Does God Flirt?

"The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one

who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; and he will exult over you with loud singing."

Zephaniah 3:17

While my family was visiting Acadia National Park this summer, we decided to visit Bar Harbor.  This quaint little town not only has amazing ice cream, but there is the coolest land bridge that goes from Bar Harbor to a little island that hosts a short hike up to a pretty view. 

The only catch is you have to make it back before high tide. You don't make it back and you are stuck until the next low tide because they have warned you, and they mean it. The next low tide is late at night, and that water is icy cold. Swimming back is NOT an option. 

So with the other families we were camping with, we lazily walked across this land bridge and enjoyed the shells and tiny sea creatures.

But as we got to the little island, the trail head sign for the hike made it very clear that we should have been making our way back to Bar Harbor a good 30 minutes prior. High tide was coming. 

Being the conflicted rule-following-adventurer that I am, I could not give up a chance to see the view. I have taken on Mark's quest for beauty, after all. I rationalized the land bridge was still very visible and the trail was only a quick mile up and back. But according to the warning, we were clearly supposed to go back to immediately.  

Many of our group decided to head back. It had been such a lovely day and why ruin it with getting stranded?  But my friend Aimee and I gave each other a "What is the worst thing that could happen?" look and someone grabbed the nearest park wranger. "Do we seriously need to head back now?...really?"  He leaned a little closer and whispered something like, "You have about 30 minutes...hustle and you can make it." 

A few of us took off, building up a sweat as we were determined to beat the tide. These would be the crazy few friends I might be spending the night with here on this little island if we didn't make it back in time. There was the perfect amount of exhilaration.  

And as we started up the trail, I said to Aimee, "The perfect end of this hike would be to come back down with the tide rising, but with the water only ankle deep." 

I said it as a wish.  I didn't need a dramatic stranding, but it delighted me to think we might get back just in time. Our plan was working until we made a bad turn and lost the trail, and this brought a sense of urgency.  We had lost critical time and the tide wouldn't wait for us.  After a quick picture of the view we ran down the trail only to see the land bridge almost completely covered with water.  And as we started the splashing back to safety, I couldn't help but notice the exact depth of the water was ankle deep.

And I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the attention to detail was God telling me He loved me.  I believe He hears our wishes and like a love-struck boyfriend wants to make them come true.   He is a great flirt, this God I know. And when we delight in Him, He delights in us, and then everything around us, all throughout the day becomes a love song. Whisper your wishes to Him and then look around and see what happens.

"Suddenly, the world is a love song, and I realize that the Lord knows exactly how to blow my mind, what it takes. And when I look around and see that beauty, I realize just how close God is."

Mark Rodriguez