Jacob Galura
Southeast Regional Coordinator
Recently, on a trip in the Caribbean, we were surfing an empty reef, and it was full-on pumping. Not just good but pretty close to as good as it gets – in other words, too good for me. It was a perfect day in the water, with pretty much our crew being the only ones out, minus one or two others. The surf started a little slow with the full tide, but as it backed out, man, it turned on. Double overhead sets started pulsing into the bay, and the mellow start turned into fight or flight for a few of us.
At one point, I took off and poked the nose, dropping in, and spent a few minutes getting destroyed and dragged to the inside. Finally, back in the channel, I see the biggest set of the day wash the entire lineup out. Completely gassed from my beating, I just thought about how much worse that one was for everyone else. Later in the session, I just started hearing my friend Allan laughing as he took off on a bomb. I just wondered how many beatings it took for him to get to that place where the heavy days became playful. How much time was spent on that reef learning the wave, checking forecasts, looking for the right swell, and some days not getting it good? My walk with the Lord is surprisingly similar. There are hard things I’ve gone through in life, and moments I didn’t know what to do. Now, after seeing God come through time and again, things still get hard, and our faith is tested. But I’m more confident knowing that God has already seen me this far, and I know He doesn’t plan to leave me now. While I’m not quite to the place where I can laugh at all the scary things life throws at me, I’m putting in my time and taking some beatings along the way. But also, I am always learning and stretching my faith as I go. Maybe someday I can laugh at what the enemy or life throws at me the same way Allan can laugh, packing a 10ft tube, but until then, it’s time to just put my head down and paddle for the next one!
1 Peter 1:6-7
“So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold – though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise, glory, and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”
(Photo by: Solveig Jobbins)
