidst a classic car show. As we sat by the bay watching the ferries come and go from Mackinac Island, my aunt exclaimed, “Let’s go to Sault Ste. Marie”, so we drove north another hour and found ourselves watching the big ships of the Great Lakes go through the Soo Locks.
I hadn’t been to the Soo Locks since I was a kid, but soon found out my aunt hadn’t been there ever! Travelers first began to manipulate this waterway in 1798 by building passages for canoes and other smaller boats to pass from Lake Superior and the St. Mary’s River, a 21-ft drop through a series of rapids. French explorers and Native Americans particularly traded furs during this time, but eventually lumber and other resources needed to be traded from Canada down into Lake Huron to reach Detroit and Lake Michigan to reach Chicago. The first lock project began in the mid-1800s, but the matter became urgent during WWII when the need for supplies going down to industrial towns became urgent for the war effort. So the MacArthur Lock was completed in 1943, followed by the Poe Lock later in 1968 when globalization caused a booming demand for resources and the need for larger ships and a larger lock. The Poe Lock was constructed in 1896, but rebuilt in 1968, and it is 1200 ft long to accommodate the thirteen working 1000’ ships that go through them, along with many 600-800-ft ships. They’re now working on an expansion project to add another lock the size of the Poe to allow for more efficient traffic.
The entire project really wows me. We went on the Famous Soo Locks boat tour and rode through the MacArthur lock just as the James R. Barker - a 1004’ freighter - was approaching the Poe from the opposite direction. The captain told us that the ship only had 5’ of clearance total to slide into the lock. (As someone who has to park a Lincoln Navigator, this resonated with me.)
What’s really astonishing is that it takes 22 million gallons to raise a ship to the next level, and it is done entirely by gravity - no pumps needed!
We went up a ways to see the steel mill, and on the way back through the locks the second time got to see the Barker emerge from the Poe Lock, signaling her departure with a blow from her horn, known as the “Barker Bark”. An oversized tug boat called the “Ottaway” then met her with supplies and clean clothing for the crew as she continued her journey. (The locals affectionately call her “Big Daddy Barker”, and she barks again and she salutes the coast guard and campground as she enters and leaves Sault Ste. Marie.) On her 30-hour journey, she would navigate down the St. Mary’s River, hang a right to travel along the north end of Lake Huron and cross into Lake Michigan under the Mackinac Bridge, then make her way down to Indiana to deliver her cargo.
I walked away with a few thoughts to ponder:
The audacity it takes to build a 1000’ ship that will carry 70,000 tons of materials, which would take a train 586 cars, and the incredible feat it was to build them so well in the 1970s and 1980s that all but one are still running today.
The audacity of a team of engineers to say “we can build a series of locks to accommodate all of the shipping on the Great Lakes” and the incredible feat it was to complete, maintain, and continue to improve them over many decades.
The audacity of the US government to make them toll-free for ships to pass through and free for anyone who wishes to come watch the ships come and go from a simple viewing platform.
I think my biggest takeaway came from the humility I felt that I, even living in THE Steel City, tend to forget what it takes to make this country operate. As much as I hate consumerism and so much of the way we’re headed, the men and women who work so hard to make all of it happen are everyday heroes that largely comprise our nation. Men like my husband who show up every day to make steel stronger and rarely see the fruit of their labor, even though we all gain from it. Those who make sure 1000’ ships can pass through the locks unscathed for decades. The little old lady in the gift shop who delights in telling people about her town’s special relationship with the ships so that tourists continue to feel welcome and share in that experience, boosting the economy of that town. The men who run the ships, sacrificing many months at a time from being with their families or having a normal life.
It gave me a renewed sense of patriotism to remember that America is not made up of a few political figures or Greco-Roman-inspired buildings. We fly our flags because we are a people who show up, work hard, work as important pieces of a much greater picture, and know that the fruits of our labor are for something greater than ourselves, even as we often get to enjoy them too. It is still “We the People” of these United States. I know it’s not everyone and that there are a lot of loud-mouths out there making us think there’s no one left like us, but maybe it’s just that most people are just too busy busting their butts, doing things like mowing my mom’s lawn today and laying my grandma’s new carpet tomorrow, and making sure ships can pass through locks tonight to spend all their time whining on Facebook, crying on TikTok, and starting movements that only last for a moment.
The audacity it took to build those locks is truly an American legacy. The legacy it took for a group of passionate men to begin challenging a government across the Atlantic Ocean and to believe they could build something greater, something that paid hard work in freedom, and something that could both endure and grow as human ingenuity and, yes, audacity did. The faith it took for young men to fight and often to sacrifice for that endeavor, and to continue to do so for generations. It was a great reminder headed into this Fourth of July week.
But a final takeaway is this. The Edmund Fitzgerald remains an unsolved mystery and a very relevant one today. Although there has been much speculation, debate, diagramming, and concluding, no one has ever solved the mystery of why that ship sank in those great waters except that the lake overcame her. Lake Superior has never become a joke in the eyes of an engineer. It is most fearsome among the Great Lakes, and ships are built to sustain her moods, not to defeat them.
No matter how advanced our knowledge and skill, we can only design things that protect us from and work with nature. As we know from the aging dams, God’s creation will always ultimately overcome man’s. He’s not going to let us show Him up, and as great as nature is and can be, the God who created it all is far greater and greatly to be feared.
I suppose the theme of the trip was humility. I was humbled by the kindness and generosity of my aunt to lead me on such an adventure. I was humbled by the hard work of the people we encountered and their endless servitude. I was humbled by the captain of our ship, a naval veteran, who came out of the bridge multiple times to see if there was anything else we would like to learn or know along our tour. I was humbled by the Barker and its “bark” and its familial relationship with the town, though their cheeks had never touched. I was humbled by the greatness of the winds that blew in from Lake Superior as we toured much smaller things that were still far greater than we. It is good to experience physical and spiritual things that make us feel small.
We are but a drop in the bucket of time, space, heaven, earth, and all creation. How overwhelming to know that though we are dust, the Lord made each one of us fearfully and wonderfully, and He loves us mightily. Far more mightily than anything we might ever behold, and we are far too small to behold much might.
Psalm 147 came to mind as I was writing, so I will leave us here for today:
1 Praise the Lord.
How good it is to sing praises to our God,
how pleasant and fitting to praise him!2 The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
he gathers the exiles of Israel.3 He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.4 He determines the number of the stars
and calls them each by name.5 Great is our Lord and mighty in power;
his understanding has no limit.6 The Lord sustains the humble
but casts the wicked to the ground.7 Sing to the Lord with grateful praise;
make music to our God on the harp.8 He covers the sky with clouds;
he supplies the earth with rain
and makes grass grow on the hills.9 He provides food for the cattle
and for the young ravens when they call.10 His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse,
nor his delight in the legs of the warrior;11 the Lord delights in those who fear him,
who put their hope in his unfailing love.12 Extol the Lord, Jerusalem;
praise your God, Zion.13 He strengthens the bars of your gates
and blesses your people within you.14 He grants peace to your borders
and satisfies you with the finest of wheat.15 He sends his command to the earth;
his word runs swiftly.16 He spreads the snow like wool
and scatters the frost like ashes.17 He hurls down his hail like pebbles.
Who can withstand his icy blast?18 He sends his word and melts them;
he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow.19 He has revealed his word to Jacob,
his laws and decrees to Israel.20 He has done this for no other nation;
they do not know his laws.Praise the Lord.
Friends, I encourage you to go somewhere you can feel small. The small that makes you feel safe and secure, and yet not in your own abilities. Go see something that makes you remember how held and loved you are by the Lord, and may all that is created testify to His power and divine nature, that you may be encouraged by His love all around you.