Whales, Starfish, & Rainbows

(60 seconds) I’m a natural skeptic. It makes me a great journalist but it gets in the way of faith, grace, and empathy a lot.

Author

Emily Ross
August 20, 2025

James 1:16-18

16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

I’m a natural skeptic. It makes me a great journalist but it gets in the way of faith, grace, and empathy a lot.

I read a book a few years ago about seeing Christ’s presence in the physical world. In the book, the author describes a story:

A husband and wife go to California for a Christian workshop. The husband is out one evening for a walk and sees whales cresting the ocean. A gorgeous sight, he’s elated to tell his wife about how God blessed him with this private whale show. She is jealous! She prays to God about her jealousy, and goes to sleep. The next day she goes on a beach walk herself. When she turns into a cove, she’s surprised to find it full of starfishes. She is so overjoyed. In the book, she describes this moment as one the Lord answered her prayer. “I hear you. I love you,” she feels God reminds her in this moment of awe.

Nahhhh. I thought, no way. That’s not a real story. A whole cove of starfishes just for her because she asked? I was skeptical.

I had be sure, though. So I tried it on for size. Every time something aligned perfectly or extraordinary happened in my life I said to myself, “God did this just for me today.”

It took a while to sink in. But as God as my witness! It happened….

I was having a pretty crappy day. We were tired, hot. I was driving all over carnation and we didn’t have enough snacks or water. We just needed to be home but were still “6 songs away, honey” from home. I got delayed by yet another stop light and I put my head on the steering wheel. Lord, I need more green lights, I thought, exhausted.

When I picked up my head, there was a rainbow. A huge, bold, unexpected rainbow. “Girls, look! Girls, look! Look a rainbow! A rainbow just for us. Look, there’s no one else at this stop light. It’s just one rainbow, just for us. Just today.” I believed.

I hope you’re sitting here reading this thinking the same thing I did when I read the starfish story — “Nah…” — because there’s nothing like looking up and seeing your rainbow, or your whales, or your starfish that God put in front of just you, just today.

Emily

PS You could be someone’s rainbow.

Have more time? Read all of chapter 1 of James.