Sea Hunt is an American action adventure television series that aired in syndication from 1958 to 1961 and was popular for decades afterwards. Between the ages of six to nine, I wouldn’t miss an episode. Mike Nelson, always fit and trim and looking forever like a slightly aging quarterback, was seen daring the fates underwater or emerging from the sea unscathed despite sharks, shipwrecks and assorted malefactors.
There was an old truck body in the back of my uncle’s field and that was our diving platform. Kids standing on the headboard of that old logging truck body were anticipating a new adventure. We would don our make-believe gear, place on our faces imaginary masks, and jump into the mirage of an undersea world.
Imitation is the action of using someone or something as a model or a thing intended to simulate or copy something else. This is an action quite common in our youth. Everything from smoking a pencil as a Winston cigarette to dragging rubber boots to simulate spinning tires was fair game.
After becoming a Christian, I found imitation was still an active part of my life because it was mentioned so many times in Scripture:
Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God.
that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.
I went from imitating the imaginary to imitating the real thing.
Think about it as you hold your breath and jump.
Gary