Neutral Bouyancy

Any SCUBA divers reading? (NAUI-certified, preferible - ha!)

Got talking to some of the group during this last trip, about my time in Orlando, which in turn reminded me about getting my SCUBA certification... and since all roads really do lead back to God, thought I´d share :)

I got certified a while back, on the road to being a dolphin trainer at Sea World (which never actually happened...) All the practice dives were an absolute MESS for me,,, mask not fitting right, sinuses draining, tanks, weights, etc. - you name it. Something was off every single time. Except for the certification dive... it all came together (after my dive buddy grabbed my foot when I suddenly started ascending) when we dove down 70ft. a few miles out in the Gulf of Mexico to an old Navy ship. It was incredible.

Anyways, one of the most important things you learn in SCUBA is something called neutral bouyancy. What happens is, all the equipment you have to put on (wetsuit and O2 tanks) changes your weight, and your bouyancy. So when you´re diving (deep) - if your bouyancy isn´t neutral (balanced), your body is susceptible to even subtle changes (lungs full or empty, O2 tanks full or empty - and any combination in between ... just for example), which in turn can send you rapidly to the surface (causing bubbles in the blood - "the bends", or rapidly downward - without the chance to equalize the pressures in your craneal cavities; nasty - and life-threatening either way). One of my dive-mates popped some blood vessels in his eyes on one of the practice dives... So the diver´s equipment logic is as follows: wear the wetsuit (which makes me more bouyant) to protect my body from the extremely cold water temperatures down below; wear a weight belt to counteract the extra bouyancy from the wetsuit; put on the bouyancy vest (which can be adjusted) to counteract the weightbelt and the varying weight of the O2 tanks (full - half - empty). All my equipment in place, I get into the water and add/subtract weights and/or bouyancy in the vest until I´m completely balanced (floating with my eyes/nose just above the water, if I remember right). That´s neutral bouyancy.

Well, I´m thinking that maybe God wants to teach us spiritual neutral bouyancy. For me, that´s "the peace that passes all understanding", the power of His presence in ANY situation,,, it´s what made Jesus able to sleep down below in the boat in the middle of a terrifying storm.

I think all that spiritual armor we have to put on and manage changes our own natural bouyancy, and that the battles we´re asked to dive into require lots of training and planning. And once we´ve figured out how to use all the equipment, then its time to check for spiritual neutral bouyancy. We can´t dive in until we´ve got it... it´s just too risky. It´s what helps us to manage the daily situations that abruptly arise, without either shooting up way high, too fast,,, or bottoming-out when sometimes we have to pick-up (or even hold for a while) those heavy (spiritual) things...

There are other important dive rules, too. For example, you don´t go down quickly --- you stop every so often on the way down to equalize the pressure in your craneum (the sinus cavities). And you don´t go back up quickly either --- you stop every so many feet (I don´t remember exactly,,, but there´s a dive chart for that) so your bloodstream doesn´t develop those bubbles. And dive times and depths are limited!!! You have to plan according to how deep you want to go or how many dives you want to do that day... and prioritize. There are also restrictions on air travel within 24-48 hours of diving, for the changes in altitude and atmospheric pressure on your body... for example. I can see spiritual implications for each of those points, too. The thing about SCUBA diving (and Christian walking), experience doesn´t bring immunity. EVERY dive is a risk.

This in mind, I ask for your prayer support of missionaries all over the world, who dove in for Christ. For those who have lost (or maybe never even had) neutral bouyancy. For those who have gone in to valiently fight, but have lost O2 from their tanks, went down too fast, or tried to go back up too quickly. For those who have stayed down too deep for too long, or have made too many consecutive dives -- and their (spiritual) bodies just aren´t holding up. Please pray.

There´s a special chamber that divers can go into if they´ve had a bout with the bends. Depending on the severity of it,,, its totally treatable that way. And I know there´s a special chamber I can go to when something´s out of balance --- right into the arms of my Lord and Savior.

Don´t let the risks scare you away --- prepare for them, and have FUN diving --- it´s really beautiful down there!

And yes, it´s worth the risk.
love m