The surprising lesson free diving taught me about self-reliance, faith, and trusting God.
There are moments in life when your body tells you something your mind doesn’t want to believe.
Sixty feet beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean, every instinct I had screamed one message:
You need air.
My chest tightened. The pressure increased. My lungs began demanding the next breath they couldn’t have. For a brief moment, it felt as though I wasn’t going to make it.
I wasn’t in danger.
I was simply free diving.
But as I kicked toward the surface, I realized something far more significant than how long I could hold my breath.
I realized that much of my life had been lived exactly the same way.
Every Breath Counts
A few months ago, I traveled to Costa Rica to spearfish for yellowfin tuna. While I was there, I learned the art of free diving.
What surprised me most was that success had very little to do with what happened underwater. It began on the surface.
My instructor taught me a deliberate breathing sequence: inhale for two seconds, hold for two, slowly exhale for eight, hold again for two, and then take one final, deep breath—first filling the abdomen, then expanding the chest.
The first time I practiced it, I held my breath for 2 minutes and 20 seconds. I never imagined I was capable of that.
Eventually, training turned into real dives.
As I descended nearly sixty feet into the deep blue, something changed. The water grew quieter, the pressure increased, and every cell in my body reminded me that I wasn’t created to stay there forever.
No matter how calm I felt, no matter how disciplined my breathing had been, every dive ended the same way.
Eventually…
I ran out of air.
A Whole New World
Most of the time, however, I spearfish using SCUBA.
Instead of surviving for ninety seconds, I can remain underwater for nearly an hour.
Everything changes.
The ocean stops feeling like something to conquer and starts becoming something to experience.
Colorful reefs stretch endlessly beneath you. Schools of fish move together like living artwork. Sea turtles glide effortlessly through the water. Dolphins appear without warning. Every dive holds the possibility of discovering something you’ve never seen before.
I’m always aware of my surroundings—currents, marine life, and the fish I’m pursuing—but there’s one instrument I never ignore:
My pressure gauge.
It quietly tells me how much breathing gas remains.
Every diver is taught the same principle:
Never wait until you’re desperate for your next breath.
Always surface with a reserve.
The wisest divers understand that survival isn’t about seeing how close you can get to empty.
It’s about recognizing your limits before you reach them.
The Illusion of Self-Reliance
The more I reflected on those dives, the more I realized I often approach life like a free diver.
I depend on my own strength.
My own discipline.
My own intelligence.
My own plans.
I convince myself that if I prepare enough…
Work hard enough…
Think clearly enough…
Stay disciplined enough…
I’ll eventually have enough to accomplish everything I’m chasing.
Maybe this next accomplishment will satisfy me.
Maybe this next promotion will bring peace.
Maybe this next milestone will finally be enough.
But eventually…
I run out.
My patience runs out.
My wisdom runs out.
My emotional strength runs out.
My peace runs out.
Even my ability to keep pretending I have everything under control runs out.
Self-reliance can take us farther than we expect.
But it can never take us far enough.
Eventually, we’re all searching for our next breath.
Breathing From a Different Source
Living with God is completely different.
Depending on Him is like diving with SCUBA.
Every breath comes from a source outside of me.
I don’t have to wonder if I’ll have enough strength for tomorrow.
I don’t have to manufacture peace.
I don’t have to force hope.
I don’t have to pretend I can control everything around me.
His grace becomes my next breath.
His wisdom becomes my direction.
His strength becomes my strength.
Instead of merely surviving life, I become free to experience it the way He intended.
Jesus said:
“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” — John 15:5
Notice what Jesus didn’t say.
He didn’t say we could do a little without Him.
He didn’t say we could do most things without Him.
He said:
Apart from Me, you can do nothing.
The Christian life was never intended to be a breath-holding competition.
It was never about proving how capable we are.
It was always meant to be lived in continual dependence upon the One who gives life itself.
Living Beyond Your Next Breath
Perhaps that’s why so many people feel exhausted.
We’re trying to sustain ourselves with lungs that were never designed to provide endless air.
We’re carrying burdens that were never ours to carry.
We’re holding our breath, hoping that if we can just make it a little farther, everything will finally be okay.
But God offers something infinitely better.
He offers Himself.
The tragedy isn’t that we occasionally try to free dive.
The tragedy is that God has already offered us SCUBA…
…and we still reach for the snorkel.
If you’ve been living on your own strength, maybe today is an invitation to stop holding your breath.
Take the next one from Him.
Because when your life is rooted in Christ, you no longer have to live one breath away from empty.
You can finally live beyond your next breath.