Photo by Jenny Venturo
Many fascinating creatures live on the rocky shores and in the mighty waters of the Pacific Ocean. Here, the whales spout, the kelp beds gently wave, and the sea otters play among it all. In every crack and crevice of the rocks, there are hundreds of tiny animals, living. There are purple starfish, green sea anemones, and tiny fish called sculpin. There are tiny hermit crabs and limpets. Every day the ocean tides cycle in and out. When the tide is low, the rocks are left bare, and all these soft creatures are in danger of drying out in the hot sun. They must flock into small tidepools to stay alive. These tidepools can get pretty crowded. Sometimes a starfish will find himself crawling slowly over a hard limpet. Other times, a sea anemone will feel the pointy legs of a hermit crab on his sensitive tentacles—he really hates that! Everyone, though, is very careful not to brush up against the spiky sea urchin; he gets his desired privacy. And no one bothers the sea cucumber. The sea cucumber is often grumpy, and whenever he is grumpy, he shoots his intestines at the offender. And of course, no one wants that!
When the tide turns, however, there is a new danger. Everyone hurries to find a good, solid place to attach himself. You see, the tide does not come in gently. It rushes in with great torrents of water, swirling through crevices and crashing against rocks. If a tidepool creature is not firmly attached to a rock, he will be swept away into the ocean. So every creature sticks himself so well onto the rock that it is impossible to pry him off. Then, as the ocean water surges around him, he is safe and secure.
Well, that is the life of a tidepool creature. You probably know a little bit of what it feels like to be one of these creatures. Does this surprise you? You probably don’t look like one or feel like one, but do you ever feel like there are so many problems crashing into you at once that you are afraid they will sweep you away? Maybe you are having problems at school or at home. Maybe something is happening in your life right now that makes you feel afraid. What do you do?
In my last story, I told you how important it is to read the Bible. I told you to try to find out things about God when you read the Bible. Well now I am going to help you out by telling you some things about God. The first thing I am going to tell you is that God is trustworthy. Here’s what that means: Get out your Bible and find the book of Psalms, chapter 18, and verse 2. Did you catch this phrase: “my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge”? Just like a starfish or a limpet is safe when it clings to a rock, you are safe when you cling to God. God promises that He will never leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5). And God never lies (Hebrews 6:18). You just need to trust Him. He will take care of you!
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Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Used by permission. All rights reserved.