Walking on Water (okay, in water)

The day we arrived on South Padre Island, we met up with Chad Roy, a friend of a friend, who owns a brand-spanking-new boat. He took us out on the gulf about a mile or so from shore, where we got to see the wild dolphins feeding up close. As they pranced and danced around the boat, sometimes they would come within ten feet of us (it felt as if you could lean out of the boat and touch them). It was an amazing sight and feeling.

Initially the older of my two daughters, who happens to be less adventurous, had her face buried in the crook of her arm, not wanting to see where we were going as we "floated" across the water. As you will see in one of the photographs, that lasted about, oh, all of two seconds before she was in the water prancing and dancing like the dolphins. This was because of her initial perception of the waters of the gulf. Being a mile out from shore, we somehow got the impression that we were out in really deep waters, especially because we were only a few yards away from where the dolphins were feeding (and we had been informed that they only feed in deep water and it was around 20 feet where they were feeding).

When my friend and my son decided to go tubing, we discovered that we were only in about two and a half feet of water. Because the water is rather dark and murky, it was impossible to tell that it was that shallow since we couldn't see the ocean floor. This is how it is in our relationship with God sometimes. He asks us to step out of the boat and trust him to walk on water, but we think "there's no way on earth I can do that, the water's too deep!" Perception isn't always reality though. Our notion that the water where we were was deep, however scary to my daughter, was false. Once she realized that it was actually really shallow, she was willing to step out of the boat and walk on, I mean in water!

It was shallow enough at some points that we got stuck on a sandbar and literally had to pile out of the boat, and dig the bow free so that we could push it into deeper water. Today I am posting pictures of our water escapades. Enjoy!