Wayne Weekly “Ocean Floor Mountains”

Last week I traveled up into the Adirondacks with our Chief Engineer and one of our board members to investigate a possible tower rental site. Mars Hill hopes to build a translator (repeater station) to broadcast the gospel to yet another area in NY State.

As we drove up the mountain to the site, I began to see more and more of the incredibly beautiful Adirondack sky line. Once we reached our destination I was in awe of the mountain range that encircled us. A few of the mountains, I believe one was Mt. Marcy, had snow on their peaks. What a declaration of God’s handiwork!

Not that many years ago, singer songwriter Andrew Peterson released an album named The Far Country. On that recording was a song entitled, Mountains on the Ocean Floor. Somewhat haunting in melody, it soon became a favorite of mine.

The song speaks of a person who is overtaken with some kind of evil in his life, from the lyrics, I would say substance abuse, alcohol or drugs. The song speaks about mountains on the ocean floor that are out of site, but are nevertheless there. The song then tells us that these mountains, though not visible, perhaps are like the work that God is doing in the lives of those enslaved by that which overcomes them. A heart of stone loses its hardness, it melts and explodes into new life. Through the trials of a person, God is growing them…and given them a name that has worth.

Whether my interpretation of the song is what Andrew Peterson meant, I don’t know. But that’s how I see it. That’s how I see the mountains on the ocean floor.

You read the lyrics…you make your own conclusion.

My uncle’s in the county jail
His time is on his hands
He knows he chose a barren cell
Over a fair and fertile land

He took another hit
He hit another high
He flew until he fell
Just like he has a thousand times

Nothing ever seems to change
But miles away beneath the waves

There are mountains
Mountains on the ocean floor
They’re rising from the deep
But no one ever sees
No one ever sees

I can’t believe I landed there
I swear I swore it off
I know that I can’t stand it here
Still I came and took a fall

I wish that I could shake it
I wish that I was free
I wish that I was half the man
I wish that I could be

There are mountains
Mountains on the ocean floor
They’re moving up so slow
No one ever knows
No one ever knows

Nothing ever seems to change
But miles away beneath the waves
Down below the dirt
Hotter than a flame
In the belly of the earth
He has given you a Name

There are mountains
Mountains on the ocean floor
They’re rising from the deep
Where no one ever sees
There are mountains
They’re hidden there beneath the waves
They’re moving up so slow
No one ever knows
There’s a molten heart of stone
That is waiting to explode
Only God can see it grow