Memories: Captain Stover

It has been many years since I made a men's retreat trip to Chatterbox Falls in British Columbia, Canada. Among many blessings from that trip was the building of a deeper relationship with a brother: James Stover, skipper of the Autumn Light (see photo). James, who has since gone home to be with the Lord, was diligent about keeping a ship's log. At one point I helped him put together a collection of journal entries in a spiral bound book. James said he never felt closer to God than he did when he was on the water "up north." His collection "surfaced" recently in my cluttered office. A snippet of one of his Chatterbox Falls (pictured) entries follows:

"Princess Louisa Inlet takes off to the north out of the middle of Queens Reach, which runs east and west. About four nautical miles long and narrow, until it opens up into a large circular bay where you find Chatterbox Falls opposite the entrance. Chatterbox Falls, where volumes and volumes of water cascade over several hundred feet. Looking up the valley where it comes in, I see the stream of water coming from miles back. To the left of the falls is a shear wall of granite towering thousands of delirious feet into the air. A glorious altar of unhewn stone. I’m in a cathedral on the most grand scale a person can imagine. I just sit, looking and looking. I sense the youthful energy coupled with the roar of the waterfall. God’s creation – from atoms to the most majestic. I do not want to leave His presence, but I must."

Genesis 1:1-2: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters."