Enjoy more oceans
adventures with Sally, the real-life character from the current Guide
story, “The Girl God Rescued.”

See bonus photos from the previous installment of The Girl God Rescued here.
See bonus photos from the next installment of The Girl God Rescued here.

In all my years of
scuba diving I have never seen any creature injure another creature. I’m glad
for this because I love the joyful experience of “swishing with the fish.” But
I know that fish and other creatures do get hurt. I also know that the Creator
made it possible for them to heal.

One
good example of this is the sea fan. Every time I see one, I look for the
shiny, cream-colored flamingo tongue shell that lives on it. This sea creature
actually nibbles on the fan, removing some of the outer covering and leaving
dark pink scars along the stems. When a flamingo tongue moves on to nibble at
another spot, the tissue grows back and the fan is healed. However, if more
than one or two shells try to live on a fan at one time, they destroy too much
tissue.

Purple
sea fans love sunny reefs, but deep water sea fans attach themselves to the
very edge of the outer reef wall. They thrive in these areas because currents
flow past, bringing plankton that filter feeders love. God gave them a “hold
fast” system somewhat like the roots of a palm tree. The fan’s stems are tough
and can’t be pried lose from the reef.

As you can see, the
problems that come with being “eaten” by a flamingo tongue and potentially getting
pried lose from their safe place on the coral and floating off to sea are both
solved by the Creator, who can solve problems and heal people as well as sea
creatures.

Amazing
as it might seem, fish get pestered by tiny parasites that cling to their
scales. The fish can’t scratch! God created a solution for this problem too He
invented a kind of “cleaning station.” Think of it somewhat like our emergency
rooms.

Fish
of all sizes swim over to a station and posture themselves with their head up
and tail pointing down. This is how they say, “I need a clean-up.” A banded
coral shrimp hides in a dark recess in the reef. It sits near the opening and waves an antenna
to attract the fish. When contact is made between the antenna and the fish, the
shrimp gets to work removing parasites and cleaning up cuts.

Sometimes I like
to lie still in the water and hold my hand out. A Pederson cleaner shrimp or
banded coral shrimp will crawl up onto my fingers and try to clean up any cuts
I might have. (Sometimes it pinches a bit!)

The sea creatures
have taught me that God has solutions for every hurt or problem and He knows
how to help us heal if we get hurt.