The Kings Heart for the Center of the Ocean

Casia:    
When I woke up this morning I asked God what he wanted me to pray for and I felt him say: "The center of the ocean."

I thought it was bizarre and I was unsure if I had heard right but I jumped into praying anyways. When I was thinking about the words "Center of the Ocean" the huge trash pile the size of texas and ridiculously deep in the Pacific ocean came to mind. It is called the Pacific Garbage Patch and is in one of the Gyres, an area where several different ocean currents come together. I remembered hearing of it somewhere a while ago but I didn't remember where, all I knew is that there was a horrific pile of plastic that had built up in our ocean that was affecting our environment as a direct result of our neglect and lack of care.

While I was praying I also remembered the scripture where God calmed the storm. "Even the waves and wind listen to him…" After praying I opened my bible and it opened up to Matthew 8:23-27:

                    

     "And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him, saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him."

    

      It was such an awesome confirmation that I had heard clearly about what God wanted us to partner with him in prayer for, so I shared it with the group which caused Kelly to share her dream:

     "Last night I had a dream that I was on top of a ship in the ocean and I wanted to go out and swim. Farrah stopped me and said I could only swim in the little pond on the deck of the ship. She said it was a warmer and better place to swim. The next dream I had was me swimming in the ocean with a few friends. We were having fun swimming, then one person decided to go underwater. He came up disgusted and said he saw a pile of hair and dirt at the bottom of the ocean. It was really gross and had mice running out of it. We all wanted to look under the water at this point. Now we saw a huge cargo box filled with items. We looked again and saw a line of these boxes next to each other, all filled with different items. We were angry that this was hidden from us."

Beth had also done some research about the issues for the environment that result from plastic throughout the last couple years:

"Man was so excited when he created plastics in the mid 20th century. There were so many things he could do with it, and it has served to help our world in so many ways. However, as all matter on the earth, it breaks down. Since it was a substance that was completely man made, it does not break down as other natural substances on the earth. A lot if it ends up being washed into the ocean, either directly, by pieces of trash that are thrown into or washed into the ocean, or indirectly, by pieces that break down and are washed into the ocean like sand and minerals are washed into the ocean from larger rocks. Because animals don't know what it is, they think it's food, and die from consuming it, both on land and in the ocean. The bits that are in the ocean usually end up in garbage patches. They keep breaking down, and when it is broken down in the smallest pieces, it ends up suspended in the water, like of watery soup of plastic. 

Plastic is so useful, as we all know. Some can be recycled, but only once or twice. Most can not be recycled. It is said that if it can blow in the wind, it can not truly be recycled. It is a very inexpensive substance, and useful both in first and third world countries. In first world countries, we usually know that it should be recycled, but aren't always conscious about it. It is a very useful and inexpensive substance to bring supplies to third world countries, but these countries often don't have the resources or the know-how to recycle it. Much of this plastic ends up in the pacific garbage patch. 

The next day when we were helping with some clean-up projects, we saw a direct result of this problem. The people directing the clean-up project, out of ignorance, were burning the plastic right next to a waterway that goes into the ocean. It was not our place to correct the good work these people were trying to do, but it did raise our awareness of the depth of this problem." 

Casia:  
  God gave Kelly and I different pieces of the picture that seemed pretty random and bizarre separately, but made sense together. It was so cool that God spoke so specifically. This Trash pile in the middle of the ocean is directly affecting the French polynesians, their land and their lifestyle. God cares so much that he showed us what to pray into and what to partner with him on. 

Here is a clip from our prayer:

     "We repent on behalf of the Christians who have said: "Well Jesus is coming back so we don't need to care about the environment." and that hurts you because it is your beautiful creation that you made and love, that reflects your glory. And you gave us the role to look after and care for your creation and we have neglected that role. And we repent because the people who love the environment have heard Christians taking on those attitudes and because of that they want nothing to do with God. We pray that Christians would begin to take on a leading role in caring for the environment and that we would take on the role that you gave to us through Adam in the garden to care for the earth. {You have given us dominion over the land and the animals…} We pray that we would begin to take responsibility for the trash that is harming the earth and come up with creative solutions to this massive problem."