Getting Back On The Horse

When we arrived home from our staff and family time in Costa Rica, I was reflecting on something God showed me, while we were down there. The last day of our trip, a few of us went horseback riding up to a waterfall. It was a beautiful day to cruise through the jungle and see a different part of the country we hadn’t seen before. On the way back to the stable, I was way behind the rest of the group. My horse was just not feeling like picking up the pace. As Thunder kept cruising along the rear, the guide kept trying to get him to catch up to the rest of the group. This was unsuccessful for most of the trip back. Then all of a sudden, Thunder decided to make up all of the ground at once. He took off running across the field. We definitely caught up to everyone but as an inexperienced rider, I did not know how to control a horse at running speed. I was just trying to hang on. I’m pretty sure, Thunder was over it. Because the next thing I know, I’m taking a tree to the face and ended up on my back. It was definitely my first time being thrown from a horse. I really didn’t know what to do. I stood up right away, found my shoe, and glasses that I was wearing, when I hit the tree, and got back on the horse.

Aside from the comedy of my worst wipeout, on a surf trip, I’ve been thinking about what it looks like when God calls us into unfamiliar territory. What happens when we are called into something new. A new leadership position, a new job, new community? Sometimes it takes us a few times to get it right. To learn how to fail, before we can learn how to succeed. I think about my wife who is learning to surf but wouldn’t call herself a surfer. When she wipes out and gets discouraged, I always tell her falling is part of learning. Surfing has a way of teaching you how to fail, well before it teaches you to succeed. In my years being on staff with Christian Surfers, I can see so many points where I had no idea what I was doing. Therefore, didn’t have the right answer. I had to fail, in order to then learn the right way to do things or handle different situations. If you are finding yourself in a season where you don’t really know how you got there or what to do now that you are there, be encouraged that God has a purpose for those feelings. When we are at the end of where our knowledge and experience can take us, that is where we truly have to put our faith into practice. We have to lean on our heavenly Father. Knowing that He has already gone before us. Through the unknown. As we all grow in and out of the water, whenever you get knocked down there as two options. To stay down, give up and miss seeing what is on the other side of that challenge. Or you can get up, dust yourself off, find your shoe and get right back on the horse and finish the ride. 

Psalms 37:23-24

The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand.

Jacob is the South-East regional coordinator for CSUS. Jacob and his wife Kendall live in St. Augustine, FL  with their dog Scooby and are highly involved in their community! Jacob has been on staff with Christian Surfers for about 7 years.