Deep Water Labs: A Name, A Story, A Life of Listening
When you’ve tried all night and caught nothing, and God still says, “Go again.”
The name has been with me since the early 2000s when I first struck out to build something of my own.
I was looking for a sign. Some type of confirmation from God. I certainly didn’t want to do anything this crazy without His guidance. Then it happened. One day in church, the reading was about the calling of the disciples. Luke 5, if memory serves. The story about the fishermen being out on the water all night and not catching a thing.
As these fishermen, exhausted from their night’s work, come to shore and start cleaning their nets, Jesus invites them to push out from the shore and let their nets down into the deep waters for a catch — the very thing they’ve wanted all night.
In my 20-something zeal, I locked onto the part about the abundant haul — the overwhelming blessing that was surely on its way.
But the years have a way of refining what you notice in Scripture. Now in my early 50s, I clearly see the part where Peter complains, “We’ve worked all night and caught nothing.” Oh, how this sentiment resonates in my life today.
Deep Water Labs’ has become a sort of code name for my journey. I do my utter best to listen for God’s call and then go where he tells me — for better or worse. Push out into deep waters.
This has led me and my family to great adventures, mishaps, and losses. We’ve had a few victories along the way — nothing along the lines of a catch so big that it swamps my boat, though.
When I fail, I go back to figure out what went wrong. In my engineering days, we called this root cause analysis. I try to get better each time I go down a tricky path with God, and, wow, have I learned a thing or two.
I can’t wait to share.
This Substack (blog) contains some of the greatest lessons I’ve learned in my 30+ years of walking (running, stumbling, falling, quitting) with God.
Dive in — the deep water still calls.