The majority of the water covering our planet is divided into four major areas: the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, and Arctic oceans. The largest of these is the Pacific Ocean. About one third of the earth’s surface is found in the Pacific Ocean, which covers an area of 64 million square miles. This is more area than the entire land surface on earth, and this is just one of the oceans! The Pacific Ocean is 9,630 miles long at its longest, and 11,000 miles wide at its widest. This means that if we sailed a boat at 100 miles an hour across the Pacific Ocean, it would take us more than 4 ½ days, without stopping for food or sleep, to cross the ocean, not counting resistance from wind and waves. Talk about a lot of water!
The Pacific Ocean has an average depth of 14,000 feet, with the deepest part, the Mariana trench, reaching a depth of 36,198 feet. This is so deep that the tallest mountain on earth, Mt. Everest, which is 29,035 feet high, could fit into it with 7,000 feet to spare! Human life cannot survive in the deepest parts of the ocean, nor can most fish. The pressure of the water can reach up to 1.17 metric tons per cubic centimeter, which is so strong that it can crush submarines!
Now, imagine that someone dropped a quarter from a boat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and it landed on the bottom. Suppose that they then asked you to go get it. How could you retrieve the quarter? Assuming you could get a boat and travel all those miles out into the ocean to get to the spot where he dropped the quarter, how could you get it up from the bottom? You couldn’t swim that deep, even with scuba gear. There are only a handful of deep sea vessels that can withstand the massive pressure to reach the bottom, and they are not equipped to pick up the coin. Let’s face it: the quarter would be lost forever.
This is great news for us as Christians! You see, God promises us that when we make mistakes or sin, and we are sorry for our sins, we can ask God to forgive us. And when we ask Him for forgiveness, He promises to forgive us completely: “...for I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more,” (Jeremiah 31:34, NIV). Can you believe that God will not remember your sins? You might remember them, but God will not! God does not have a problem with His memory; He just chooses not to bring it to mind ever again.
The Bible tells us that God “...will trample our sins under (His) feet and throw them into the depths of the ocean,” (Micah 7:19, NLT). So, just like that quarter that is lost forever, our sins will be separated so far away from us that we can never get them back again! That just shows us how much our awesome God loves us, that He could forgive us like that!
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i know that i have made some really bad decisions and thought that because of them good aspects of my life were fraudulent. it took me a really long time to be forgiven for them because i was embarassed to bring them before god, like doing so would be like sinning all over again. it made me feel like i was lying to myself whenever i tried to do anything good, because i felt that i must be a bad person. this train of thought left me really depressed, but i hid that from the world, just as i tried to hide my shame from god. finally, one day i was able to feel forgiven, really, honestly, truly forgiven. it wasnt at some huge religious revival, or through hours of prayer with a pastor or a church. it was with a childrens story.the children were supposed to draw a picture of something they had done wrong on a piece of paper, like taking more cookies than you told your mom or something. then you were supposed to cut the paper up into little tiny pieces and throw them away. this sound dumb, i know, but i saat down after the kids left and tried it. i couldn't talk to god to tell him how i felt or what i had done, i didnt have the words anymore and was too ashamed. but could i draw something that represented my sin? could i offer that symbol to god, for him to destroy in heaven and deed just as i was destroying it on paper? i didnt know, but i was tired of always being ashamed and afraid someone would find out, so i tried. as i was drawing i began to cry, and as i began to cry i began to pray. when i was done i sat there a minute until i stopped crying, and i offered god one more prayer. i thanked him for finding a way for me to reach him when my own shame and pride were keeping me from reaching him, for forgiving me, and most of all for allowing me to forgive myself.
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