Big God - Small World

In 1993, we moved to Orlando, Florida, to a community called Hunter’s Creek.

Our home was just five miles from SeaWorld. We purchased a family membership to SeaWorld for just $250 a year. Across the street from SeaWorld was the Renaissance Hotel. It was a business hotel that catered to businessmen who were attending conventions at the nearby Orange County Convention Center. 

The Renaissance Hotel had a family health club membership for residents for $350 a year. This gave us access to their health club and all their outdoor pools. Behind the hotel was a massive Olympic-sized swimming pool with towel service and a massive jacuzzi. There was also a children’s pool, a playground, and outdoor hot showers. It was just fabulous. The most amazing thing was that every night, the pool was empty because all the guests were either at a convention or visiting a theme park. In the evenings after 5:00 p.m. we would roll into the parking lot with our Mercury Sable station wagon and stroll into this resort like we owned the place. I can’t tell you how many nights I would dive into the deep end of an empty pool at this resort. I loved it. Both my children learned to swim at the pool at the Renaissance Hotel. 

After we went for a swim, we would leave there and drive across the street and park for free at SeaWorld. We would arrive in time to attend the 7:00 p.m. Shamu show. The best thing about SeaWorld was the Shamu show with the killer whales. The trainers would come out and have Shamu do all sorts of tricks. The trainer would dive into the pool and swim to the bottom. Shamu would dive down and pick up the trainer on his nose and blast out of the water and the two of them would go flying into the air! It was the best show at SeaWorld. 

At the end of the show, they had something called the Splash Zone. There were signs in the lower seating area where the audience would get wet. Then they would have Shamu jump up and do belly flops up close to the audience so everyone would get splashed with salt water. People loved it. Killer whales weigh approximately 10,000 pounds. At SeaWorld you have a whale swimming in a small pool that holds two million gallons of water. Talk about a fish out of water! 

I want you to imagine that you’re going to be a big fish in a small pool like Shamu and make a big splash with your audience. Think like my former Sunday school teacher Diane. Our classroom was on the third floor of the church in a tiny little room that most people didn’t even know existed. But every Sunday that room was packed with people. Diane had a special gift. She would ask every person in the Sunday school class to bake something, give the blessing, or teach something. She would get a commitment from you and raise your expectations that you had to be there next Sunday to perform your important assignment. Nobody wanted to miss Diane’s Sunday school class. It was always a feast of breakfast food and fellowship. ~George DeTellis, Jr.