Greetings Lifers,
So our family enjoyed a first time experience over spring break last week – care to read about it? If no, I’ll see you this weekend at Feed the Bay (newsflash - up to 38 churches participating in FTB now – God keeps heaping on to what He started through us 7 years ago). If yes, read on.
Ever heard of snuba? It’s a combination of scuba diving and snorkeling where you have a mouth piece that feeds you air from a tank that you aren’t wearing – it’s floating in a raft at the surface. Tethering your regulator (that’s the mouth piece) to the tank is about 25 feet of tubing, and for our purposes that day, all five of us would be sharing air from the same tank. So here’s the scene – our guide (he was cool – had his own tank and everything) gave all five Saunders family members their own fins, masks, and regulators, taught us how to “pop our ears” as we descended and how to rid our masks of sea water without surfacing. Agreeing with him on a few important hand signals we’d use on the dive, we made one last equipment check and then descended into the deep blue sea.
All told we were under the water for about 45 minutes, and after a bit I stopped worrying about having enough air to breath and just enjoyed the dive. The ear popping thing was more difficult to master, but even that distraction ebbed over time. As you might imagine, the scene was tres beautiful – fish and coral and blue as far as the eye could see (which for me wasn’t too far since my glasses were back in my locker).
One of the last things our guide had insisted from us before we embarked was staying in the correct formation. Five air tubes 25 feet in length could become a tangled mess otherwise, so it was crucial to stay in the order that we started out in. If we crossed over and under and in front of each other, we’d run the risk of limiting our dive depth and pinching off the air source of a family member. This seemed pretty important to the whole snuba experience, so we all did quite well in our compliance.
(Spiritual analogy alert)
The Greek word “pneuma” (nooma) has two meanings – breath and spirit. I think the fact that God’s Spirit in us is akin to the air we breathe is one of the more compelling biblical corollaries we have. That’s why I think the snuba trip is such a great picture of our walk with each other as we pursue Christ. We Christ-followers draw our very lives from the same tank (God Himself) as we navigate this journey, right? In addition, it’s crucial that we all stay where God needs us, functioning where He wants as He wants within the parameters of the gifts He grants us (read Romans 12:4-8 and 1 Corinthians 12:4-27 for more on this). When we don’t, the depth to which we can dive into Him is decreased by the snarls that inevitably occur amongst us. Sometimes our rebellion can lead to a “pinch in a hose”, the discouragement of self or of others on the journey with us.
But, when we stay where God has placed us, we move together in harmony and find the beauty of new depths in our lives with Him. May we all snuba well in this life with Christ.
Now here’s more of what to expect at Bay Life – to God be all glory!
Ever heard of snuba? It’s a combination of scuba diving and snorkeling where you have a mouth piece that feeds you air from a tank that you aren’t wearing – it’s floating in a raft at the surface. Tethering your regulator (that’s the mouth piece) to the tank is about 25 feet of tubing, and for our purposes that day, all five of us would be sharing air from the same tank. So here’s the scene – our guide (he was cool – had his own tank and everything) gave all five Saunders family members their own fins, masks, and regulators, taught us how to “pop our ears” as we descended and how to rid our masks of sea water without surfacing. Agreeing with him on a few important hand signals we’d use on the dive, we made one last equipment check and then descended into the deep blue sea.
All told we were under the water for about 45 minutes, and after a bit I stopped worrying about having enough air to breath and just enjoyed the dive. The ear popping thing was more difficult to master, but even that distraction ebbed over time. As you might imagine, the scene was tres beautiful – fish and coral and blue as far as the eye could see (which for me wasn’t too far since my glasses were back in my locker).
One of the last things our guide had insisted from us before we embarked was staying in the correct formation. Five air tubes 25 feet in length could become a tangled mess otherwise, so it was crucial to stay in the order that we started out in. If we crossed over and under and in front of each other, we’d run the risk of limiting our dive depth and pinching off the air source of a family member. This seemed pretty important to the whole snuba experience, so we all did quite well in our compliance.
(Spiritual analogy alert)
The Greek word “pneuma” (nooma) has two meanings – breath and spirit. I think the fact that God’s Spirit in us is akin to the air we breathe is one of the more compelling biblical corollaries we have. That’s why I think the snuba trip is such a great picture of our walk with each other as we pursue Christ. We Christ-followers draw our very lives from the same tank (God Himself) as we navigate this journey, right? In addition, it’s crucial that we all stay where God needs us, functioning where He wants as He wants within the parameters of the gifts He grants us (read Romans 12:4-8 and 1 Corinthians 12:4-27 for more on this). When we don’t, the depth to which we can dive into Him is decreased by the snarls that inevitably occur amongst us. Sometimes our rebellion can lead to a “pinch in a hose”, the discouragement of self or of others on the journey with us.
But, when we stay where God has placed us, we move together in harmony and find the beauty of new depths in our lives with Him. May we all snuba well in this life with Christ.
Now here’s more of what to expect at Bay Life – to God be all glory!
Peace,
Mark
- Feed the Bay – March 24 and 25 | Feed the Bay t-shirts and bags available at the INFOdesk
- Prayer Night – Tuesday, March 27 - 7 pm |
Student Center - Journey to the Cross – April 4, 5, 6 | Worship Center – Volunteers needed sign up at the INFOdesk
- Welcome Lunch – Sunday, April 15 – 1 pm |
Worship Center
