Can you tell me the unique claim of Lake Manitou?

Answer: Lake Manitou is the largest lake on the largest freshwater island in the world—Manitoulin Island—and they both happen to be in the world’s fourth largest lake: Lake Huron.  This means that the islands in the lake are islands in a lake on an island in a lake.  And there may well be ponds on those islands that have lily pads with puddles on them . . . but I think I’ve gone far enough with that!

Anyway, I am leaving early in the morning for Manitoulin Island on a bittersweet trip to be with my sister-in-law, Shirley, and her husband, a wonderful saint who became my surrogate brother when my oldest brother, Dick, died of cancer in 1995: Don Hamilton.  Don’s wife died of cancer a bit earlier, and God soon made the match between Don and Shirley, and they have since that time continued to carry out a ministry to the First Nation’s Reserve, Wikwemikong, that Dick and Shirley had started: DayStar Native Outreach.  Wiky, as they call it, also has a unique claim.  It is the only land on the North American continent that was never ceded to a colonial power.  As they say, “This is pure Indian land!”  For that reason Native Americans and Canadians from all over the continent often converge there for the annual pow-wow.

And it was at Wiky where another certainly unique event happened: the “honor drum” ceremony given for my brother on the birthday after his passing.  It was probably the first time that an American Protestant missionary was lauded in a Native honor drum ceremony in a Catholic church on First Nation’s reserve in Canada.  All who attended will never forget this wonderful event, where above all, Christ was honored.

I say that my trip is bittersweet because Don is now in the final stages of his own battle with cancer, and this will likely be the last time I see him before we meet again in Glory.  This, of course, is God’s “layaway plan.”  This plan, however, beats all the rest: you don’t pay a cent for it; it was all paid for some two thousand years ago!  Mankind’s greatest gift intended for God’s eternal Christmas.

So I will be offline at least until Monday.  Why not poke around on the WOC site in my absence.  Look at some of the longer articles, read a couple of the “celebrating” booklets under Author Resources, watch one or two of the Day of Discovery videos on the wonder of a tree or the wonder of soil, or just treat yourself to some eye candy on the Creation Pictures page.

See you outdoors!

Dean