In the Mesabi Iron Range the town of Virginia, Minnesota looms large. It’s a town that hit its population prime between 1950 and 1960.
It was during this period of time that transplanted Michiganders by the name of Don and Eunice Cargo welcomed their third child into the world, a daughter. Don was an electrical engineer for the local mining company… a Navy veteran who had fallen in love with, and married a full-blooded Finnish beauty from the Copper Country in northern Michigan. It took that kind of grit to make northern Minnesota home, but that’s what Don and Eunice did.
June 27th was the date of Mary’s birth. $127 was the bill.
It wasn’t until February of 1975 that I met Mary. Don and Eunice had long since left Minnesota; in fact, they had zig-zagged across the country and were now proud residents of Indianapolis, Indiana. We met at Taylor University in central Indiana… and it didn’t take long for me to begin to comprehend that my life would never be the same.
I’ve come to believe that only God could navigate the miles and the moments between Virginia, Minnesota and Upland, Indiana… but He did. Oh how grateful I am that He did.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. (James 1:17)
Including a seven pound baby girl born in Virginia, Minnesota.
So today, on June 27th, I celebrate. A life. A love. A legacy.
I celebrate a young Michigan family, displaced but grounded. Living simply, but living full.
Mary came as a gift to them; she became a gift to me. This is the way our God operates.
Invisibly. Sovereignly.
On June 27th in Virginia, Minnesota… God answered a prayer I had not yet prayed.
Mary gasped for breath for the very first time and as she sucked life into her lungs, God breathed life into my soul.
In Virginia, Minnesota. For $127. My life changed forever and I didn’t even know it…
Thanks, Don and Eunice.
Happy birthday, Mary.
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