I love scuba diving, every part of it. From the moment I begin to plan a dive, I am stoked to get in the water and discover the secrets that are veiled by the living, breathing ocean. To pinpoint my favorite part about diving would be difficult, but not impossible. I love the mere fact that the underwater world has so much depth I haven’t seen, so much life I haven’t encountered, and so much discovery behind every coral, sunken ship, or even wide expanse of sand. In short, I love the unknown.
Okay, I promise this relates to my blog- just hang in there with me. For those of you who may have never been scuba diving, I am going to lay out a basic dive scenario.
You sit in the sun and breathe in warm, salty air. You are so comfortable on your hometown beach that you know by heart- every street, every lifeguard tower, every nook and cranny there is to know. To your left, your long-time best friend and dive buddy is preparing their gear. Everything is familiar, everything is known and loved and cherished in your heart. You are so comfortable and content, yet your heart beats faster as you think about entering the water, entering the unknown. Soon you and your buddy are speeding over waves on a small boat. The excitement is beginning to build up and you can feel the weight of your tank growing heavier in anticipation. It’s finally time to dive. You sit on the edge of the boat with your back facing the water. You turn around to look at what you will be exploring today, but you cannot see the bottom. Suddenly, a little fear builds in your gut; what will you encounter? What if something happens? But, all fears aside, you get the signal from your buddy, take one last breathe of real air, and fall back into the water. There’s a minute after you and your buddy decide to descend into the water and before you are fully covered by the water. You can see the sky- the familiarity, the comfort; you can see below the water- the unknown, the somewhat frightening. And then, suddenly, you are covered in water and descending to the bottom. Once you reach the bottom, you look around and see a whole new world, full of opportunities that you can access because of one last breath, one last look, and the faith it took for you to descend.
In a lot of ways, living with God is a lot like scuba diving. He calls us to get out of our comfort zones, leave behind familiarity, and follow Him into unknown, frightening waters. And if you do follow Him, boy will you find a whole new beautiful world.
Recently in my life, I feel as if I am in that stage right after I have entered the water and right before I have descended. Where the comfort of my life is threatening to go out of sight and the newness of what’s to come is lapping over my eyes. In the past couple of weeks, I have watched all of my lifelong best friends leave for college one by one, then all at once. With each of them leaving, I feel myself sink deeper in the unknown. I have said good bye to past teachers, siblings, and eventually I will have to say good bye to my town itself and my parents.
Sometimes, I feel overwhelmed- like I can’t take the change, like I need one last breath of familiarity before I go under. But, when I feel this way, I can also feel God. So strong, so calming, and so familiar.I can feel Him taking this step into the unknown with me, supplementing me with the breaths of air I need to keep my descent going.
I know that God is a leader to better things- that He is in control of every leap of faith you may take. I know that He will guide us when we leave behind familiarity to a place we couldn’t even imagine. A place that will truly leave us satisfied and fulfilled. He will lead us somewhere better, somewhere that makes leaving comfort okay, and even exciting. To let God lead you is to let yourself become open to new opportunities and to discover so much more.
Matthew 10:39- Whoever finds their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.
God wants us to let go of the life we have found ourselves, and to accept the life that He has planned so that we may truly find it through Him.
So, this is why I love the unknown- because I know it is not unknown to God.
