Ep. 175 Saltwater and Sharks: Finding Hope in the Chaotic Deep Essay by Dr. Chase Bowers

“There is, one knows not what sweet mystery about this sea, whose gently awful stirrings seem to speak of some hidden soul beneath. The same waves wash the moles of the new-built California towns, but yesterday planted by the recentest race of men, and lave the faded but still gorgeous skirts of Asian lands older than Abraham.”

– Herman Melville, Moby-Dick, Chapter 58

What do sharks, saltwater, and the sea teach us about fear, wonder, and faith?

In this wonderfully reflective episode of The Storied Outdoors, Dr. Bowers traces a lifelong relationship with the ocean from childhood awe in the Caribbean, to fear sharpened by real danger, to a hard-won return to wonder.

Along the way, dolphins dance, sharks surface, reefs shimmer, and Scripture speaks. Drawing on personal stories, biblical imagery, and the ancient human fear of the deep, this episode explores why the sea has always symbolized chaos and why God repeatedly meets His people there.

From Newport Beach to Grand Cayman, from Jonah to Revelation, this episode wrestles with the tension between beauty and danger, awe and fear, chaos and hope. It’s a meditation on the ocean as both mirror and metaphor: reflecting a broken world groaning for redemption, and pointing us toward the God who still speaks peace over the waters.

This is a story about getting back in the water—not because the sea is safe, but because God is faithful.