Goodbye, Sea

I love the ocean.  Growing up in upstate SC, I was in the foothills of the mountains and just a few hours from the ocean: the best of both worlds.  One of the things I cherish about that land is the view of the mountains.  We enjoy them more when we visit now than we did when we lived there.   However, I grew up going to the beach every year as well.  I have always enjoyed the beach.  Walking  the beach, playing in the water, or reading a book with my feet in the sand.  Its nice!  One of my favorite things now is an early morning prayer walk on the beach.  Pretty neat stuff.  The only time I have been out on the ocean, I was on a cruise ship with a patch behind my ear.  No regrets there, either. 
As I read Revelation 21 today, I was reminded of all of this when I read in v. 1- Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.  What is that about?  Well, I'll tell you.  The sea to the 1st century person was a lot less understood than it is today.  They made their living on the sea.  Christ surrounded himself with fishermen.  They shipped cargo on the sea and without planes, trains, and automobiles, they made the sea a very active part of their livelihood.  However, they never got over the mysteries of the sea.  They did not have the sonor technology that we have today or underwater cameras and such, so there was much they did not know.  They did not know the depths of the sea.  They did not know all that lived in the sea.  Often folks would go out to sea and never come back. Where they'd go?  If someone was traveling overseas, postage took so long that I am sure families lived in the mystery of whether their loved one made it safely or not--sometimes for months.   The sea represented chaos as well.  Some of that was the mystery but part of it was the quick squalls that would rise up so fast and so violently that it would take a rowboat under before you knew hardly what hit you.  (Do you remember the horrid fear that a bunch of fishermen had when Jesus was in the boat with them during a storm?)  Many of the godless even thought that the sea was a god, due to its power, mystery, and awesome ways. 
So 'why no longer any sea'?  One day the Christian will receive their heavenly reward and with it will be a city of security, unlike any that has ever been built.  There will be secure walls and the mysteries of the sea will be gone.  There will be no more seperation like the sea can cause.  There will be no more chaos.   There will be no more mystical fears surrounded by mysteries.  We will be together with the Lord without conflict, storms, or seperation.  No more death, mourning, crying or pain.  What a Day that Will Be!
Well, don't live in escapism today, looking beyond the goals and opportunities that this day holds.  Seize the day.   However, keep it all in perspective.  This is not all there is.  Give praise today to the one that brings us together, calms our storms, our fears, and our future.  Rest in that today.