“And praise him down here on earth, you creatures of the ocean depths.”

– Psalms 148:7

He was about 9 years old and lost in his own little world. Truth is, no matter how old you are, at the beach, you can easily get lost in your own little world. There he stood, about knee deep in the ocean. His back was to the water and his face to the shore. He was playing with a tiny crab he had found. He was a typical boy, investigating every facet of his crabby friend. I am watching this scene from my trusty beach chair placed in my usual summer beach spot.

I saw it coming! It was swimming up behind him! With his back to the ocean, he couldn’t see it coming. What in the world was approaching the boy and so fast? And, where was his mother? She must be down the beach, unable to see this scene. After all, I had a ring-side, ocean-side seat. When she didn’t show, my motherly instincts kicked in and I bolted from my chair. Before I could get to the boy I heard his mother’s paniced voice from down the beach. The voice was high pitched and a bit hysterical. “Behind you, Andrew, it’s behind you,” she screamed. By now I am standing directly in front of this young man, I had the advantage of proximity, so I beat his mom to the ocean’s edge.

The boy, totally unalarmed, slowly began to turn to see what was coming his way. He saw the creature coming toward him, and I held my breath. What in the world is that thing? It was huge. The critter came right up to the boy. All of a sudden it popped his head out of the water. I could see the creature’s bulging eyes. Like a dog nudging a young boy at the knee, this sea creature nudged and rubbed up against the boy’s leg. He reached down, petted the creature and the two lingered together for a moment and then his friend swam away. He yelled to those of us on shore, “I petted him, he let me pet him.”

I asked the boy, “What in the world was that thing?” You see, just the day before I was in the water swimming close to the spot where the boy had been standing. As I was coming out of the water, approaching the water’s edge, someone was yelling and pointing in the location of where I had just been swimming. It was the same type of creature. I couldn’t make out what it was. I followed him and tried to determine just what type of a sea critter was in the water with me. It was big, maybe big enough to be a shark. The way it swam, body collapsing and swirling as it swam, reminded me of an eel. At first I thought it might be an eel, but that didn’t quite match up either. What had I missed yesterday? Oh, to have been that little boy. I was so disappointed. I had to ask, “What was that?” The boy replied, “It was a sea cow – a manatee.” No way! A manatee, a huge work of nature interacted with this boy like it was a pet.Creation touched creation that day. The interaction was so beautiful, my heart literally melted as I watched that scene. The very same God who created you and me in His image also created this amazing manatee.

The next day, I was on the beach doing my usual shelling. I spotted a fabulous shell in the midst of the waves and I had difficulty getting hold of the silly thing. The shell kept getting lost in the shuffle of the tide and waves. All of a sudden mass hysteria breaks out. People from the shore are yelling at me, “Get out of the water!!” Folks were running for their lives. I turned around to see what was in the water and I knew immediately that the critter causing all the commotion was a friendly manatee. I swam has hard as I could, tearing through the ocean while passing the frantic swimmers. People are trying to stop me telling me that there is something in the water. I reply excitedly, “I know! A manatee is in the water.” You see, I knew he was a “gentle giant” because of the boy’s encounter with the manatee the day before.

I swam up to him. He was magnificent! I was within an arms length of his enormous body. He popped up his head, looked my way, lingered a bit and began to swim very gently with me, beside me on my left. I followed him for a good while. We coasted side by side and occasionally he would stick his head up for a bit, check me out and swim on. After a while, he decided it was time to move on. He quickly got on the move, swimming quickly down the gulf, unintentionally terrorizing swimmers in his path. I ran back to my beach chair, grabbed my journal and thanked God for my gift from the sea. I know God gave this big kid a taste of His glory. How’s that for a hands on object lesson? How’s that for writing inspiration? During dinner that evening I shared this story with my family. When I was finished, my husband looked at my daughter and said, “You realize that one of these days, your mother is going to simply disappear from the ocean because she will be eaten by some sea creature.”

Here’s what God gave me about the boy and the manatee. What struck me interesting about the two creations was that within seconds their personalities had shown through. The boy was adventurous, fearless, inquisitive, and down- right loveable. The manatee was big and menacing, but his size did not match his personality. This sea cow was relational, tender, loving and curious. Because the two shared similar traits in personality, the encounter they shared was intimate and comfortable. Two entirely different works of nature spectacularly collided at the beach. The manatee is so uniquely made and his very design gives us another glimpse at the personality of God as we see him reveal himself in creation. The boy was made in God’s image – as we all are – and God’s personality shines through in the charming, loving, engaging and all things beautiful traits of people.

All creation gives God’s praise, just by being what or who it is. The highest reaches of space, the tip top of the mountain peaks and the gut of the ocean go beyond our understanding of creation. We simply ponder creation and can only respond with words like: indescribable, wonder, amazing, uncontainable and with a deep breath “WOW”. God rejoices in his creation and through his creation we are pointed to another mind-boggling facet of the personality of our creative God. In the end, it’s not the galaxies, the mountains, the clouds, the canyons, the oceans or the creatures in them and on them. It’s ultimately God Himself, this creator of majesty and grandeur that ultimately takes our breath away. “His glory is far greater than all of earth and heaven.” – Psalms 148:13

May the glory of the Lord endure forever,
may the Lord rejoice in his works,
who looks on the earth and it trembles,
who touches the mountains and they smoke!
I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
May my meditation be pleasing to him,
for I rejoice in the Lord.

– Psalms 104: 31 – 34