NewSong Bangkok Blog

Ocean waves fascinate and scare me.  I've always loved the water, having learned to swim at a  young age in the frigid waters of Lake Ontario. I would pride myself being able to be one of the first to jump off the dock in early May. That's pretty early even for Canadians considering it's still almost winter in April! But nothing compares to the ocean in South East Asia. Now that I live here I have renewed my love with water and have become enamored with another sport other than swimming. Riding the waves in Phuket! The time to ride them is in the most dangerous season, the beginning of rainy season when an unruly undertoe can snatch the unsuspecting and drag away the best of swimmers to the deep. But they fascinate, these continual wave feasts. They build themselves as if on steroids and crash down WWF-like without any consideration for the fragility of those in their paths.

Even though I've over forty years of swimming under my swimming strings and consider myself a strong swimmer, more than once I've been manhandled by a wave, leaving me thoroughly beat up by the rough sand and spitting out salt water. Waves don't have the patience for considering the virtue of fairness. Yet in spite of my wife's pleas to stay out of the waters I continue to defy the waves, well maybe not the biggest ones way out there and certainly not alone. I carry with me my trusted Californian Boogie board! Together we wade out looking for the perfect wave to carry us high and pushing us forward in exhilarating ocean speed. Footing is crucial, you need a balanced position to throw yourself up into the arching water. Timing is paramount. Too soon and you don't get momentum. Too late and  the board and you make little progress. You need patience too, to not to jump on just any wave. You wait. You are happy with being picky. You want the real ride that spits you up and lands you smoothly on the beach. Once you've succeeded a few times, it's hard to go back to the pool side.

Sometimes I wonder if that is my true approach to life at times. Am I riding the tide so to speak? In real life do I enjoy the adrenaline inducing adventure that God has for me? I ask myself that today. I don't want just any wave to take me to my destination. I want to wait for God's perfect wave and ride it out to the final stop at Jesus feet.