“If you want to walk on water, you have to get out of the boat.” – John Ortberg
Self-contained underwater breathing apparatus or for short commonly known as SCUBA Diving is one of kind nature adventure experience and it is so cool that I got introduced to it starting of course with the Discover Scuba Diving Course.
I had many nature outdoor adventures before- mountain climbing, camping, river trekking, rappelling, kayaking but I felt a bit jittery about trying Scuba Diving. For one main reason, it is very much a water oriented activity. And yes, I’m not “hydro-eclectic-powered” person. Related to this, I actually don’t how to swim very well. I was just so desperate lately to get out of the grind of my service-oriented job and take the invitation of a scuba fanatic friend for a dive. Morning of the scheduled date has come. The beach was deep blue and breezy and the Saturday sunshine was warm but I’m actually fighting a mental game in my mind while I’m having cold feet to face this underwater diving. “Allizzwell, Allisswell, All is well”, I’m chanting the mantra Ranco has to tell himself whenever afraid in the character he played in the famous Indian movie 3 Idiots. Am I sounding like an idiot? Okay, please understand first that like I said I’m not a swimmer and I don’t like water very much. Yes, the sea water has captivating beauty but I’m more like a person who loves to get to heights but not so much with depths.
Mid-afternoon came, and the splashing waves of the sea are getting noisier as the wind and water current becomes strong, the Scuba enthusiasts are arranging the equipment. Although becoming more edgy this moment, I’m still excited and eager to face come what may underwater. I never tried this before and diving into something new literally would be wonderful. I’ll never know unless I try. So here, the oxygen tank is on me, the PVC, my booty and flippers. This is it! Methodically, instructions and orientation were given first. Somehow because of information overload, things don’t get inside my mind so fast plus that I’m so anxious about making it underwater. As I rehearse the techniques underwater, I always panic that I don’t get it right at the first few tries. But thanks to my instructor who was very patient with my obnoxious paranoia of getting drowned. He had helped me focus on what awesome nature there is underwater I would miss if I give up too soon. He understands my fear but believes that I can make it if only he can breathe for me…but yes, I have to do the breathing on my own.
Just again while facing the ocean, I remember my devotional time in the morning. The scripture was quoted from Psalm 8, a wonderful psalm that talked about the wonder of God as the Creator and the dignity He gives to humans. The devotional author Darlene Sala expounded her own thoughts about the Psalm 8 by saying that man’s desire to appreciate nature-the majestic heights of mountains, the captivating marine life, the budding flower, all of these and more of His creation, are just God’s means and initiatives to draw man to His glory as the Creator. This thought for me makes an extremely good sense because man may be able to travel the world- to the Grand Canyon and other Wonders of the world but if man only stops there in meeting His creation and not meeting the Creator, he will never be satisfied. He may embark on one adventure after another and caught in wanderlust but never fulfilled until he meets the Creator. Paul in Romans 1:19-23 clearly, “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.”
Silently, I have to admit within me that my hunger to go deep underwater or to nature adventures is not only about escaping stress or out of exploration and curiosity but actually a deep desire to meet my Creator in a special way, if it has to, underwater. And indeed He heard my prayer and revealed Himself, I was brought underwater just about 8 meters deep to simply see some corals and schools of fish. The light piercing through the water was so serene. One fish with translucent color caught my attention. It came near my face, looked at me for a moment then swim gone. Too bad I can not exclaim a hello because the mouthpiece of the oxygen is all over my mouth. The colorful fish was a gift. It was just there for me to marvel. Then, I wonder why marine life in the underwater is so peaceful to look at. For one thing I noted maybe because humans don’t live there. Humans that is so imperfect, sinful and complicated.
From the serenity underwater, I immerse from the openwater to meet people and friends by the beach. The noise of the land was familiar again but God wrought a certain peace in my heart through the truth found in Psalm 8:3-4, as I continue to wonder and worship God saying in a whisper to Him, “When I look at the sky which you have made, at the moon and the stars, which you set in their places-what are human beings that you think of them mere mortals that you care for them?”
