Living Water by Spencer Gregoire

 This past Veteran's day I was surfing at the Kaisers break in Waikiki, Hawaii. I was on the water with Jo, Dan, Leroy, and Brian from ‘God’s Wave’ which is what we call Christian Surfers’ O’ahu South Shore Chapter. 

This was only my third time on the water, and while I had been making progress, I was still having trouble with knowing which waves to approach and how to take them. Seeing this, Jo paddled over and explained to me the different stages of wave formation and when I should try to paddle on to a wave. 

Immediately after his explanation, almost providentially, a wave appeared behind us and offered a perfect time to jump on it. Both Jo and I paddled on to the wave and it caught us; with Dan, and Leroy cheering us on from a distance. Jo shouted at me to stand up, and we rode it for about 10 seconds before I fell off. This was the best and longest ride, by far, I had experienced up until that point. 

The significance of this hit me during my ride home. I realized that in many ways surfing is like our spiritual walk. Just as you cannot command the wave to come but must conform yourself to it and let it take you; we must open our hearts to let God in, ready to respond to His prompting.