04.19.10
Do you remember your first wave? It felt like you stood there forever even though it was only 1.3 seconds. Remember how stoked you were on the ocean and surfing. It didn’t matter the size or wind direction. You were on it any chance you had. A couple years later, you may find yourself complaining about how bad the waves are. The wind always seems to be wrong or you wish there was a point-break nearby. Or worse, maybe you live in front of the spot we all dream of and yet you are still not satisfied.
Remember when you first met Jesus. You couldn’t believe that HE would love you. That HE paid so you could be forgiven. Too good to be true and yet you knew in your heart that it was. After time you may find yourself complaining because God didn’t do this or that. Mad because HE allowed something to happen. Maybe you ask questions like, “Doesn’t HE understand that this is all about me?”
Revelation 2:4 poses an interesting question: Have we left our first love? Have we become so enamored with ourselves that, like Narcissus, we starve ourselves of real life by staring at our own reflection? Have we forgotten the beauty and goodness of the Jesus we fell in love with? Has our world ceased to revolve around the Son and been pulled into the gravitational field of selfishness? Has grace ceased to be amazing and all that captures my heart is temporary?
It’s time for us to paddle back out with that innocent freshness and just enjoy the gift. It may also be time for us to fall back in love with the God that has never wavered on HIS passion for us. “Who do you surf for?”
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Focus
04.12.10
"If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this." - C. S. Lewis
I have a terrible habit of planning for surf trips. Dreaming every day. Doing Google Earth research. Looking at photos and videos of the spot. And then the day comes and I arrive and ... I'm just not that into it. I surf, but not the 8 hour noodle arm sessions that I do at home when it's good. Then I return home and kick myself with regret. I sit, in depression, and wonder why didn't I take advantage of my time? Why didn't we travel to that firing break the day it went flat at our spot?
The Christian life can be that way. We gather as the church and talk and dream and get fired up. But then, like the parable of the soils, life chokes it out. We get focused on money, stuff, surf, fun, etc. Instead of living every moment to it's fullest in light of eternity, we get distracted. On a surf trip we must never neglect what we can't do once it's over. Let's not neglect the things we can't do once this life is over either - the eternal things.
"Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." - Colossians 3:2
What is your mind SET on?
BTW, this shot wasn't staged. Casey just came over the dunes and found this CS member with his Bible, setting his mind on things above. Maybe we should each take some time today to do the same.
"If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this." - C. S. Lewis
I have a terrible habit of planning for surf trips. Dreaming every day. Doing Google Earth research. Looking at photos and videos of the spot. And then the day comes and I arrive and ... I'm just not that into it. I surf, but not the 8 hour noodle arm sessions that I do at home when it's good. Then I return home and kick myself with regret. I sit, in depression, and wonder why didn't I take advantage of my time? Why didn't we travel to that firing break the day it went flat at our spot?
The Christian life can be that way. We gather as the church and talk and dream and get fired up. But then, like the parable of the soils, life chokes it out. We get focused on money, stuff, surf, fun, etc. Instead of living every moment to it's fullest in light of eternity, we get distracted. On a surf trip we must never neglect what we can't do once it's over. Let's not neglect the things we can't do once this life is over either - the eternal things.
"Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." - Colossians 3:2
What is your mind SET on?
BTW, this shot wasn't staged. Casey just came over the dunes and found this CS member with his Bible, setting his mind on things above. Maybe we should each take some time today to do the same.
Drifting
04.05.10
Cultures tend to drift from truth and become polluted by worldly perspectives. In ancient Israel the prophets cried out for people to return to God. The people struggled to understand because they thought they were following God. I mean, outwardly they were doing lots of religious stuff. And therein lies the problem – the drift occurs internally and once it has occurred one is incapable of seeing that they are drifting externally. So, in Malachi 1 people say, “Hey, we’re offering sacrifices.” But God says, “…you bring blind animals for sacrifice…you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor!”
Christians in the surfing world need to awaken to how much the sirens of the surf culture have drawn our hearts from Jesus. Once we repent of this God can begin to use us as a catalyst for His glory among surfers.
Who do you offer your best to – God or surfing?
PS. Correction about the Flickr photos, if you have photos you would like to see used in the devo, email news@christiansurfers.com and we will download them to Flickr. Thanks!
Cultures tend to drift from truth and become polluted by worldly perspectives. In ancient Israel the prophets cried out for people to return to God. The people struggled to understand because they thought they were following God. I mean, outwardly they were doing lots of religious stuff. And therein lies the problem – the drift occurs internally and once it has occurred one is incapable of seeing that they are drifting externally. So, in Malachi 1 people say, “Hey, we’re offering sacrifices.” But God says, “…you bring blind animals for sacrifice…you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor!”
Christians in the surfing world need to awaken to how much the sirens of the surf culture have drawn our hearts from Jesus. Once we repent of this God can begin to use us as a catalyst for His glory among surfers.
Who do you offer your best to – God or surfing?
PS. Correction about the Flickr photos, if you have photos you would like to see used in the devo, email news@christiansurfers.com and we will download them to Flickr. Thanks!
South Korea
03.29.10
Not sure what you know about Christianity in South Korea but suffice it to say it’s a big deal. But, it wasn’t always that way. In 1905 it was estimated that there were 12,500 Christians in the country. By 1910, that number had grown to somewhere around 360,000. What happened?
Of course, the answer is – God showed up. Having said that, there are many people that have taken it upon themselves to study the details of movements of God like this and learn from them. When looking at the situation in Korea, there are several factors that stand out. When reading one paper on this I noticed a sentence buried deep in a paragraph. It stated that from the beginning new believers understood and were taught that the spreading of the Gospel was their responsibility not a missionary’s.
Two questions for you to meditate on:
Do you believe God could move like that among Surfers?
Who's responsibility is it to share the Gospel with Surfers?
Romans 10:14 How can they hear the Gospel without someone telling them?
Not sure what you know about Christianity in South Korea but suffice it to say it’s a big deal. But, it wasn’t always that way. In 1905 it was estimated that there were 12,500 Christians in the country. By 1910, that number had grown to somewhere around 360,000. What happened?
Of course, the answer is – God showed up. Having said that, there are many people that have taken it upon themselves to study the details of movements of God like this and learn from them. When looking at the situation in Korea, there are several factors that stand out. When reading one paper on this I noticed a sentence buried deep in a paragraph. It stated that from the beginning new believers understood and were taught that the spreading of the Gospel was their responsibility not a missionary’s.
Two questions for you to meditate on:
Do you believe God could move like that among Surfers?
Who's responsibility is it to share the Gospel with Surfers?
Romans 10:14 How can they hear the Gospel without someone telling them?
Verses
03.22.10
For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God. All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. For the wages of sin is death…The lake of fire is the second death.
BUT God demonstrates HIS own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in HIM shall not perish but have eternal life. For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring YOU to God. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according tot the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.
Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.
JESUS answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
These are all verses taken straight from the Bible simply put together. See below for references in order of occurrence.
Romans 3:23, Isaiah 64:6, Romans 6:23A, Revelation 20:14B, Romans 5:8, Romans 6:23, John 3:16, 1 Peter 3:18, 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, John 3:17, John 1:12, Romans 10:13, Ephesians 2:8-9, John 14:6
For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God. All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. For the wages of sin is death…The lake of fire is the second death.
BUT God demonstrates HIS own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in HIM shall not perish but have eternal life. For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring YOU to God. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according tot the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.
Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.
JESUS answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
These are all verses taken straight from the Bible simply put together. See below for references in order of occurrence.
Romans 3:23, Isaiah 64:6, Romans 6:23A, Revelation 20:14B, Romans 5:8, Romans 6:23, John 3:16, 1 Peter 3:18, 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, John 3:17, John 1:12, Romans 10:13, Ephesians 2:8-9, John 14:6
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