Having spent a lot of time on both the Florida and Alabama Gulf coasts, I felt a sudden surge of both anxiety and nausea upon hearing about the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The very thought of that beautiful emerald green and turquoise blue water covered by a floating mass of toxic dino-dodo made me want to immediately head down there and clean up the entire mess myself. I imagined myself going day after day without sleep and little nourishment in a vain attempt to keep the oil from reaching the beach. And, if my responsibilities at home would've allowed it, I'd be down there still. But, all I could do was pray that the Lord would intervene somehow and subdue the sludge from washing ashore. I knew that despite all of man's technologies and determination in fighting this catastrophe, that some of the oil would indeed make it's ugly presentation on the beaches sooner or later. Upon realizing this is when I began to pray. You know, it's when things seem really out of hand and dire that we reach out to God. If the situation is beyond our control we look to His unlimited wisdom and power for help. This is all we can do.
I believe the Lord allowed this disaster to occur in order to show us, especially we who live in the Gulf States and frequent those beaches, that we are not to pay too much attention to any of His creations. We are to worship the Creator and not the creation. I must admit that in the past I too have caught myself in the throes of "creation worship". It's not hard when the cathedral of the Gulf of Mexico is only a few hours away. There's something about that clear water with it's many sections of color dictated by the sandbars and gulleys going out from the sugar- white beaches. The first section from the shoreline is the first gulley or trough. It's usually a light green or just clear in color and is about two to three feet in depth. Moving out, the first sandbar rises up. Sometimes abruptly and steep, other times gradually. A few times I recall actually having to step up onto the bar much like climbing up onto a table or something like it. Depending on the tide, it is usually very shallow(just a few inches or ankle deep) or may be devoid of any water at all. Moving further out towards open water, the shallows of the first sandbar slowly begins to deepen as the second trough lies ahead. This area is where some of the deeper hues of emerald water is found.
About thirty or forty feet from the beginning of the first sandbar, it becomes too deep for the average person to walk without having to swim also. The water here is about ten to fifteen feet at it's deepest, but like the first trough, it begins to shallow up a bit eventually until it plateaus out. To me, this section holds the most beautiful water on the entire beach. I guess it's the right depth in order to display the prettiest color. God knew what He was doing when He designed the beaches here.
This is the area where I most like to fish at. You can really see the schools or individual fish as they make their way along the sandbar. The large groups of baitfish appear black or brown against the green background, depending on what type of fish it is.
Like the sandbar before, this one begins to slowly deepen giving way to the deepest gulley yet and blue water. There is a third sandbar, or so I've been told. But, it is usually not visible. I can't recall ever seeing one, though. This water looks like the ocean water from anywhere else, mostly. From light blue to darker blue, then almost dark purple to black. Less than a mile from the beach, the bottom drops off to about 100 feet.
Most of the beach along the Emerald Coast is structured alike. Of course, it's not always like this. Depending on weather and tidal changes, the bottom can vary greatly. I've seen a beach with no sandbars before. I've seen a beach with a first sand bar that stretched practically from the shoreline out about two hundred yards. One time, we awoke to a beach that had several natural pools along the shoreline that were made by the sand bar abruptly rising up like a wall and encircling large areas of trapped water. Most of these pools were several feet deep. Us kids would catch fish by rod and reel, then release them into the pools so we could snorkle alongside them. The next day, the pools were gone which allowed the stranded whiting and pinfish to swim back into the open Gulf. Eventhough these tidal pools looked cool and were a lot of fun to be in, the water in them was warm like a bathtub.
Thank You, Jesus for making such a wonderful place for us to enjoy.
But, I know that the best of Your creation is yet to be seen.
As wonderful and beautiful as this beach is, we must remember that what we are seeing now has been ruined by the stain of sin. At one time, this world was perfect and much more glorious than it is now. I can only imagine what everything looked like before sin was introduced into this realm.
One day all of this tired, old planet will be "cleansed" and a new Earth will come forward.
I can't wait to see it.
