Riding The Wave

I love surfing. Riding a gigantic pulse of oceanic energy is a singular experience. It manages to somehow be both thrilling and calming at the same time. There is a peace in the zone where you become part of the wave; part of something so much bigger than you. I am pretty sure God created surfing. 😉

But surfing for me, has also become a perfect analogy for how to journey well with Christ. I have been prompted to share this with my friends on two occasions in the past couple days so I thought I would share it with my e-family as well.

To ride a wave you have to put out effort to catch it but after that the wave provides all of the energy for your movement. To catch the wave, you have to paddle fast enough to be in sync with it as it is breaking. It requires positioning, timing and keen observation. You have to observe where the wave is breaking and which way it is breaking and how fast it is breaking and adjust your position and paddling speed to merge your path with that of the waves’.

The Holy Spirit moves in our lives not unlike the waves in the ocean. The Sprit is ‘breaking’ at some point in our lives, meaning that She is working on something, at some particular point where our flesh needs to yield to Her Spirit. The part we play is to get in sync with where the Spirit is at work in our lives. It requires effort, but the effort is mainly to recognize where that point is and get ourselves aligned with it.

There are two ways in which we can be out of sync.

1. We can be sitting in the ocean just bobbing as waves pass us by, hoping that we will be supernaturally swept along without doing anything. This is carnal living. No awareness of, response to or alignment with the Spirit. Disengaged, lazy Christianity.
2. We can be expending great amounts of energy paddling and paddling out of step with the wave, all in our own effort. This is religious activity; works of the flesh. A lot of action but not by the power of the Spirit.

The entirety of my Christian walk can be summarized in me trying to get this balance right. Too little effort versus too much effort. The right kind of effort (relational effort to be in sync with Him) versus the wrong kind of effort (religious effort to achieve spiritual advancement). I’ve been on both ends of the spectrum. I’ve also tasted catching the wave and what a joy that is! That place of being smack plumb in His will. That place of rest in His arms in the midst of activity. That place of being at peace with your imperfections, not trying to be anything for anybody yet convicted daily to grieve when He is grieved and changing day by day because we feel His grief so deeply at the core of our soul. That place where our whole motive is to stay on the wave; to stay in sync with Him because the disconnection from Him is like death. It is death.

So, stay in sync with the Spirit my friends!

Surf’s up! 🤙