Why on earth do you do this to your body? I got up early and was at the beach by 7:15 with my surfboard and wetsuit hoping for a good time of surfing. I took one look at my normal surfing spot and went back to my car and went to another spot where my friend has a house on the beach I can park at. 

 

Surf looked OK so I put on my wetsuit, boots and was out awaiting the first wave around 7:45. It was in the upper 50s, the sun was peeking in and out of the clouds and the water is somehow still only 59 degrees, which for us living in Florida is just plain cold.

 

There was only one other guy out about 100 yards away so there was no problem catching any wave I wanted. So I surfed for an hour and a half when I hear a very loud “Good morning” from Ted, my friend with the house. We surfed for a little bit and realized the waves were done for the morning and caught one in. Ted was only out for about 20 minutes but he doesn’t have boots so when he started walking across the sand he said, “I can’t feel my feet.” No surprise to me.

 

My friend has an outside shower with HOT water so I jumped under that, ran it into my wetsuit for about 5 minutes and felt like my body might start working again in regular movements instead of jerking around like an earthworm that has been unearthed. I pulled off my wetsuit, got in my car with the heater on full blast and got home in about 20 minutes. I ripped the board off the roof of my car, grabbed my wetsuit and put my stuff away as fast as I could and got inside.

 

Now that there was no car heater blowing on me so I started to shake again so I got in my own shower and ran the HOT water for about 10 minutes and almost felt normal. Jackie was doing her Zoom Bible study with the ladies and saw me and I could tell by her look I must be blue or something. I finally quit shaking after putting on jeans and a flannel shirt and by now it’s in the low 60s outside so it isn’t that cold.

 

So why do such crazy things at the age of 71? There’s only one reason: Fun. Tons of fun that has thrilled me for 57 years in spite of cold, hurting knees, back, shoulders and neck. I do this every time there are waves worth paddling out to ride on. Perhaps I’m nuts. But what a happy nut I am!

 

You know what I learned today surfing? A movie I saw many years ago named Chariots of Fire that told the story of Eric Liddel, an Olympic runner back in the early 1900s and there is one line in that movie that has influenced my life to this day. When asked why he runs so much he said, “When I run I feel God’s pleasure.”  When I surf I feel that same thing. And this morning God showed me a few things about surfing that blessed me.

Going right on a warm day

By the way, when I say, “God said to me,” or “God showed me,” what it really means is this is what I perceived as His thoughts to me this morning.

 

When you catch a wave you can turn your board left or you can turn it right. I surf with my right foot forward so when I turn left I’m facing the wave and I can see what’s going to probably happen to me in the next couple of seconds. But I turn my board as the wave allows because sometimes the waves in Florida give you an open way going left and at other times that way is closed by the wave breaking so you go the other way, away from the breaking part.  When I go right I’m at the point in life where having my back to the wave pretty much leaves me clueless about what is going to happen because I simply can’t crank my neck and head around to look over my shoulder anymore—pain wins sometimes. So while I’m paddling to catch the wave I look both ways and go the open way.

 

Going left of a warm day

Psalm 23 says, “God leads us on paths of righteousness.” Sometimes the path goes left and sometimes it goes right. Sometimes you can see what’s coming and at other times you are clueless but you know God is love and His ways are always leading us to better places so you go as He leads the way. And the way always leads us to Jesus. If it doesn’t, turn back and go the other way. You can do that surfing, too. I often take off going left, facing the wave and as I go along there are times when I outrun the wave and get off on the shoulder where things slow down so I simply plant my back foot and turn the board 180 degrees and head back to that part where the wave is breaking. The breaking part can end your ride quickly, but it’s the place where there is the most energy and you can generate more speed when you are near that part of the wave. So I’ll head back for a brief moment and then turn the board 180 degrees again and speed away.

 

Following God’s path is kind of like that, too. There are times when we take off and get really comfortable and one day realize we aren’t going like we once were. That’s when it’s time to bring the board around and get back to where the energy is flowing and get in there with it. That energy is the life we find in Christ when we sit down long enough to be still, to listen, to wait for His direction and encouragement through the Scriptures and then driving your foot down and making the 180-degree turn you need to make to get back to the place of power.

 

Thank God, that's not me!

If you surf enough waves sooner or later you are going to wipe out because every wave is different and there are multitudes of opportunities to fall off. Sometimes it's as simple as diving off, going under water and letting the board fly away from you, come up, pull it back by the leash and paddle back out. But sometimes you don’t have the chance to dive and you just go head over heels and if you can imagine getting your surfboard and jumping into the washing machine and turning it on and then getting thrashed all over the place you will have an idea of what a bad wipeout is like. I’ve gone around so many times that I’ve swam to the bottom thinking I was going up. There are times when the board has hit me in the head, broke a tooth off, went to the hospital to get 26 stitches to seal up where my friend’s board flew into me and hit my leg fin first. I’ve bounced off reefs, and I don’t know how many times man-of-war tentacles have wrapped around me and I have even been chased out of the water by 2 killer whales. Fun, tons of fun.

 

Here’s what’s relevant about that. There will be times when you feel like you are in that washing machine or you are being chased by killer whales and at the same time doing God’s will to the very best of your ability. What’s up with that?” you probably ask our loving Father in heaven. Simple, no one is exempt from the effect of what sin has done to our world. We all get to suffer. We all get to be misunderstood. We all get to be hurt by our best friend. We all get to be rejected. We all get to be unhappy. It’s life so get used to it, but at the same time give thanks to God because He is your loving Father in heaven and He does care about you and He does love, accept and forgive you and He does have a way of somehow making the biggest mess into a gourmet meal. Might not eat it today. Maybe not tomorrow, but our Lord Jesus has a good plan for each of us who call out to Him. He is an ever-present help in our time of need and that time will come.

 

So that was my day so far. I love my life and I love how God has decorated it with goodness and mercy following behind me, His Holy Spirit going in front of me and His grace abounding to Jackie and I every moment of every day. We live and have our being in Him. Hope you do, too.