On Day 4 of the LCMS Youth Gathering we visited the “Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig and Museum” and learned about the Gulf Coast oil industry.
On Day 87 of the Gulf oil spill, tar balls, tar mats and a light sheen continue to be reported washing ashore on once pristine beaches. Approximately 572 miles of Gulf Coast shoreline was oiled: 69 miles in Florida, 328 miles in Louisiana, 108 miles in Mississippi, and 67 miles in Alabama. About 1.82 million gallons of total dispersant were applied: 1.07 million on the surface and 749,000 subsea. More than 31.8 million gallons of an oil-water mix were recovered.
It was arguably the worst oil catastrophe in modern history, and on day 87 we heard the news that the spill had been plugged. The spill stems from a sea floor oil gusher that resulted from the April 20, 2010 Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion. Tactic after tactic failed making BP and the Gulf oil spill the target of comedians and satirists.
As I understand it, one of the difficulties was the depth of the sea floor. For a poor, miserable oil spill, this was a bad thing. A very bad thing for our environment, our economy, and our energy future! For us poor, miserable sinners, however, the incredible depth of the sea floor is a good thing, a very good thing.
The prophet Micah says:
Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of
his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.
He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all
our sins into the depths of the sea.
Micah 7:18-19 ESV
As forgiven children of God, our sins are washed away, even drowned to the depths of the sea.
Today, the world has all but forget about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, relinquishing the whole event to a trivia question, but God has already forgotten – forgotten all of your sins and mine. They’re on the bottom of the ocean floor.
Thanks be to God! Pastor Hartwig