# 29 Manicouagan Reservoir, QC: Eye Opener

Yesterday we had lunch at a tear duct in the Eye of Quebec.  It's a big eye.  You don't need a detailed map to spot it.  But it can't be a very old map.  The Eye only opened in the 1960's.  Before that it was as invisible to the map-gazer's view as it's quintuplet sister in Manitoba.

A long time ago, as one theory holds, a large rock was tumbling through space when it broke up into a string of smaller large rocks. These meteorites slammed into the earth from Manitoba to the Ukraine.  When the five-kilometer-wide piece hit Quebec, debris sprayed up and then landed again to form Mount Babel in the center.  The Eye of Quebec is the sixth largest meteorite crater on earth - 100 kilometers in diameter.  But, till recently, went unnoticed by the average Guy.

It wasn't until a hydroelectric dam was built and Manicouagan Reservoir formed a moat around Mt. Babel that the eye popped open.

The day we left Manitoba on our loop around Canada, my sister Ivy asked me to keep in touch.  She wanted to pray along with us on whatever theme we were focused on that day.  We've been doing that.  The theme du jour is usually based on something I read in scripture that morning, or something that Ivy has been meditating on, or something that I know we'll be encountering as we drive.  On yesterday's torturous road from Labrador City and past the Eye of Quebec, our theme combined all three.  

I had read in the morning that "Jesus was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."  Ivy texted her scripture which urged "the blinded to abandon their way of thinking.  Let them come back to the God of light, who is merciful and lavish with forgiveness."  

So as I drove I prayed for Canada but especially for Quebec.  That light would pierce the darkness, and the eyes of the people, like The Big Eye, would be opened to receive it.  That they would turn to their God who would wrap His love around them.  And I sang a song:  

Into the darkness You shine, 

You open the eyes of the blind,

There's no one like you, none like You.




Popular posts from this blog

#1 A Single Step

Image
Laozi said that ‘the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step’. In our case, the journey of 32,000 kilometers started with a date ... at the James Ave Pumphouse Food & Drink in Winnipeg. Adventures are my thing - not Patty’s. Her perfect holiday is visiting family at the end of a tried and familiar path. I thrill to the unknown. Our common ground is wanting to make our lives worthwhile. To walk by God’s leading. So when I get the idea for an adventure (and this happens regularly), the first litmus test to differentiate between a ‘Terry sparkler’ and ‘Divine calling’ is Patty’s response. I have learned that a good presentation doesn’t hurt my cause so I picked the setting carefully. The tables at the Pumphouse overlook a century-old collection of giant pipes and pumps – still covered in original grease. These were used to move Red River water to distant hydrants for fire-fighting. A restaurant with a combination of history (my love) and good food (Patty’s). P...
Read more

#2 The Forks, Winnipeg: Iau Descends

Image
It felt to me like we were standing on holy ground. Probably the same feeling I’d get if I was to visit the location where Moses saw the burning bush and where the tribes of Israel gathered around the base of Mt. Sinai to feel God descending with shaking and thunder and smoke. If I’ve put together the clues correctly, something very similar seems to have happened at the Forks. On the Mountains of the Prairie, On the great Red Pipe-Stone Quarry, Gitche Manito, the mighty, He the Master of Life, descending, On the red craigs of the quarry, Called the tribes of men together. From his footprints flowed a river, Leaped into the light of morning, O’er the precipice plunging downward Gleamed like Ishkoodah, the comet. And the Spirit, stooping earthward, With his finger on the meadow Traced a winding pathway for it, Saying to it, “Run in this way!” An indication that something special had happened here first came to light when an Anishinaabe elder approached Sid Kroker, the head archaeolog...
Read more

#4 Dominion City MB: That’s a Bit Audacious!

Image
A few people tagged along on the first leg of the journey from The Forks to Dominion City. We were hungry and I had promised a special lunch, but first I wanted to tell three stories from local lore. Countess of Dufferin In 1877, t ogether with her husband, the Governor General of Canada, the Countess of Dufferin was visiting Manitoba for diplomatic reasons. I hope she brought her rail-working clothes because she was roped into pounding in the first spike on the first railway in Western Canada. When finished, it would connect Winnipeg with St. Paul, MN. Having done the deed , the Countess and the Governor General boarded a paddlewheeler heading south up the Red River on their way home. En route they passed another paddlewheeler heading north and carrying the Countess of Dufferin. Confused? This particular C of D was a locomotive named after the lady in the other boat. They waved at each other (actually I’m not sure about that) never to see each other again. T he locomotive ...
Read more