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Hola! Surf's up!! Or maybe I should say the
spiritual surf is up. So, sit back, relax and lets
talk about "Hanging Ten for Jesus." OK, that may
sound kindof crazy to some of you. But, listen--I
KNOW about this. I just returned from "Surf Los Olas"-a
women's surf camp in Mexico. And over much guac,
fish tacos, mole sauce, great conversation, laughter
(and maybe a corona or two), I received the
following message: "Hang Ten For Jesus."
Look, it is not so strange. I am here to tell you:
Jesus-was-a-surfer. Oh yeah. Think about it. There
are a couple of reasons I believe this…
First, you know how the Bible talks about him
"walking on water?" Well, I did some research, and
"walking on water" was actually ancient Palestinian
slang for "surfing." Not hard to believe, right? I
mean Jesus was raised around water all his life. OK,
so maybe the Galilee didn't have the biggest of
swells. But, he was a fisherman, so we at least know
he loved the water.
There is also biblical scholarship that proves it.
Our Bible that we now know was a product of hundreds
of years of copying and recopying ancient texts by
candle light and drippy wax and near-sighted monks.
Clearly with that going on, individual letters could
easily have been reversed or mistaken for one
another-like, for example, the Greek letters for "r"
and "f or ph" which look quite similar. Think about
it like this: two words you see a lot together in
the New Testament are: "Jesus" and "suffer". But,
what if that first "f" in "suffer" was really an "r"
that some near-sighted monk missed in the middle of
the night? Now you have: "Jesus" and "s-u-r-f-e-r"…
see, I'm telling ya!!
If none of this persuades you, how about this? Check
out The Surfer's Bible; a paraphrase of the
New Testament written by surfers in Australia. (I'm
not kidding here-check it out on Amazon.com!)
Why am I trying to convince you of Jesus' surf
thing? Because I found that much of his teachings
had a parallel to what I learned this week
surfing…and I would like to share a few with you…
First we had better define some terms. I mean I know
that seems a bit tedious, but you know Mark Twain
once said, "the difference between the right word
and the almost right word, is the difference between
lightening and lightening bug." So here we go…
- Hang ten
- ultimate in surf skills-ten toes off the front
of the board.
- Boards
- foam/fiberglass-foam is for beginners -- long
board and short boards -- long boards are easier
generally to catch a wave -- short boards are
harder to maneuver -- I rode a long foam board.
Jesus, I am quite sure, rode a short fiberglass
board.
- Dig
- the term for how you dig into the water to get
enough momentum to catch a wave
- Face/trough
- front and bottom of the wave
- Turtle roll
- a move where you are laying on your board then
flip it over on top of you to protect you from a
big wave that is getting ready to break on your
head…trust me I know this move well…
- To drop in on someone
- person closest to the wave peak always has the
right of way … if you are not in that spot, yet
snarf in front of someone who has the right of
way, that is the ultimate in bad surfing karma.
Again, I know this move well…
- Pearl
- to nose-dive into a wave
So, how does any of this relate to
Jesus or the Bible? Well, I am going to give you
three examples. (You know it has to be in three,
'cause even life comes in three stages: You believe
in Santa, You don't believe in Santa, You ARE
Santa.)
First, The Lord
helps those who help themselves. (Translated: the
good ride comes to those who dig).
Probably, the hardest part of surfing is to catch
the wave. You gotta get enough momentum to be going
as fast as the wave. So, even though I had worked up
to three whole pushups in my EXTENSIVE training
prior to the trip… it simply wasn't enough. Thank
GOD the instructors (who were by the way, true
angels on earth) treaded water out there with us for
the first day or so. They would pick the right wave
and give us a big push going into it. I got a bit
spoiled with the big push…kindof wanted to cry when
they stopped and expected us to catch our own wave.
Excuse me for a moment…sniff… sigh, I'm OK.
But, back to the sermon, I couldn't help but be
struck by what parallel this held to life. Many
times we tend to sit on the big foam long board of
life and wait for the perfect wave to simply pick up
us and take us in to shore. But, you know, that is
not really how life works. There is work for us to
do. Just as God pushed Jesus out into the world-and
Jesus pushed his disciples out into the villages of
Galilee --so too we must push ourselves out into the
world (dig into the wave) and do the work that the
world needs. Maybe it is to create something
beautiful, maybe it is to care for someone in need,
it may be doing work with your hands-it may be doing
work with your head whatever it is… We all have our
work. And there are days we totally don't feel like
doing it. But like in surfing, just at the point
where we don't think we can go on anymore, where we
are begging for that push, the **wave takes over and
carries us along. **(Now, understand, here we can
substitute the word "God", "Jesus", "the Holy
Spirit", "energy" or whatever, for the word "wave").
The bottom line here is this: if we dig, if we
continue the work that needs doing in the world,
eventually the "wave" will carry us in…
Truly, the good ride comes to those who dig…
Second piece of biblical surfing wisdom:
THOU SHALT NOT DROP
IN ON THY NEIGHBOR'S WAVE
Now this is the ethics section of the sermon. Ethics
are a slippery concept…kindof like trying to sculpt
fog. What is right and wrong?? Who knows? I mean
last night, my flight was super late to Dallas-Fort
Worth and I was literally seconds away from missing
the last flight out to NY…i.e. no sermon this am. I
RUN into customs and the guy looks at me and motions
me over to the search section. I freaked out and
started into this tirade about how "I had to preach
a sermon tomorrow am and if I missed my flight, my
boss was gunna be reaaallllly mad…blah blah blah".
Well, I was thinking "boss" as in Mike here (the
minister of the church), but apparently, the customs
guy thought I was talking about the big boss
(motioning upwards…). He got this scared look on his
face and said, "oh, ah, go on through!" Now, was
that ethical? To call on the big boss to get through
customs? Uh…who knows…but, it is a true story and I
needed to vent AND it was somewhat relevant to the
ethics question. Now where was I? Oh yes, "Thou
shalt not drop in on Thy Neighbor's Wave."
There are many aspects of ethics in surfing.
Basically, surfing is a cool, quiet, understated
sport. People don't scream or yip. If you catch a
good wave, you ride it out, nod at your friends and
paddle back out. Alternatively, SOME people, when
they catch a wave, do something like this… {here I
performed an outrageous quarterback touchdown dance
in the sanctuary}. Now, I wouldn't know anything
about that…but, I saw it done…hehe.
The worse thing you can do is to drop in on your
neighbor's wave. (Remind of the definition… ) Of
course, on the second day, I dropped in on the same
surfer three times within about 10 minutes. What can
I say? Between the touchdown dance and the constant
dropping in. I almost got expelled. But, they took
pity…
This no dropping in thing reminded me of our
emphasis on individual success-especially in the US.
Over that week, I was jarred into the understanding
that IT DOESN'T HAVE TO BE YOUR WAVE for you to feel
that energy of success. To allow someone else the
freedom to go forward, uninhibited on his or her
own, AND to encourage it….whether it be a wave, or
in work, or in family or in life in general, is
probably our greatest calling. We have to realize
that someone else's success doesn't take away from
our own. In fact, it is real point of success for us
to find the courage and self confidence to allow
someone else their time--their place of honor
- their wave. Their success
does not detract from ours. Rather, we enjoy it with
them, celebrate with them and learn from them. Then,
we go and find our own wave. So, let us all
remember…THOU SHALT NOT DROP IN ON THY
NEIGHBOR'S WAVE.
Third surfing pearl of wisdom (not to be confused
with pearl dive)
YE, THOU I SURF
THROUGH THE VALLEY OF THE TROUGH OF DEATH, I WILL
FEAR NO EVIL, FOR THE TURTLE ROLL WILL SAVE ME
On day one, the instructors told us that the most
important move we could learn was the turtle roll. I
was like "yeah, right, whatever…what I wanna know is
how you surf inside a big ole curl-like that chick
on blue crush???" They simply smiled. They knew. It
took about 3.7 seconds for me to figure out they
were right. I came face to face with a HUGE tsunami
that slammed down right on top of me. (I was later
told the wave was about two feet). As I churned
around and around like a Maytag, I was like "ooooooh…right…if
the board was between me and the wave…I wouldn't be
drowning right now. Hum. Got it."
That lesson, like the others, was just like life.
Our best protection is right under our noses: in
surfing, it is the board-just grab and roll. In
life--it is right here (pat heart). In our very
souls…in God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit…whatever you
wanna call it. Or maybe it is in the various aspects
of God--art, music, nature, yoga-whatever it is, WE
ALL HAVE OUR TURTLE ROLL--our protective move that
save us from the pounding waves (or as the Psalmist
say "to protect us until the destroying storms pass
by.")
I got pretty good at the turtle roll--in surfing and
in life. In life, the turtle roll for me is
laughter. Hard to beat the power of laughter. Harvey
Cox, a professor at Harvard Divinity School, said,
"some who cannot say a prayer, may still be able to
dance it; those who cannot hope, may still be able
to laugh."
If you don't have a turtle roll, baby, you need to
find it. Like me, you may not think you need one,
until you get pounded by that first big wave. My
first big wave in life was a divorce. Many of you
may have faced that or other losses in your life.
Whatever it is, all you have to do is look around
for protection-for your turtle roll. It is right
under your nose.
LETS REVIEW:
THE big wave comes to those who dig (and
eventually the wave will carry you when you don't
think you can go any farther);
Thou shalt not drop into thy neighbor's wave
(other's success does not detract from our own); and
Ye thou I surf through the valley of the trough of
death, I will fear no evil, for the turtle roll will
save me.
I will leave you with this one last
point. It is a forth point thrown in for free…kindof
like the folks that sell timeshares in Puerto Viarta.
"Oh amiga, I have a beautiful timeshare on the
beach…just for you…almost free." Well, this IS free…
It is never too late to start something
new in life
I LEARNED TO SURF AT 40.
Jesus started his ministry in the last 10% of
his life.
Not that there should be a parallel between the
two of us-but the point is…
IT IS NEVER EVER TOO LATE TO BEGIN
SOMETHING NEW
So, there's my cut on biblical surfing wisdom. Take
some of these ideas home with you this week. If
they're helpful to you, try a few out. Who knows,
after practicing your new "surfing" skills for a
while, it might not seem so crazy to be
Hanging Ten for Jesus…
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