During my first year of college at Cal State University, Northridge (1996), just outside of Hollywood, CA., I developed a love for screenwriting. My interest was significant enough that I wrote an episode (a spec script) for the then popular TV show Seinfeld. I felt I was good enough to seek the services of an agent that could shop me around Hollywood, specifically to the Seinfeld show.

One of the monikers that Seinfeld boasted was that it was “the show about nothing.” In order to write an episode for the show that highlights the mundane and everyday, I sought to create a story that would fit the ambiguous adjective, nothing. It finally hit me: why not write about bottled water? In the mid-1990s, bottled water was a trend that made carrying around a bottle of water as cool as donning a Prada purse, or as important an accessory to have as today’s smart phones. It was perfect: it mocked a current trend, and water was about something that looks and, in some cases, tastes like nothing.

After writing the script and sending it around to agents for months, I realized that I would soon be going on a mission and decided to not even add temptation to the decision to leave or not, and left the screenplay alone (you know, just in case it was picked up and I became a big deal…right).

Part of the irony is that I love water. I grew up in San Diego, CA five miles from the beach and I love the beach. Since moving to Utah, the times that I have worked on cruise ships in the Caribbean over the past couple of years have renewed my love of being on or around water. Writing this article on a cruise surrounded by the beautiful blue waters of the Caribbean all on sides puts the majesty and immensity of this part of God’s creation front and center in my mind.

After leaving the port in Nassau, Bahamas, we have one night to return to the port in Miami which means traveling at faster than usual speed. As is common in the open sea, wind is refreshing and at times, intense.

The boat is really rocking tonight. The combination of high winds and fast speeds push the boat from side to side, enough for some to experience mild sea sickness. We are on the Norwegian Pearl, a boat that boasts, 93,530 gross tonnage, is 965 feet in length, can handle 2,394 guests (double occupancy) and 1,084 crew members. The water in the pools on deck is sloshing from side to side in rhythm with the boat’s movement, making for an undesirable swim.

When looking at one of these massive ocean liners, it is hard to imagine the effort and tools that it would take to build a vessel that size. Even more impressive is the fact that, in spite of its massive size, the boat can still be affected by Mother Nature to the degree that it is. It just goes to show the immense strength of nature.

With the Seinfeld script I trivialized water as being, nothing. But the more I think about it, water cools the lava, water feeds the land, water has the ability to change the landscape of the earth more than any other element of which I am aware. Water has the power to heal, to clean, but also to claim life and destroy all other creations. Come to think of it, I am not sure if there is anything more powerful than water in all the earth. For that reason, I suppose at least in part, we drink water as part of the sacrament, why, in order to show His awesome power, Jesus showed that he could walk on the water, that he could change water into wine, and that we are baptized in it.

Perhaps this is why the earth was covered in a flood. It could also be why Moses was able to both save the children of Israel by crossing the Red Sea on dry land, and to use that same water to destroy the armies of Pharaoh. Ultimately, we are shown that as strong as water is, as devastating and as life giving as it can be, Jesus Christ is more powerful than even the waters of the earth.

Perhaps the next time we feel like we are drowning in the sea of life, or overwhelmed by the storms that beset us, we can remember that we can turn to Jesus Christ, our Master, the Lord Omnipotent. He is always reaching out to help us as he did the apostle Peter who had wavered in his faith while walking out on the water’s surface, saying, “O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” The message could also read, “Trust me. As powerful and intimidating as this vast sea appears, I am more powerful than this water. Come unto me, trust me, I am the Living Water.”