Scuba

Stef and Adam at the Quarry

DRAPER’S PAPER ROUTE

SCUBA

by Adam Carroll Draper

This weekend, Stef and I are completing our initial scuba diving training.  I have been wanting to do this since I was nine or ten years old.  The question that keeps coming back to me is why it took me so long to do this.  I wish there was an answer.  The only thing I can come up with is that it’s just life.  That’s not an indictment.  I’m not mad at myself, but it is a bittersweet realization.

One of the skills we had to learn was how to clear our masks of water while we were still submerged.  It is not all that difficult, but it requires you to breathe in with your mouth through a regulator, push in the top of your mask while tilting your head up and breathing out of your nose.  After that, you must remember to breathe in through your mouth (NOT your nose) while nodding your head forward.  That last part was oddly counter-intuitive to me and I breathed in water through my nose… TWICE!  I can hear my dad now: “That wasn’t too bright, was it?”  The second time I did it was worse than the first.  On top of snorting a mask full of water, I started laughing because it was so dumb.  Fortunately, I was in only three feet of water because it took me a bit to get my wind.

My favorite part so far has been learning how to float just above the bottom.  That part came sort of naturally to me because I meditate so much.  I soon realized that the kind of controlled breathing that I use in meditation is conducive to floating.  (Selah [say, “Lah!”] on that one).  When you breathe in, your float up a little.   When you breathe out, you sink a little.  Bearing that in mind, you can sort of hover above the bottom with the rise and fall of your breathing.  I loved it.   At one point, I got to do that for something like fifteen minutes while the instructor was checking on other divers.  That was ethereal - worth the cost of whole shebang.

For the last three of these missives, I have been discussing the notion that America is at a crossroads in which there is a real possibility that we could take a horrible turn down the path of socialism and totalitarianism at the hands of technocrats.  From the depths of everything I have ever felt sacred, my soul is crying out Patrick Henry’s plea, “Forbid it, Almighty God!”  But while I was floating, I felt a peaceful certainty from the Comforter.  Nothing is ever going to happen that Our God has not foreseen.  Everything single thing that happens presents a time to glorify God, even the bad times.  I don’t know where things are going, but I know His nature.  I know that all things work for the good for those who love him and are called to his purpose. 

How do I know that?  Because he said so!

Imagine what would happen to this country if right smack dab in the middle of all this mess, we had another Great Awakening.  What if the glory of God fell upon this place in open manifestation for everyone to see?  What if the lame began to walk and the blind began to see right out in front of everybody and his brother? 

Thoughts of bliss and peace falling like a glory cloud on this country came to me as I was floating about ten feet down in a quarry last weekend. My mind was fixed on breathing and not drowning, but it was like God tapped me on the shoulder. It is awkward trying to put fins on your feet while standing in the water with the weight of the tank (and all that stuff) making you feel like you are going to fall backwards .  That would have been so funny, but I managed not to make a spectacle of myself – for once.  (It was not lost on me that someone had written “BS” on the front of my wetsuit.  Look at the picture!).  All of that, along with thoughts of the rioting going on in our cities, simply lifted off me in the peace the Lord..  It passed understanding. 

What if the glory fell on America right now?   All this hand-wringing about what may or may not be heading our way does not hold one tiny thimble of significance next to that. 

As Mahalia Jackson sang, “It is no secret what God can do.”

If you got anything out of this missive, please give it a thumbs up, comment and/or share it. It helps. I sincerely appreciate that you took the time to read it.