Deeper Water - Part 1

I saw someone wearing a shirt recently that used the word - Aquaholic. That was the first time that I had ever seen or heard that term used; however, it was quite a liberating moment for me. All of my life I have lived with this undefined condition and now I know that there is actually a word for it.

Hi, my name is Mark and I’m an Aquaholic. I love the water. I like to look at it, swim in it, boat on it, walk beside it, drink it, and shower in it (at least twice per day, ha.) When I haven’t seen the coastline in awhile I get separation anxiety. I can’t really explain why but now I can simply attribute it to my newly termed disposition. 71% of the earth is covered by water so I am sure that I’m not the only one in the family. You know who you are so let me hear from you.

Water clearly has a spiritual element to it. Think of how many of the significant events and miracles in the Bible happened in and around water. Moses parted the Red Sea and John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the Jordan River. At the Sea of Galilee, Jesus walked on water, calmed the storm and fed the multitudes fishes and loaves on its shore. One of the key symbols for Christianity is even a fish.

Speaking of fish, I love the story in John 21 about the “miraculous catch.” Some of the Disciples had been fishing all night and had caught nothing. At daybreak Jesus spoke to them from the shore and and told them to cast their net on the other side of the boat (presumably, deeper water.) They did so and caught so many fish that their nets were filled and they couldn’t bring them all in the boat.

This brings up a good question to consider - what does “deeper water” look like for each of us? In other words, what area of our lives do we need to push ourselves a little farther in order to produce greater gain. For Jesus’s disciples (who were professional fishermen by the way,) it meant trusting a carpenter to help them catch fish.

“Deeper water” for us could mean spending more time with God on a consistent basis, more regular worship, discipling/evangelizing others or better stewardship of our material blessings. Maybe it is something else altogether but I am convinced that there is something more out there for each of us if we are willing the cast our nets on the other side of the boat.

We are going to continue for the next several weeks with this water theme. It’s that time of year when we all want to be around water so it will be a good reminder for us as we look for our “deeper water.”

Stay thirsty,

Big E