The Big Blue

My feet buried in warm sand, the ever present sound of crashing waves, the sun beating down through clouds heavy with rain, the smell of salt and fish and brine—yes, I had the wonderful chance to spend a few days at the beach this past week.  Even more beautiful than the setting was the company I shared it with:

Hi mom and dad!!

As I stood there one afternoon staring out at the endless horizon of blue waters, I was struck with just how majestic and weird the ocean is.  Have you ever thought about how big our oceans are?  How, geographically speaking, they have more real estate than land does?  Just last week I dipped my toes and tumbled in the waves of the Pacific Ocean, and so did some Japanese children.  I took a boat ride on the same waves that some dude was surfing on in Hawaii or in Australia.  The immensity of that body of water is just… well, too big.  I can’t wrap my mind around it.

Yes, that's a sea turtle :)

Not only are oceans ginormous, they’re also an alien planet unto themselves.  The many abysses of unknown depths, the unseen but ever growing submerged volcanoes, the new species being discovered every year, the numerous currents and strong tides, the submerged cities and shipwrecks: all are crazy mysterious things that boggle the mind and make you wish you could breathe water like a fish.

Instead, God gave us two land-dependent legs and oxygen-dependent lungs.  It seems we have been cursed to wander the Dirt forever.

In my mind, God is sort of like the ocean.  He is vast, mysterious, of unknown origins and depths.  He is teeming with new life, with adventure, with creativity.  He is powerful, strong, dangerous.  He is peaceful, tranquil, and beautiful.  He has no beginning, and no end.  He moves in us, waves of grace and tides of mercy.  We cannot control God, much like we cannot control the oceans. 

I suppose I also imagine the Kingdom of God like the ocean, where all His children come home to live in his watery Oasis.  Like drops of water, lost in the sea of not only other drops but also in the overarching presence that is His. 

It’s not a perfect analogy, but it does inspire the imagination, doesn’t it?

As you go to the lakes and the oceans, what side of God do you see?  As you ponder the depths of the seas and the life that calls those waters home, what lesson is God sharing with you?  Remember the early poets who compared God’s love with the endless seas, the depths of which could not be known.  Is that not amazing to think about? 

Someday, I will shed these land-legs and trade them in for my Kingdom-ocean ones.  Someday, the oceans will make sense and their secret places will no longer be a mystery to me.  Someday, I’ll join God in his watery depths and swim in his glory.  Someday, I will call those waters Home.

Someday.

Stay tuned!