Dive! Dive! Dive!

If you've ever watched an old World War II movie involving the epic battles that raged on the high seas of the Pacific, surely you've heard the distinctive phrase, “Dive! Dive! Dive!” It is the unambiguous command of a submarine captain whose determinate aim is to plunge his men and machine into the great menacing depths of the sea. Whether he is desperately trying to evade an unrelenting adversary, secretly slipping under the waves to stalk his prey or merely shaking down a new ship and training his green recruits, this maneuver is fraught with danger, uncertainty, anxiety and breathtaking excitement.

In every case, however, without exception, it is an absolutely essential procedure that must be practiced and perfected, because it defines the very existence of the ship itself. A submarine, as its name implies, was created for the purpose of operating in the hostile environment deep under the water, not in the relative safety on the surface. When the crew, captain and craft are moving in harmony with this objective, it becomes a modern engineering marvel that is truly spectacular to behold.

However, most of us would never consider a 560-foot-long steel tube packed with 150 close neighbors, 500 feet under water with no windows and no possible way of escape, a desirable or even safe place to live. Yet, in a combat scenario, when things get dicey on the surface with missiles, bombs and bullets flying everywhere

and where you are vulnerable to attack, below the surface, hidden deep within the essence of your purpose, is precisely where you want to be.

It has been said that “There has never been a storm on the Atlantic, whose roots went deeper than the surface. Even if the waves were so great that they combed over the bridge of a battleship, a submarine always finds the water 50 feet down as calm as a pond on a clear June day. When all is chaos on the surface, deep down there is peace” (author unknown).

And so as we begin this new year of 2011, it is this unambiguous command from the captain of my salvation who compels me to write “Dive deeper!” Deeper into my relationship with him, deeper into his will and purposes for my life, deeper into his word and the life-changing convictions of his spirit, deeper into the lives of the precious people that he has blessed me to know, love and care for: my wife, my children, my brothers and sisters in Christ, and so on.

And deeper still into the grace, mercy, love and forgiveness that he desires to disseminate in and through my life. This is a safe place to be, even though it is inherently dangerous from the perspective of many in the world today. It is a desirable place to be, and one that defies human explanation. Life on the surface, with all of its glitz and glamour, material wealth and pleasure, and never-ending promises of peace, prosperity and permanent satisfaction, is woefully unable to deliver. In reality, what it does manage to deliver is anything but peaceful. Chaos, confusion and disharmony rages on the surface, but I find peace when I dive deeper into my relationship with Jesus Christ. I encourage you to do the same this year.