Breathing the Ocean's Air

 

We just returned from a midwinter trip to the Oregon Coast. The weather was unseasonably warm, sunny, delightful.  I sat wrapped in a blanket on our room’s deck and watched the ocean. I never get tired of watching the ocean.

Years ago I found a t-shirt that said, “I come to the beach to breathe.”  I realized that was my truth. The ocean calms me like nothing else. I love beach combing. I have jars of seashells and sand dollars. I’ve grown picky because I have so many, but still can’t resist a beach treasure or two.  I brought one back from this trip. We have a place near the beach in Washington. We can walk about a quarter mile to the ocean. But most of our beaches, though lovely, don’t have the amazing rock features you can find on Oregon beaches.

When the tide was out we walked to some tide pools. Those are mysterious places full of alien creatures. You can find hermit crab racing round carrying their “RV” on their back, a shell they acquired from somewhere or someone. Sea anemone of various sizes and colors cling to the rocks. We even found some sea stars, though not too many. Some disease has been eating them away. But here we saw a couple huge stars, one orange and one purple. There were thousands of mussels of various sizes and shapes clinging to the rocks. At high tide these creatures are all under water, but for brief, low tide moments we are allowed to visit their homes. I love tidal pools.

The beach was littered with jelly fish of varying sizes. High tide will come and carry them off again, living or not. There were not a lot of shells to be found, but fun to look as we walked along. It was unseasonably warm, perfect for a beach walk. And I was breathing it all in.

I have never doubted that there is a God who created the universe and all we see in it. My worldview has always been based on that fact. I have had only one moment of faith crisis, where I wondered if it was all a big story my parents fed me. But in the middle of that moment came one of the most powerful experiences of God I’ve ever had. He met me in my crisis. There were many moments in my younger years when I put God on the back burner, or tried. I could never get very far. I tried, but God wouldn’t let me get away.

So sitting at the beach, watching the ocean, my thoughts always go to God. I see Him everywhere. The dependability of the tides, the huge expanse of water that is teeming with life, and life of abundant variety and color. As I sat on my deck there were hundreds of birds out fishing, diving into the water with wild abandon. There was also a rather plain, brown bird singing his heart away on the shore. I see God in it all, and wonder why others cannot. How all of this could be by chance. Just the numbers of different species, and varieties within those groups – why do we need purple and orange and brown and red sea stars? Why so many different fish?  I see a Creator who loves variety and whimsy, who wasn’t satisfied with just one type of fish and one shape of shell.  I can never watch the ocean or walk a beach without seeing God’s creative hand, and feeling the awesomeness of my Creator. And it all reminds me of the Bible verse speaking of God “in Him we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17:28).

The diversity of creation is all around us. The Bible also tells us that we really have no excuse to deny God, “since what may be known about God is plain” to us because “God made it plain. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so the people are without excuse.” (Romans 1:19,20) So standing at the ocean’s edge, or hearing a bird sing, or experiencing the wild, diverse, beauty of our planet, should make it obvious there is a Designer. Why would chance, coming out of some intergalactic explosion, need such diversity? Why so many different types of everything? Why wouldn’t one or two types of birds or beetles or flowers be sufficient? But we have a feast of diversity and beauty in nature. All this screams design, not chance.

So why is God so hard for many to see? Why is it easier to believe in creation by chance rather than creation by design? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t deny the presence and work of evolution in our development. But I do deny that all of this was put into motion by a mindless Big Bang.  I find it amazing that I stand at the ocean and see God and the person next to me just sees a lot of water. It’s my worldview. And at the base of every worldview lies presuppositions. I presuppose a Creator God. The person next to me presupposes that all this came about by chance.  I’ve spent my adult life exploring and testing my presuppositions, and I am still where I started.

For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Come let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker, for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if only you would hear his voice.”  Psalms 95:2-7