Living Water by David Nehrig
As a frothing grom I read an article on the top ten surf spots in the world and made it a goal. At 18, I was headed to my first stop, J-Bay. It was my first international surf trip on my own. I woke up and started packing. First on the list, my passport. I checked my room, under my mattress, and in my secret shoe box, nothing. I yelled downstairs to my mom and drew her into the search. Panic began to set in. No passport, no perfect right handers. My van! I loaned it to the youth for summer camp! I called them to search the van. Sweat started dripping down my back and fear took over my brain. I hustled back upstairs to relook in my room. 4 ½ hours until my flight was leaving. The phone rang, it was the youth leader! He found the passport and left it at a gas station 2 hours away. I gathered trunks, surf gear and stuffed it in my board bag. I jumped in my mom’s 1980 maroon LeBaron and set out to find my passport in the middle of July’s hot Barstow desert. My dreams of surfing perfect rights were quickly slipping away.
I exited the freeway at the Chevron in Barstow and ran in asking for the passport dropped off two hours ago. The blank stare told me everything. I felt my heart hit the ground; the time was ticking. They directed me to the next gas station. And there it was! The little blue booklet that was my ticket to my surf dreams. My white knuckles gripped the steering wheel and I bolted as fast as that LeBaron would go. I arrived at LAX 10 minutes before takeoff and made my flight!
What blows my mind is that God pursues us even more relentlessly than I pursued my passport that day. I would have done anything to find my passport to get on the plane. God is even more passionate about me than my pursuit of waves. We are so valuable to God. He pursues us with no boundaries. He never gives up on us. No matter what we have done, who we are, or where we are at in life, He loves us right where we are. Luke 19:10 says, "the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost". Like the passport, we are often lost. But we have a God that promises He is next to us, always present for those willing to be found.