Living Water by Cheyne Jobbins

It was junior year of high school for me, the waves were firing at Oceanside Pier, and I was having one of the worst sessions of my life. I could not get in the right place for any waves, I only watched others ride wave after perfect wave all around me. In the midst of my anger, I back paddled someone on a perfect wave. Rightfully, he disregarded my attempt to steal his wave and went anyway. I was fuming. While riding behind him on the wave, I kicked my board out at him and paddled away in a huff. I paddled as far away from any human as I could. As I sat by myself, miserable and fuming, I felt the Holy Spirit tell my soul that I must paddle all the way back to apologize to that man. At the time I would've sooner pulled a tooth out, but regretfully I went and very shamefully apologized for my blatant disrespectful actions. I felt humiliated and yet something deep inside me felt so relieved. 

I hate confrontation. I want so badly to get better at facing it head on and avoid complaining or gossip, but it's difficult! There's a verse in the Bible I really dislike: Romans 12:18, "If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone." This verse explicitly says as far as it depends on YOU. It makes no room for if the other person is also sorry, or kind, or reasonable. This means that if I find myself thinking bad thoughts about someone, complaining about a situation, or gossiping, it is my own responsibility to MAKE peace. If you havent noticed recently, peace doesn't occur naturally, it must be sought out. We are to be peace MAKERS as far as it depends on us. If you have outstanding stuff with someone, stop letting it eat you from the inside, go and make peace. If that person doesn't want peace, at least your conscience is clear knowing you did everything you could. Some of you may be dreading reading this just as I am dreading writing it, knowing there is confrontation soon to follow. But don't worry, Jesus is peace and He is with you, so go IN LOVE and make peace, as far as it depends on YOU.