The Deep-Sea Diver's Lifeline

In 2012, saturation diver Chris Lemons was working 300 feet beneath the North Sea when his umbilical — the cable supplying his air, heat, and light — was severed by a malfunctioning vessel above. For thirty-eight minutes, he lay in total darkness on the ocean floor with only a five-minute emergency tank. His survival depended entirely on something he could not see: his crew working frantically on the surface to reconnect his line. Lemons later said the hardest part was not the cold or the dark — it was trusting that someone above was doing what he could not do for himself.

Colossians 3:1-4 speaks to every believer living in a similar tension. We walk through the pressures and darkness of ordinary life, yet Paul insists our true life is not down here at all. It is "hidden with Christ in God" — secured in a place we cannot yet see, sustained by a connection that runs deeper than anything visible. The Almighty holds us even when we feel cut off.

Paul's command to "set your minds on things above" is not an invitation to ignore the ocean floor. It is an invitation to remember where your lifeline runs. Chris Lemons survived because his life was tethered to something above him. And one day, Paul promises, that hidden life will surface in glory — when Christ Himself appears, and we appear with Him.