Leason Dancaescu
Gulf Coast Regional Coordinator
For most surfers, getting barreled is the ultimate goal. To be wholly enveloped – riding inside the wave. But getting barreled rarely, if ever, happens by accident. It takes an active preparation, positioning, and a whole host of conditions lining up just right. Sometimes, we have to paddle ourselves way deeper than we are comfortable or take off way later than we normally would. Sometimes, what we are seeing may not look like a very good wave, even a closeout, but those waves, too, could be holding the ride of our life. Experiencing that vision from riding inside the tube, it is a surreal feeling, and in my opinion the ultimate experience in surfing.
No matter the wave or the conditions – perfect A-frame or closeout, inside reform, or heavy hollow beach break – all of them require that you pull in. You have to commit and actively put yourself in a position on the wave where you can “possibly” get barreled. Remember, you’ll never be spat out if you don’t pull in.
Our new life in Christ calls us to “be doers of the word, not only hearers” (James 1:22). Often, I think many of us miss out on some of the epic things God has in store for us because we won’t take that first step without some sort of assurance or knowledge of how things will turn out. That’s not living in faith. When the Lord called Peter out of the boat, he did not know what would happen, but he took that first step in faith that the Lord had got this! In Joshua, the waters of the Jordan did not heap up for the Israelites to cross into the Promised Land until the priests STEPPED into the Jordan River at the flood stage.
Joshua 3:15-16
“Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, 16 the water from upstream stopped flowing.”
The Lord wants us to be in community with Him, to listen to His promptings and teachings, AND to take action with the faith that the Lord has got this! Peter never would have walked on water had he not stepped out of the boat, and you’ll never get spat out until you take that active step and pull in!
James 1:22
“Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”
(Photo by: Nate Ennis)
