I have been going to beaches for decades, usually early in the morning to see the sunrise facing east, or late afternoon to watch the sunset, facing west. Occasionally I see a school of fish stir up the water. I have seen starfish washed up on the shore, and lots and lots of jellyfish. And, I have seen a dolphin or two break the surface of the water in slow elliptical movements, as if to say, “That’s all you get—just a few times breaking the surface and then I am gone.”

But the other day, when I saw the dolphins, it was different. My Enlightenment and scientific self thought, “Well, I guess the odds of that happening were pretty small, but I guess it is scientifically possible, and I just happened to be there to see it.” But then my “Christian self”—the self that embraces more mystery, thought (almost out loud):

“Thank you, Jesus, you gave me a miracle—the great mystery of the joy of dolphins. A great mystery of wonder has appeared before me.”

What did see? I describe it as a “bunch” of dolphins. When I looked up the proper term for a bunch of dolphins together, I understood that what I was seeing was a very happy “pod” of dolphins.[1] The pod was not comprised of simply four or five. There must have been 20 or 30 happy dolphins. I say “happy,” because that was the impression their movements conveyed, though I may be imposing too much of my own sense of their dolphinic behavior. They would gently come to the surface, as normal dolphins do; there might be one or two, and then nothing. But what I saw did not seem normal; there was much more going on. In the space of a minute at least two dolphins would shoot up in the air, completely out of the water and would flip and land back almost headfirst—a circular leap out of the water into the air until they “nailed” the landing headfirst. At first, it was two dolphins at a time as if I was witnessing a performance at Sea World and not walking along a Jacksonville beach. Then there was another, then another. Some folks who saw the display began to walk close to the water to get a better look; we were all front-row spectators in a mysterious dance of the dolphins.

Then, for a time, it would be quiet—nothing.

They had been moving north, so I, too, slowly walked in the same direction while at the same time training my eye farther north. Then, suddenly, I would see a SPLASH. A dolphin sprang out of the water and did a back flip. Then another one shot out of the water and landed on his side. It was a circus of acrobatic dolphins.

Maybe this type of thing happens more than I know, but I think not. Regardless, this was a wondrous display of God’s creation for the few of us who needed to be reminded of God’s wonder.

Creation is not simply comprised of chemicals, enzymes, and DNA molecules, all of which can be reduced to mathematical equations. God’s creation is a miracle. It comes from the Logos from start to finish.[2] At times we get a glimpse of the wonder after freshly fallen snow on the mountains, remarkable sunsets where the light bounces off the clouds and water, or when a pod of dolphins dances for a small audience of attentive sunrise watchers.

We went out to see a sunrise, but God brought much more. Some saw it and were filled with joy and excitement. Others stayed focused on their phones or listening to podcasts, eyes fixed upon the sand.

What is my point? God speaks through his creation, sometimes as reassurance, sometimes as a saving or redeeming act. And, yes, there are miracles, but sometimes the overpowering predisposition to trust science over faith causes us to miss the miracles that are right before us, or explain them away.

One miracle that I experienced a while back was a healing. Three students saw that I had severely injured my shoulder and before I could get to the doctor, they prayed—not for good medical care, but for healing. Within hours my shoulder was normal: strong and painless, just like the other shoulder. At first, I doubted the miracle, convincing myself the pain hadn’t really been that bad, that maybe I had been mistaken about the injury. But then I remembered I had missed two nights sleep with the pain and was told by a doctor friend that it was probably a damaged rotator cuff.

Prayer yielded a miracle.

Was Lazarus really dead, or just “mostly dead?” Was it a coincidence that Mordecai happened to be sitting at the King’s Gate and overheard Bigthan and Teresh conspire to kill King Ahasuerus (Esther 2:21-23)? And was it a coincidence that King Ahasuerus couldn’t sleep one night and had the story of Mordecai’s heroic work read to him (Esther 6:1)? (Some people are put to sleep by listening to history!) Or was it more than coincidence? Was it evidence of God’s active involvement in his creation and with his people?

There is so much more to our world and so much more to God than what science and systematic theology can define, as important as they are. New Testament scholar Dale Allison has written about this from his own experience and gathering stories from others in his book, Encountering Mystery: Religious Experience in a Secular Age.[3] There is much more to the world and to our “experiences” than we can imagine: Wonder, mystery, miracles. God cannot be confined to rational, scientific, and systematic minds.

It is a good idea to be still when miracles and mysteries appear; be still and sit in the moment of wonder and simply say to God, “Thank you.”

For a pod of flying and dancing dolphins, I say, Thank you, God.

[1] Or a gaggle of geese, flock of sheep, herd of cattle, pack of wolves…
[2] “In the beginning was the Word (Logos in Greek) which is word, reason, and understanding.
[3] (Eerdmans, 2022)

Dr. Scott W. Sunquist, president of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, is author of the “Attentiveness” blog. He welcomes comments, responses, and good ideas.