Scuba Diving

I know my Mom spent a lot of time praying for me.  I was willing to take a few too many risks for her comfort.  She must have prayed real hard because she scared the risk-taking right out of me for many years but not before I got in a few interesting experiences.

My first two and a half years in college at the University of Kentucky were spent learning bridge and how to live independently without the thumb imprint of my parents on my head.  It would have been better had they eased it up a little while I was still home.  They could have channeled the energy I had and helped me know how to manage it better.  Instead, they turned me loose...all at once.

I pledged a fraternity as a freshman--not the norm for college.  Usually, you had to wait until you were at least a sophomore.  But again I broke the mold with a couple of other freshmen.  My fraternity was loaded with guys who went on to become entrepreneurs so risk-taking was in their blood.

Spring break my sophomore year we decided to go to Ft Lauderdale, FL and do at least one scuba dive.  That's not something you want to learn as you go.  So, thanks to another fraternity brother who ran a cabana (later called a health club or rec center) we got into the pool evenings after 9 pm and began to learn from others who knew how just what scuba diving was all about. 

We learned to test our gear, take our mask off under water and buddy-breathe in case our tanks malfunctioned while we were down.  We practiced taking off our gear and heading up to the surface slow enough not to get the bends.

Spring break duly arrived we packed up a station wagon with our scuba gear and other essentials for a break in FL.  One of my buddies also took his '68 GTO convertible along so we could cruise the strip with the best of them.  It was dark green with a black top and black interior.  It also sported the red line tires that were popular then.

One beautiful morning we headed off the coast of Ft Lauderdale to go diving on a reef at about 75'.  That's a little deeper than pool we were practicing in.  We went off the side of our boat and began the decent down the anchor rope to the reef.  There's not much going on until you get down to the reef.

I had a mask that was about six inches across.  I was fascinated for the 30 minutes or so we were down.  I had never seen so many bright colors in one place.  The fish were incredible swimming all around us.  I didn't move much because I was so taken by what I could see out of my little screen.

What made me think of this situation was a devotional by John Eldredge where he talked about the beauty of the creation God made.  It is so varied, so breath-taking and so stunning that for me it's impossible to think that it just came out of nothing.  God is truly an artist and the world he created for us to live in is beyond the imaginations of us as his creation.  We can only create slices with our best efforts to replicate what he has given us.

We have sold God so far short of his incredible creativity and all we have to do is look around us briefly to see what a magnificient God he is.  The beauty is overwhelming and he created it for us to enjoy and to learn about his heart toward us as we view it.

I've never been scuba diving since that one experience now some 40 years ago...but I'll never forget what I saw.  "...when I in awesome wonder, consider all the world thy hands hath made."

Enjoy it today.