There's something about the foamy surf!

Don’t you love divine coincidences?  The theme in my Bible reading has been what God could do in and through us, especially from John 14.  Did you ever have trouble with John 14:11-12: “Just believe that I am in the Father….Anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done”?  Yeah, like that is going to happen. How could I do anything at all like Christ did? Then Andrew Murray references John 10:110, “My purpose is to give life in all its fullness.”  So how come I feel like something is missing?  I am just being honest here.

Then this morning I was working on some original poetry, thinking about the shore and the waves, and it came to me that perhaps the problem with all of this is that we never step past the waves.  We wander around the edges of our faith, tipping our toes in when we think the water is warm and the waves are not too high or vigorous or filled with jellyfish, and we either get bored or we grow content in our lazy walk along the beach.

Then I started thinking about what Jesus did – that we could do similarly…He lived a life of such integrity that people wanted to hang out with Him.  He chose twelve, and let me tell you, they were a motley crew, and for the most part uneducated bunch, and His investment in their lives motivated them to turn the world upside down.

He prayed.  He placed, even as the Son of God, such importance on prayer that we see how He got up “a great while before day” to pray.  He invited them to watch and pray with Him, but we all know how that turned out.  Yes, He did turn water into wine, and fed thousands on little, but isn’t it possible that we could feed thousands, or even hundreds on little, if we adjusted where we put our money…and our other priorities.

It just dawned on me, that I just dismissed what God could do with me or through me, rather than contemplate how He could do it.  And it also occurred to me that if my life is not full, it is because I haven’t cleaned my glasses all that well.

The foamy surf

Like stepping on shore

The old hymn begins,

But I like stepping into

The waves, the water

That circumnavigates the globe

Making me one with all other

Sailors.

 

One with all those other travelers

Who have stepped, in trust, into he

Foamy waters, knowing there

Will come knock-down waves,

Sometimes sweeping you off

Your feet, tumbling you

Head first into the darkness,

 

Taking your breath away,

Until feeling the grit at the bottom

All the sharp edges of broken dreams,

Broken shells, and gasping, on the edge of

Losing hope, you find a hand under you,

Until you find yourself exploding through

The salty brine into the sunshine,

Filling your lungs with the breath of life.

 

I risk the waves, knowing although

Some might take me into fearsome places,

Too many more will lap at my feet,

Teasing me, whispering to me of the power

The majesty, the tsunami of Knowing,

Waiting, and finding Him

There in the foamy surf.

Anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done

 

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photo from www.surfgirlmag.com