My 50th birthday on Sparks Lake

On the day of my 50th birthday I was taken on a surprise. I had no idea what I would be doing, so I just embraced it. I was picked up by my good friend and her assistant and we drove through the mountains. I had never been Kayaking before. We arrived at our destination and took out our kayak’s. We went to Sparks Lake a natural body of water near the crest of the Cascade range in Deschutes County in the State of Oregon. The lake is surrounded by wetlands and marsh. Surrounding the Lake is the South Sister, Broken top, and Bachelor Butte.

Sparks Lake was formed about 10,000 years ago from lava from the Mt. Bachelor Volcanic Chain . The lake is huge but very shallow in places. At one in the middle of the lake I could have gotten out and walked across it. Other parts were much deeper. The small channel we kayaked down had lava chutes down it. What a glorious day it was. Boy had I ever missed out on how peaceful and awesome it is out in God’s nature. I was in complete awe at the beauty of the mountains and how close we were to them. We paddled around and then we stopped for lunch. Kim had put together a picnic lunch for both Judy and I . I was so blessed at what they had done. Kim had thought of everything. For dessert Kim had made a special treat for me it was sponge cake with blueberries, raspberries and whipped cream and Strawberries to top it off.

After lunch we got back in our kayak’s to explore the lake more. Towards the end of the lake we went to it was swampy and had wetlands in it. As we were down there we saw the most extraordinary sight. An osprey was fishing and had caught a fish and was flying with his prize holding it in it’s claws as it flew. Out of nowhere appeared a bald eagle and went straight for the osprey and took the fish from it and flew off into the nearby trees. What a phenomenal sight that was. We all sat in awe in our kayaks. Bald eagles are very significant for all three of us and so knew that God was sending us a gift of his awesomeness for us to see. Both Kim and Judy gave me bald eagle feathers they had found and I found one later on.

I was truly blessed with my birthday surprise and our conversations were good. I love how God brings into your life people who are experiencing simiar to you and how God uses them to speak his truth and encouragement. It was such an awesome day and I’m blessed to share it with my two good friends.