New Beginnings: A Deep Dive Into Scripture 2024. Series

New Beginnings

Psalm 119:105: “Your word is a lamp?for my feet,

????a light?on my path.”

We have a wee verse on our office wall that states, “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you start where you are and change the ending.”

In life I am sure that there are many times that we have all wanted to alter an outcome. One outcome we are all responsible for of our own is our own knowledge base, Our, own understanding, and in a world where there is so much incorrect knowledge floating around it is good to have a solid foundation of knowledge that we can call upon to answer not just other’s questions but also our own.

In Rochelle and my discussions about this year and a way forward to it we have discussed the word of God, The Bible and swimming. Incidentally I like swimming and for a few days during the holidays I managed it once at my sisters, and twice a day while we were staying down at Queen Charolette Sound. However, this was only short swims as the bay I was swimming in had quite a few Sting Rays and Eagle Rays in it, and I’m a wee bit weary of Rays due to their poisonous spines. So, before I leapt in, I did a quick check and if Rochelle was there, she would do the same while I was in. Before we all went in, we all checked. We swam where there were no Rays close by, though we did watch a few close to the jetty. So, what does God’s word have to do with swimming?

We all of us have an understanding of the Bible, our own personal perception and grasp. It could be, that it’s that book that sits on the shelf with some pressed flowers or an inscription from that special time that someone gave it to you on a special occasion, maybe it's in old English that is quite a difficult read. However for some it might be the book that you read every day without fail, the book that you have read a number of times cover to cover and that you even took time to study in Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic, the book that you have a number of different translations and a paraphrase or two of. You may even have a library of books that relate to it. We all range in our understanding of scripture.

So you ask where does the Bible and swimming come into Rochelle and my thinking? You ask some great questions.

Well here’s another story; when we lived in Fiji we had the opportunity for two days to stay at The Warick Hotel on the Coral Coast, prices were competitive during the pandemic. At The Warick they have a lovely beach, while we were out walking Janaki lost a jandal off a jetty, jetties seem to be a bit of a thing today. And we watched it as it floated a few hundred metres before it returned to shore. The interesting thing is that we watched the jandal and the waves and focused on the path of the jandal, apart from the return of the jandal it was a bit ho-hum. However later in the afternoon we went swimming. Janaki at that stage was new to swimming and didn't really want to swim, but after a bit of discussion about what she might see, she still didn’t want to go swimming. So, after a bit more discussion and encouragement about what she might see, we put her a life jacket with a pair of goggles and a snorkel. After a quick lesson on how to use the goggles and snorkel, we tentatively swam out into the water and I swam alongside her, sort of towing her so we could both enjoy the sights. The Warick have put artificial reefs offshore and you can swim to them and look at the corals that has been planted on these frames and tropical fish, tiny little fish, minute little fish, blues, white, schools of fast florescent flashes, creams and oranges, schooling and hiding, just fascinating, Jaque Cousteau would have been impressed. After about half an hour of this I was exhausted, and we headed to the shore all the while I was trying to explain to my excited and disappointed daughter that I had to get to the beach or drown as I didn’t have a life jacket. Janaki now, she had seen underneath the waves certainly didn’t want to leave the water.

So you ask, what does this have to do with the word of God? Great question.

The thing is we can look at the surface of scripture just like we looked at the surface of the bay following the jandal and see nothing exciting except the ripple and a bit of light on the surface of the water, learn a few key verses or we can take a deep dive, get to know where the parrot fish are, find a pair of Nemo fish hiding in that anemone, see if there really is a sponge living in a pineapple, the younger people will understand that reference. Deep diving into scripture, we can be amazed by all the colour, maybe find a tasty thing or two to feast on, a few scary and possibly offensive things and see life that fascinates the visual senses, our spiritual intelligence, that stimulates the mind and builds great memories and new understandings, and like a coral reef be in awe of all scripture contains.