I’m a beach bum. I could spend the rest of my days wandering the beaches of this world barefoot, wearing only shorts and a T-shirt. I find the sea intoxicating, along with all its bays, inlets and coastal waterways. I am not alone, millions of us flock to the coast every chance we have.
The ocean is beautiful. It has an uncanny ability to give us that “peaceful, easy feeling”. The sound of the surf comforts us; like the heartbeat of a mother to a child in the womb. We all let our children frolic in its waves as we stare out at its endless beauty. Beautiful, to us, because it seems so endless.
There have been wars fought upon it. It is the largest battlefield in all of history. The ocean has swallowed more human wreckage than any other place on earth. It has been littered and abused and exploited by us continuously. Yet the sea rolls on, serenely, everyday giving life to our world in its beautiful way.
The ocean is immense and mysterious, that’s why we love it. Its shear volume is staggering. If you took all that water and covered the entire United States; and were somehow able to contain it there. You would have created a continent-sized lake that would be ninety miles deep. In the ocean you could be ten thousand feet deep and still be walking on the tops of high mountains. There are valleys deeper than the Grand Canyon on the bottom of the sea. There are giant undersea waterfalls, thousands of feet tall; taller than any waterfall on earth.
We know all this; yet, what I find remarkable is what we do not know. There are countless undiscovered life forms down there. Not long ago they discovered almost three hundred new species on a single volcanic rock column in the ocean. What else must be lurking in the depths? We have rough sonar images of much of it, but we have only explored five percent of the ocean floor. Most of our own world is as much a mystery to us as deep space. We have far more detailed maps of the surface of Venus than of our own seas. More humans have been to the moon than to the Mariana trench in the Pacific. We may think we are enlightened and scientifically advanced; yet, after thousands of years, here we are. Still surrounded by a vast watery mystery.
The ocean is dangerous. I live in a region of the country called the Mid-Atlantic. Our favorite retreat is the Outer Banks of North Carolina; long barrier islands, known for its beautiful beaches, great sport-fishing and peaceful family vacations. But it is also known as “the graveyard of the Atlantic”, due to the high number of shipwrecks there. the North Atlantic is stormy. Most of the houses on the outer banks are built on stilts, an attempt to keep them above the in-rushing angry sea. As you drive to the coast you will notice many signs on the major roads stating, “Evacuation Route”. The ocean may be beautiful and vast and mysterious, but it is not safe. It is not tame. If it were, it would be boring. It has devoured cities and washed away millions of lives around the world. It is unpredictable, frightening and relentless. There is no fighting it or stopping it. There is only evacuation. Run away.
The ocean is a menace. But what if we could somehow befriend it? Make peace with it. Get a promise from it that it would not harm us. What if it let us in? To discover its secrets. To wander through the hidden chambers of the deep. Would we go? What if it gave us permission to walk upon its floor; with miles of water above our heads, without being crushed to death, or drowning. Would we go? What if it gave us light in its depths, so we could see its secret glories? And it could reveal its wonders to us as we run through peaceful valleys, teeming with life. And climb mountains together; mountains that no man has ever touched; mountains bigger than any other on earth. What if the ocean allowed us to befriend all its creatures; let us pick from coral flower beds; let us walk its wide boulevards and explore the grand cathedrals of the great kingdom of the deep? Would we go?
The ocean intoxicates me, but I do not worship it. It is not God. It is beautiful and mysterious and dangerous; so is God, only far more so. We tend to want all our questions about God answered before we will trust in Him. Do we really expect such a person to be less mysterious than the ocean He has created? He is more dangerous than the sea. He walks upon the sea. We will never tame Him or make Him conform to our wishes. He cannot be controlled, or bribed, or pacified, like the pagan gods of old. There is no protection from Him, no matter how high your stilts are.
And yet, He is far more generous than the ocean. He truly does invite us in; to explore the wonders of His Person. He offers to protect us from the crushing weight of His glory; and, for us to even share in that glory. It is possible, given enough time, that we may search out all the mysteries of the ocean. But there is no end to God. To get to know HIM, we would need to live forever. That is why He offers us ETERNAL life.
The Bible often speaks of God in ocean terms. “Your judgments are like the great deep” and another psalmist says, “Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me.”
Another poet declares, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
We may not know it, but Gods beauty is what we all desire. If He were truly inviting us in to search out the depths of that beauty; would we go?
p.s. I know that not many read these posts, they are too long. Asking people today to read anything longer than a tweet is probably expecting too much. If you have read this far; thank you for considering the philosophical musings of a beach bum; the thoughts that come into his head as he sits, by the sea.