When You Can’t See the Whale
What the Pacific Ocean—and your jacked-up story—can teach you about unseen grace
This morning, we find ourselves sailing through the Tracy Arm Fjord on a cruise to Alaska.
Miles from shore in the deep Pacific, the ship’s captain announces whales have been detected off the starboard side. Excited, I hustled to the rail, scanning the horizon.
“They’re here,” he announced over the PA system.
“Humpbacks. All around us. Right beneath.”
Everyone shifted to the side they thought was starboard. Cameras ready. Eyes wide. We stared at the blue. I scanned the water like it owed me something—expecting a fluke, a fin, a breaching display of power.
Instead… nothing. At least not at first.
Just horizon.
Just silence.
And then… a mist. A whisper of a spout in the distance.
“Did you see that?” someone shouted.
Most didn’t. Some of us nodded like we had.
But the whales? They were still there. Massive. Majestic. Hidden.
🎯 When Grace Is There… But You Don’t Feel It
There’s a reason that moment felt familiar. It reminded me of my own life—and maybe yours too.
We hear from the pulpit or page that grace is all around us. That God is working in the depths. That redemption is possible even for the jacked-up mess we’re dragging behind us.
But most days? It feels like we’re just scanning the horizon hoping to see something that proves it.
We want a breach. A miracle. Something unmistakable.
But grace often comes like a spout in the distance. Fleeting. Easy to miss.
And yet, just beneath the surface, it’s there and it’s massive. It’s always been there.
🌊 What the Ocean Knows
The ocean doesn’t need your permission to be powerful. And grace doesn’t need your constant confirmation to be true.
In The Jacked Up Life, I talk about the “slow miracle”—how healing doesn’t always happen in Instagrammable moments or Hollywood endings. Sometimes it happens like this:
A moment of clarity that wasn’t there yesterday.
A conversation that shouldn’t have gone well—but did.
A night of sleep you didn’t think your soul could find.
The strength to show up one more day.
These are your water spouts. Evidence. Not always loud. Not always satisfying. But real.
🐋 You’re Not Floating Alone
Maybe you’ve been out in deep water for what feels like forever.
You’ve been told that God is with you, that grace surrounds you, that purpose still pulses through your pain—but it’s been a long time since you felt any of that.
Can I just say this?
You’re not broken because you can’t see it yet.
You’re human. And you’re still afloat.
Faith isn’t pretending you see whales when you don’t.
Faith is trusting that what you can’t see is still moving toward you.
🙌 Call to Action: Stay in the Water
Here’s what I didn’t do on this ship on the Pacific—I didn’t jump overboard to chase proof. I stayed on the boat. I waited. I watched.
And eventually… more moments of grace came. Not in choreographed splashes, but in glimpses. Enough to leave me breathless.
If you’re in a jacked-up chapter, don’t bail. Don’t self-medicate the silence. Don’t jump ship just because grace isn’t breaching on command.
Stay on the water.
Stay open.
Stay honest.
Stay expectant.
The whale is coming.
So is healing.
So is the next chapter of your story.
It may rise slowly. But it will be worth the wait.
Hit reply or comment below: What’s your version of the “deep water” right now? And what glimpses of grace have helped you stay afloat? Let’s talk about the unseen together.
And if you’ve been floating out there, wondering if grace still has you, The Jacked Up Life is your survival guide.
It won’t give you shallow answers or pretend the waves don’t hit hard—but it will remind you that you're not alone in the water… and that what’s beneath the surface is more powerful than you ever imagined.
🛶 Grab your copy here and keep paddling. Grace is under you. Hope is ahead. Stay on the water.
Some times profound comes in small bits in nearly empty bowl. Keep it going, buddy. The struggle, aging with the under the surface grace.