Ok… we are in Odessa, Ukraine as I have said already, and if you look on a map, this city is right on the beach of the Black Sea. Fortunately, our hostel is a 5-7 minute walk straight to the water. Even though we are only in Odessa for a weekish and then we are visiting various suburbs across Ukraine, I have been seriously soaking up the water. The weather here is usually in the 70s and blue and the water is cold… what a welcome after heat stroke Nepal.
When we first visited the beach, and I got the chance to put my feet into the Black Sea, it was an understatement to say that we had a bit of a culture shock. Every country that we have visited thus far has been so modest and ridiculously concerned with things like shoulders and knees. Well… we are in Europe now and that day we saw our fair share of men in Speedos and topless women. Either way, we are all so thankful to be near water and to be in weather that doesn’t make you feel instantly dirty after showering.
Even though I have no desire to wake up anytime before I have to, I have been forcing myself to wake up a bit early and trudge down to the water and just sit in the morning… read and journal and talk to God. I walked into the waves one morning while the wind was blowing and the sun was rising. It was the most peaceful feeling I have had in a while… the most comfortable I have been in the longest time. The water is so cold everyday, but so refreshing. The surf washed over my feet and it was so shocking and welcomed at the same time. I told the Lord “thank You” and I asked Him to touch me like that… in the way that the sea was so fulfilling… again He gave me one of those one line answers, “come beyond the taste.”
First thought… what the heck does that mean? I thought of how the water was so satisfying leaving me wanting more. Then I thought about what it looks like to go farther into something that feels that good. In life, sin I think is one of those things. Sin feels so good for a season, for a time there is peace, but it is not lasting… going deeper is destructive to so much and so many.
But what does it look like to go beyond what we have already tasted in God… in our relationship with Him? After all that I have tasted of God and His goodness, I know that there is more. I know that in the morning, He was calling me on to more… to somewhere deeper. I thought of that story in Ezekiel 47 (you should read it) when Ezekiel went further and further out into the sea and how eventually he was washed away beyond his own control. Going further out into the water means losing more and more control, getting lost, not being able to be swayed by anything else but the waves, to eventually not be able to see or touch the bottom… this sounds scary, but God is sovereign… you want to be lost in the water that He controls.
The sea is salty which represents healing, it’s refreshing and cold. Anyway… this is getting longer than I anticipated, but to sum it all up I will share what my journal said that morning and hope that God reveals more to you than He did to me and also hope that you can find a beach soon… maybe it won’t be so nude.
