During the hot months of summer, millions of Americans head to the beach. Whether it’s Nag’s Head, Ocean City, or Waikiki, America’s beaches offer a respite from the blazing temperatures of July and August and provide cooling breezes and refreshing waves.
While beaches exist where the ocean meets the land, some other structures thrive beneath the waves out of sight from landlubbers. Coral reefs are found around the world and are another incredible example of God’s wise design.
According to an article in Answers Magazine, coral reefs are the most biodiverse ecosystems on the planet surpassing even rainforests. Although they cover less than one percent of the ocean floor they provide habitat for one fourth of all marine species including moray eels, dolphins, and beloved sea turtles. In addition, they host some of the most beautiful of all fish including parrotfish, butterfly fish, and Nemo’s cousins: the clownfish. Other favorites such as seahorses, lionfish, and cuttlefish also call coral reefs home.
Coral reefs are built by small creatures known as polyps that use calcium from seawater to construct exoskeletons. As polyps die, their skeletons remain and become the foundations on which new levels of the reef are built. Over many years, these structures gradually grow to immense size including one in Australia that is taller than the Eiffel Tower. The Land Down Under also boasts the Great Barrier Reef which, at 133,000 square miles, is the largest earthly structure built by living things.
Coral reefs are also found off the coasts of Florida, California, and Hawaii. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates that these undersea blessings save $94 million annually in coastline erosion prevention, and that the coral reefs in Florida are worth $8.5 billion.
While some coral reefs are suffering from an increase in water temperature, fossil records indicate this has happened many times throughout earth’s history. Fossilized coral in Michigan and Great Britain indicates reefs once existed where they don’t today. Thankfully, scientists are also giving coral a boost by working to minimize predators that feed on the polyps as well as by discovering, developing and deploying coral species that are more resilient and hearty. Encouragingly, a new study also discovered nearly 25,000 additional square miles of coral reefs worldwide.
Like much of the rest of God’s Creation, coral reefs can teach us spiritual lessons. These structures provide a vivid example of Jesus’ church. The global church has existed for nearly 2,000 years and has gradually built on the faithful work of previous Christians. Over time, this earthly manifestation of God’s Kingdom has expanded to exist on all continents and within most people groups.
Individual believers, like the polyps, absorb God’s love and grace from the atmosphere of His presence and use it to provide structures and systems that benefit and bless many. Many churches feed the world’s hungry, clothe its naked and house its homeless. We create an atmosphere in which joy and freedom can flourish and in which humans can thrive. Under the influence of the Holy Spirit, the Church has produced much splendor in the world including its most beautiful music, art, and drama, and enriches the ocean of humanity in which we live.
The coral polyps are also an example of mutuality or symbiosis which God has created where two or more species cooperate for the benefit of both. Living inside the tissues of the individual coral, tiny single-celled algae carry out photosynthesis providing their hosts with sugars needed for survival. Once again God’s creative genius is on full display underscoring the impossibility of random evolution to produce such a complicated relationship even over millions of years.
This symbiosis illustrates how God’s Holy Spirit lives within believers and nourishes us to do His work on earth. Once again, God’s creation informs our souls. As we visit the beaches this summer, may we remember God’s incredible creation of coral, glorify Him for it and grow spiritually from it. Blessings, George