By Liu Yi, United States
In March, spring was in the air everywhere. Trees and little grass began to sprout, and all kinds of flowers were vying to be the most beautiful. In such a pleasant season, I was lucky to have a chance to go sightseeing on a luxury cruise ship.
The moment I embarked, I was very excited. A while later, the ship sailed into the vast sea. I stood in the wind, allowing it to mess up my hair and play on my face. Then I turned round to look at the disappearing seashore. In the distance, high mountains and lofty hills soar into the clouds, surrounding the poetic vast sea. Against the forested mountains the sea looked so peaceful and silent. Fascinated by the picturesque scenery, I couldn’t help but take up my cell phone to photograph the rare instant.
Before the sea, I excitedly adopted various poses to take selfies. Just as I was absorbed in it, the sky became suddenly overcast with dark clouds. In an instant, the lightning flashed and the thunder crashed, and a strong wind arose. The calm sea was immediately enveloped by darkness. Gusts of shrill sea wind came howling, making us tourists on deck unable to stand steadily. My hat was also blown away and my cell phone nearly slipped into the sea from my hand. Obviously, a storm was on the way, so all of us hurriedly ran back to the cabin. I came to the hall and found a seat by the window to sit down. Through the spacious and bright windows, I watched the changes on the surface of the sea.
Soon, the fierce wind, accompanied by the pelting rain furiously whipped the surface of the sea. The storm with thunder and lightning blew up and the sea was lashed into layers of tempestuous rolling waves, like rows of high walls of water surging forward in rhythm, magnificent and unstoppable. In the howling sea wind, the huge waves that churned restlessly swirled up and formed into huge maelstroms, like wild beasts opening their bloody mouths to devour all the things. This made me spontaneously tremble with fear.
Knocked about by the fierce gales and the gigantic waves, the huge cruise ship rolled from side to side, heaving up and down. When dashing against the ship, the waves instantly changed into white spray rushing toward the deck and windows. Then my heart became nervous, “What if the huge ship was wrecked and I fell into the boundless ocean?” I didn’t dare to think more.
After a violent storm, the waves seemed to be a bit tired and slowly stopped their steps, and the dark clouds also dispersed gradually. Warm sun began to shine on the deck and the whole surface of the sea. Then all the things recovered tranquility.
Looking back upon how the waves surged and how the storm blew up just now, I still felt the hair stand up on my neck. I live on land every day and didn’t know at all that the sea can roar like this at any time, and that the power of the fierce wind and huge wave can be so great. If the wind and wave ran onto the shore at any time, we would completely have no way to withstand them. Fortunately, they are unable to rush onto the land as they wish. Thereby, people living by the sea can have a normal life. How wondrous it is! This reminded me of God’s words, “God is still in control of the water, the wind, and the waves. He does not let them run amok and He does not let them harm or destroy people’s homes, and because of this the people can continue to live and thrive on this piece of land. Which means that God had already planned out the rules for existence when He made the universe. When God made these things, He ensured that they would benefit mankind, and He also controlled them so that they wouldn’t be troublesome or disastrous to mankind. If they weren’t managed by God, wouldn’t the waters be flowing everywhere? Wouldn’t the wind be blowing all over the place? Do they follow rules? If God didn’t manage them they wouldn’t be governed by any rules, and the wind would howl and the waters would rise and flow about everywhere.”
“The great mountain and the huge wave. The scenery here is a mountain by the sea where we can see the mountain, the ocean spray, and also, a huge wave. What is the mountain to the wave in this instance? (A protector and a screen). It is both a protector and a screen. Right? The goal of protecting it is to keep this part of the sea from disappearing so that the creatures that live in it may thrive. As a screen, the mountain keeps the sea water—this body of water—from overflowing and causing a disaster, which would harm and destroy people’s homes. Right? So we can say that the mountain is both a screen and protector.
“This shows the significance of the mutual reliance between the mountain and the stream, the mountain and the fierce wind, and the mountain and the huge wave and how they restrain one another and depend on one another, which I have spoken of.”
Pondering these two passages of God’s words, I couldn’t help but praise the wondrousness and wisdom of the Creator. God made mountains by the seashore, drawing boundaries for the sea. Without God’s permission, no matter how great the wind and waves are, they are unable to exceed the boundaries. If the sea was not surrounded by the great mountains, the waves would run to the shore at any time. If so, not only could the creatures in the sea not survive, but our mankind’s homes would also be attacked at any time and we couldn’t live a safe and normal life. Now we can live on land peacefully because when God created all things, He has predestined the laws between the great mountain and the huge wave—restraining one another and relying on one another. This has never changed for millions of years.
From all the things created by God, I appreciate that God is caring and showing concern for mankind created by Him at all times and in all places. In order to make us humans have a good environment to live in and thrive on land, God is especially thoughtful. He not only lets everything benefit us, but ensures us mankind against being harmed. God’s management of all things manifests His authority, and even more contains His love for us. I am full of gratitude and praise for God from the bottom of my heart.
