I've always been fascinated with the landscape under the ocean. As a kid I envisioned it as a massive playing field - flat, sandy and obstacle free. I didn't really comprehend a Sunday School chorus we often sang, but it made me long to understand: "Wide, wide as the ocean, high as the heaven above, deep, deep as the deepest sea is my Saviour's love " In my mind I figured those mighty creatures of the sea cruised along the deep-sea traffic lanes with nary an obstacle in sight. That was before I learned about coral reefs and tiny aquatic life or discovered that there are gigantic mountain ranges and deep trenches found "deep, deep in the deepest seas." I found out kelp and abalone, dolphins and sea lions as well as crabs, squid and salmon all share the same waters. Growing up sure opened new horizons, thanks to those dedicated science teachers who probably wondered how much had "sunk in."
As for things sinking in, the ocean floor is populated with them! From the "unsinkable" Titanic to tiny pleasure craft, the skeletons of boats and those who navigated them litter of bottom of the sea.
Bringing this brief and very unscientific series of Lessons from the Sea to a close, there's one more thought I must share - that Sunday School song remains as true now as then. His love is higher than any atmospheric sphere, deep as any ocean and as all-encompassing as the widest expanse. He's aware of the "wrecks" that lie hidden within our lives, well acquainted with the "mountains" of pain and difficulty we face and intimately acquainted with the tiniest detail of our lives.
"You will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea." Micah 7:19 (NIV)
What better description of real love!
