Swimming With The Sharks
Last month my husband and I had the opportunity to swim with the leopard sharks in La Jolla Cove, near San Diego, CA. To some this may sound reckless, or even like a death-defying feat, but in reality, these creatures are as docile as a deer in the woods. They swarm to the area each year to mate and breed, offering us humans a rare up-close glimpse of their stunning habitation.
When we first arrived at the cove we were as giddy as kids in a candy shop, pointing to each shark we saw. It was amazing how many sharks were in the water, and how close they were to the shore. I had a bit of a headache and had initially planned on just watching my husband, a true “water guy,” in his element. I waded in with him so I could catch a few photos and was so immediately taken in with the excitement of having sharks swim around me that I no longer even noticed my headache!
Leopard sharks don’t like humans and flee when you get too close. Hence their shyness, we ended up on a shark hunt! As long as we didn’t make sudden movements, they wouldn’t skedaddle away from us. One actually brushed up against my husband, again the “water guy.” Based on his reaction, you would have thought he had just met Jack Nicholson or Tom Hanks! Honestly, I probably would have been just as jubilant to have been able to touch one myself!
In addition to the sharks, there were also guitar fish and sting rays in the water. These critters are bottom dwellers, and if you’re not careful it’s likely you will step on one. It is suggested you do the “sting ray shuffle”, basically sliding or shuffling your feet across the ground instead of taking steps to prevent getting stung. Like the sharks, these critters also have an aversion to humans, and will vanish as quickly as possible, or whip their barbed tails while releasing toxins in reflex. I actually stepped on a few sting rays, which felt like stepping on a living banana peel trying to rile away from me. Luckily, I had water socks on, so I didn’t feel the sting of the rays…until a wave knocked me over and I got zapped as I stepped down! This resulted in having to end our adventure sooner than we had planned, as well as some of the worse pain I have ever experienced in my life.
At first, I just wanted to stay in the water with the sharks. When I got stung there were about seven sharks all around me. It was exhilarating being immersed in their presence. Then the toxins began to enter my blood stream. With help I found myself at the lifeguard station for the next hour or so with my foot in scalding water, the only known way to rapidly counteract the toxins and diminish the pain.
I first learned about the La Jolla “shark fest” by reading a post online, and then scoured the internet for as many articles as I could find. The more I read the more I became increasingly enticed and eager about going to visit and swim with the sharks. Regardless of how intriguing it sounded before we went, I couldn’t truly comprehend or appreciate what the experience would really be like. I imagined I would be excited, and possibly a little apprehensive, but those were just emotions I had conjured up in my mind leading up to the actual experience. It wasn’t until I was fully immersed in the water, surrounded by the sharks, feeling the coolness of the ocean and the power of its swells pushing against me, smelling the salt in the air, and hearing the birds cackle in the distance and the crashing of the waves on nearby rocks that I could truly perceive how amazing and awe inspiring this encounter could be.
This experience got me to thinking about my relationship with God and trying to explain it to others. I can tell you how amazing God is, and how good He is to me. I can tell you about my relationship with Him and how He can provide me with a peace that sometimes seems incomprehensible during the storms of my life…if I allow Him to. I can tell you how He has answered prayer and made me feel like the cherished friend He sees me as. I can tell you how He has given me strength when I thought I couldn’t go on, and how He has given me joy in so many seasons of life. I can tell you how He talks to me through prayer, the Bible and even through others. I can tell you how my relationship with Him makes me want to be a better person, loving and caring to others. I can tell you how I have gotten too close to “bottom dwellers” and got caught up in things I thought were good, but actually left me with pain, but when I drenched my pain in His love and mercy was able to diminish the pain in a way that nothing else…not drinking or shopping or entertainment or denial…ever could. I can tell you all of these things, but honestly, until you choose to immerse yourself in His love…until you are willing to take a chance at something you might not feel comfortable with (or even believe is possible)…you can only imagine (or doubt) how amazing a relationship with Him might be.
If you know me, you know I normally don’t get too “preachy” about my faith. Instead, I try to live my life in a way that allows God’s love and light shine through me. But then I got to thinking about what I would have missed out on in La Jolla last month if the person who wrote the article that I initially read about the sharks had stayed silent. It’s hard to believe that it took 49 years for me to learn of this phenomenon that occurs every year just a mere four hours or so from my home. I would have missed out on an experience of a lifetime. I don’t want that for anyone else. I would love for everyone to be able to experience the thrill of swimming with the sharks, but much more importantly, I desperately want and hope that everyone I touch, be it through a personal relationship or just through my words, accepts the invitation to truly encounter God’s goodness up close and personal, and experience a faith and relationship that will radically and fantastically change them forever.
Dear Lord, thank You so much for loving us, seeking us, and wanting relationship with us. I ask that You touch the soul of every person who reads this post and help them to be drawn to You and to accept You. Thank You for hope in times of trouble and joy in all seasons. Amen.
Verses for reflection:
Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8 NIV
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 ESV
The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Exodus 33:14 NIV
But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works. Psalm 73:28
