Living Water by Amy Nehrig

Coverage Image: Alan Van Gysen

On my son’s 8th birthday he had one request, he wanted me to go down to the pier and shoot photos of him surfing. I was stoked that instead of asking for some cheap toy or a remote-control car that breaks in a day, he asked for surf videos. So, there I sat, camera in hand, ready to go. I can honestly say I did not take my eyes off him. I shot every single wave. Usually, I am that distracted mom that runs into someone and starts talking or forgets which of my four kids are even in the water. But not today, not on Curren’s 8th birthday. 

That night was the big reveal. We were having a birthday dinner and were going to look through his photos/videos of the day. As Curren and I scrolled through the videos side by side, I could see his disappointment mounting. Finally, at the end of his birthday photo session he looked up at me with his big, blue, watery eyes and said, “Mom, you didn’t get any of my barrels! How did you miss them?” All I could do was pull him into my arms and hug him through the pain. The reality hit him hard, there were no barrels that day. 

How often does this reflect our relationship with our Heavenly Father? We think we are just killing it in life. We have a great job making money, own lots of toys and people love us. In our minds, we are getting the best barrels life has to offer. And then life hits us hard. The reality is we are totally off the mark. In our own heads we are legendary big barrel riders when really we are cruising in the whitewash because our focus is off.

Colossians 3:2 says Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. We get so wrapped up in our own world, we aren’t seeing ourselves for who we really are. Do we have the right focus on our habits, our time, our money? Are we setting our minds on Jesus every day? The good news is that when we decide to turn towards Him, we have a Heavenly Father who is right there ready to pull us into his arms and love us through the pain. Billy Graham said when we come to the end of ourselves we come to the beginning of God. There’s no better place to start over than the arms of Jesus. Don’t push Him away, fall into his embrace today.