Swimming God’s Sea: A Creature of Rebirth
A childhood encounter with divine mystery and maternal skepticism in the church basement.
Swimming God’s Sea: A Creature of Rebirth
It was a typical day spent riding tricycles in the church basement and talking to the janitor while little Nikki’s mom attended pottery classes at the church. Nikki’s mother was making Miss Piggy mugs for hot chocolate and mini marshmallows. It was a crisp October day, with Halloween approaching, and Nikki, about three years old, was already excited about Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Little Nikki’s mother was a Sunday school teacher who was very active in the church. Much to her mother’s dismay, the janitor in the nearby furnace room knew Nikki well. Since she was a toddler, Nikki had spent many days each week riding tricycles in the basement, playing with toys in the classrooms, and staying in the nursery. She never missed a Sunday morning, Sunday evening, or Wednesday night service.
At the time, Nikki’s mother was taking pottery classes in one of the church basement rooms. Nikki loved the Miss Piggy ceramic mugs and had even helped paint a few before they were fired in the kiln.
The janitor snickered at little Nikki one day.
“Come here,” he whispered anxiously. “Pastor really wants to teach you something. It will be our little secret.”
The janitor glanced toward Nikki’s mother’s class and saw that she would be occupied for a while.
The pastor stood in the back of the large furnace room and opened a hidden cellar door behind a curtain.
“This is my secret place,” he said. “No one is allowed back here.”
Nikki peered inside and saw a large aquarium filled with otter-like creatures and enormous fish resembling dolphins, whales, sharks, and rays.
“This is God,” the pastor said. “It is His holy sea.”
The pastor lifted the lid in the floor leading into the large hidden aquarium.
“Give her a rub and let her in,” he instructed.
Nikki gently rubbed one of the otter-like creatures and held it carefully as it slipped in and out through the opening in the floor into the adjoining aquarium connected to the vast “sea” leading toward Lake Michigan. Nikki laughed in amazement as she watched the creature swim through the enormous tank.
The pastor spoke softly.
“These are my special creatures. They teach me about rebirth. They travel all the way to Lake Michigan and return reborn by God. They come visit me, eat God’s holy food from the church, and bring their friends to be saved.”
He continued:
“You see, we are the same. I am like God to these creatures. God has a place and food waiting for us in heaven. We are all swimming in His vast sea. If you want to know Him, keep coming to church and asking others to read the Bible to you. It is God’s food. When you get older, you will come to know the Bible yourself, share it with others, and open it to them. Just as the sea otter comes to me, you must go to God. I want you to know God. Let us pray.”
Suddenly, a loud scream echoed through the basement.
“Nikki, where are you?!” her mother shouted in panic.
“I do not want you in that dirty furnace room talking to that dirty janitor. They are not good with kids,” her mother scolded.
“But Momma, there are fishies and water in there,” Nikki protested.
“Yes, yes, dear child,” her mother replied exasperatedly. “Save those stories for when you are older. I hope you are okay. I need to take you to the doctor to get your head checked. You are not supposed to be in a furnace room with a janitor.”
The pastor had told Nikki that it was a secret and that no one else knew about the sea hidden in the furnace room. Nikki’s mother believed Nikki was once again imagining things, telling stories, or experiencing hallucinations.
God reveals what He chooses to reveal.
To Nikki, the church basement contained fish-like creatures swimming in a hidden sea connected to Lake Michigan — a secret world the pastor tended through the janitor, feeding the creatures holy communion in secret. The church held hidden rooms and hidden mysteries for little Nikki as she played there.
To her mother, however, it was simply an old church with blocked-off rooms meant to save money on heating and air conditioning.
Hammond remained a haunting place for Nikki, filled with memories like these.
