Making Christians out of Surfers

04.06.09

We were headed south towards Sebastian Inlet unsure what the winds would do. We stopped at the first place that looked good. When it got blown out we made the call to head home because we knew it was at least as good as everywhere else. We never made it to Sebastian. We stopped 20 minutes shy of being there. That night we read the quotes about how the Inlet was the best it had been in ten years, maybe ever! The photos confirmed it.

We must not let the good things distract us from the mission.

In Christian Surfers there are a few realities that drive us.

1. GOD is so great that HE deserves to be worshipped everywhere.
2. Man was made to worship
3. The vast majority of surfers worship something other than God and will spend eternity separated from HIM.

In Mark 1:35-39 Jesus teaches this idea. There is a crowd of people, wanting to be healed, wanting to hear HIS teaching, just wanting to be near HIM. But, HE walks away. Not that it wasn’t a good thing, but it wasn’t the mission.

In Christian Surfers we often get distracted and seek to make Surfers out of Christians rather than making Christians out of Surfers. One is good and if it occurs that’s great, but one is essential and if it doesn’t occur people’s eternal destinies are lost and God’s glory is missed.

Who do you surf for?

Coffee Without Lipstick

03.30.09

I was sitting at a table on the sidewalk outside McDonald’s in Honolulu. The homeless man walked up and began taking cups of coffee out of the trash can next to me and pouring the remnants into one cup until he had a full cup of coffee. On the bench next to the trashcan sat a middle aged business man with a tube of masquera and a mirror touching up the gray on the corners of his hair. Our world has gone mad.

Of course, I ask the man to allow me to buy him a fresh, hot cup of coffee. His eyes were filled with fear as he rejected my offer and asked me to leave him alone.

Standing on the North Shore yesterday I spoke with a man that refuses to give the Lord the opportunity to give him an abundant life. Instead he very carefully fills his cup of sin (avoiding the “big” ones) and then slurps it down. Afraid that God might hold out on him and convinced that what he has is good or good enough.

Oh, how we have settled for this world and pushed away the offers of God. We have bought the lies of the surfing world that say by focusing on my needs I will find joy, while God says DYING to self leads to joy. In Eternity we will see who is correct. I just pray that at that moment, we don’t look back with the sad realization that we have followed a lie and wasted our lives on surfing and fun and self. Let Jesus get you a fresh cup with no lipstick on the rim. Live for Jesus today.

“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” -1 John 2:15

Who do you surf for?