Below the Surface

In 2nd Corinthians 4, we encounter a passage that can challenge to think about seeking to experience
more than just what the eye can see or what our senses can take in:
16b Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.
17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,
18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

We have been placed here on this earth, so our flesh is synced to the earthly realm in which we live. However, there is a supernatural realm, where God operates, where there are spiritual forces at play, determining what is manifested in the natural realm.  We were created to fellowship with God at a supernatural - beyond natural - level, and were created to intersect with Him in that way.  So we have to move beyond what we can comprehend and think about and fellowship with the One Who is able to do beyond what we can ask or think.

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In Proverbs chapter 2, the author uses an analogy about seeking to understand the words of God:
4 If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasures;
5 Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, And find the knowledge of God.
6 For the Lord gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding...

We are now into the last week of the month of July; what is typically called "summer" is actually coming to an end - the signs are everywhere: the tax-free back-to-school weekend just occurred, the summer schedule for church activities, such as camps and VBS's are in the rear-view mirror, and more.

Perhaps this summer, your vacation plans included a trip to Walt Disney World in Florida.  Maybe you caught my recent interview from the CBA UNITE event with Jeff Dixon, an Orlando pastor who integrates Disney material into his writing and overall ministry.  It was a fascinating conversation, and one thing he mentioned was the existence of the "utilidors" under the Disney park.  The website, MentalFloss.com, states:

When construction began on the Magic Kingdom in Orlando, the first layer of the park that was built was 392,040 square feet of “underground” tunnels, known as utilidors.

The story points out that these utilidors are actually on ground level and the park is the second floor.
The utilidors were conceived after Walt Disney noticed a cast member from Frontierland wandering about in Tomorrowland in Disneyland - you certainly can't have this.  So, he set out to do something about it in the next park.  In these tunnels, Disney cast members can travel from place to place; also, that's where they eat, where a number of costumes are stored, and where garbage generated goes.  Plus, as the article notes: "Engineering Central, or what used to be known as DACS (Digital Animation Control System), is the place where parades, lights, music, and more are controlled for the entire park."

It's all about the visitor experience - and all of this goes undetected to the average person moving around through Walt Disney World.

The concept of "hidden" services also translates to the transportation industry.  Of course, we know that in major cities such as New York, Washington, DC, Boston, and Philadelphia, there are massive subway systems that move people throughout the respective cities.  And, there is plenty of concern about the transportation burden in the northeast corridor of the U.S.  Enter The Boring Company; which is anything but uninteresting.  It's the brainchild of innovator and really rich guy Elon Musk, who claims to have recently received verbal approval from government officials to move forward on what is called a Hyperloop, a super-high-speed underground rail system that he says could move people from New York to DC in 29-minutes.  That's according to a recent USA Today article.

The Boring Company, as the story notes, was formed to "manufacture faster and more efficient tunnel-boring machines."  But, there are enormous costs that would be associated with the project. The article says:

A 120-mile above-ground stretch of the most comparable U.S. project, a high-speed rail project in California, will cost an estimated $7 billion to $10 billion, she said. But underground projects are more expensive, the hyperloop proposed by Musk is unproven technology and the innovator's system would theoretically travel five times faster than California's.

Similarly, the phase one expansion of New York City's Second Avenue Subway opened for riders on Jan. 1 — nearly a century after the project was proposed. Built at an estimated cost of $4.45 billion, the expansion included three new subway stations along an underground route of no more than two miles.

This almost sounds like a Disney ride - Travelmath.com says the flight distance from New York to Washington is 204 miles.  That puts your travel time on the underground system at around 400 miles per hour.  43 minutes is the estimated time on an airplane.

These two stories talk about action below the surface, unseen activities that can be beneficial.  So, there's the spiritual takeaway - we have to be willing to not just be satisfied with what we can experience with our eyes.  Just as there is a wholly different world under the surface at Disney World, and worlds of transportation that operate or could operate in the future, doesn't mean that is all that exists.

It's true in the spiritual sense, too.  The Bible encourages us to look beyond this temporal world into eternal things.  And, we can also recognize that there are spiritual forces all around us - good forces aligned with the kingdom of heaven and evil forces that represent Satan that operate seemingly in secret to thwart the plan of God for our lives.  We can be challenged to develop a sensitivity to discern how these forces are affecting our lives.  We can especially become more skilled in knowing how God is working and in resisting the work of the evil one.

Plus, our spiritual growth is determined by how deep we dig into God's truth.  The Bible talks about studying God's Word being likened to mining for silver.  We aren't merely called to go with our own human impulses and understanding; no, we are called to read and study God's Word, meditating on its implications for us and relying on the Spirit to show us how to apply it.  It's not acquired by having our minds centered on the things or ways of this world, but by focusing our attention on the things of God.