The Lord looks after us all!

Most of you know me as being, somewhat, full of it...especially when it comes to this blog. Well, here's something that happened in the last couple of days that is no "bull!"

We've started to develop a keen interest in looking for cool "pirate's treasure" in the various anchorages we go to. We don our dive equipment and look around the sea floor under the moorings and anchor areas for...whatever! People doing this have found $$$, fishing poles, various dive equipment, and so on. Karen and I have found an anchor, $20, and the like. It's kind of like dumpster diving. There's a lot of stuff that's just plain interesting. Unfortunately, we also see a lot of garbage such as beer bottles/cans, old motors and transmissions, plastic bags, etc.

Yesterday, we dove here in Trellis Bay, Tortola. This is the place most charter boats visit for the Full-Moon Parties, New Years Eves and so on. We thought it would be a great place to see what there was to see. We had only been under for about 20 minutes when my eye caught the sight of a boat propeller. It wasn't just an ordinary propeller, but one that is designed to fold back on itself...a new Flexofold! These retail for over $1400...in the States. Needless to say, I was "jacked" (EXCITED) I was already trying to figure out if it would fit our boat, and if not, what I could sell it for. I got it back to the boat by dragging it across the sea bed, while Karen stayed above me to keep me in line towards our boat; it weighed about 35# so I wasn't going to just swim it back. When we got back to our boat we discovered our camera had come loose and floated away. It was in a floating underwater case with a bright yellow strap, so we felt it would be easy to see.

We decided to take the dinghy around the bay to look for it...and we looked and looked. Two hours we looked. No camera. Anybody that was out on their boats were asked to keep a look-out for it. When we got back to the boat, I told Karen I was going to snorkle back along our previous route, in the chance it was snagged on something. I finally found the spot where we found the prop. No camera. What I did notice was the boat next to me. No prop! All of a sudden, I realized the $$ were really flying away...no $400 camera and, now, a rightful owner to the prop. I just couldn't figure out how his prop fell off.

Anyway, I swam back to our boat and told the news to Karen. About an hour later, the owner of the "propless" boat came back and I went over and gave it back. They said the boat was brand new and on its first sail from the factory in N. Carolina. To say they were baffled and thankful would be an understatement. I turned down a dinner for Karen and I...instead I just asked them to keep an eye out for the camera.



Steve wasn't angry, he's just Canadian


And like Paul Harvey would say...Now...for the rest of the story!

I told Karen last night that we should get up at 1st light and dinghy over to the shore, in case the camera washed up...I wanted to be there before there were a lot of other people walking along the beach. Although she didn't share it with me, Karen thought it was a dumb idea...it was probably already picked up the previous evening, so it would be a waste of time. But my darling wife humored me and woke me up just before sunrise today to go look for the camera on shore.

So we took the dinghy to Da Loose Mongose and tide to the dock. We walked the entire length of the beach and didn't see anything. Then, walking back towards the dinghy, Karen stopped to watch a number of people getting onto a ferry. When she looked back to continue walking, the camera was there at her feet, floating in the water!! We both just looked at the camera and started laughing. This was too unbelievable to even imagine. We thank the Lord for it all...the guy got his prop back, we got our camera back and you all get the benefit of blogs with pictures...everybody wins!!!

Hello everyone, this is Karen. As you know I don't write on our blog very often but wanted to tell you my take on this experience. I know that God uses all of us to do His work, but normally we don't even know we are. It appears to me that God needed us to find the Prop and give it to the owner, who didn't even know he lost his prop. When we brought the prop back to our boat, God must have said, "No, no, no, that wasn't my plan." So He says, "Now I'm going to take your camera so you will go look for it and in turn  you will discover the owner of the prop. Now go my children, do as I say." So we go looking for our camera, and return the prop to it's owner. Now God says, "Well done, now here is your camera! And, Oh by the way.....I love you!" Pretty cool story huh?