God's Area Code

I got the call yesterday that I am one of 6 international artists chosen for the 2011-2012 season's Artist in Residence program at Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula! 2 weeks in the wilderness getting newly inspired by nature to translate into moku hanga. http://www.porkies.org/artist.html

A cabin to use, a backcountry pass, miles of trails, over a dozen named waterfalls, Lake Superior views – it’s the opportunity of a lifetime for someone who loves Michigan as much as I do!

When I told a friend of ours that I saw area code 906 on my phone I heard a sharp intake of breath and then, “That’s God’s area code!” That’s how people who love the unspoiled and beautiful expanse of northern Michigan feel.

Jim DuFresne, in his book Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, A Backcountry Guide for Hikers, Backpackers, Campers and Winter Visitors (Thunder Bay Press), says, “It’s the feeling of being out there in a land where man is at best a visitor passing through [that brings people back year after year]. It’s the idea that this rugged corner of the Upper Peninsula has been explored and mapped and even laced with foot trails and backcountry cabins, but never tamed. Like a fortress against development and that oxymoron we call “progress,” the Porkies have always been this place where you retreated to rediscover yourself and the natural world around you.

It’s a timeless quality first experienced by the Indians and then acknowledged by the early miners. Today it’s a priceless quality that attracts thousands of visitors who merely want to wander down a path or pause in wonder along the rocky shoreline of Lake Superior. The billboards, the golden arches, the motorized pace of our society is somewhere else.

Out here its towering pines 300 years old and spectacular waterfalls. It’s sweeping views from rocky knobs reached by the slow and thoughtful pace of foot travel that keeps everything in proper perspective.”

How can I not be inspired by such a place! How many times do we get the chance to explore and creatively share God’s area code!