How did we get here?

I've been hearing and reading a lot lately about story. We all love a great story, and the best ones do more than just entertain us for a night, they transform us.

I've always thought that a good story would be to end up somewhere special, to have a spectacular destination and closure, but I've discovered truth in what Yvoun Chouinard has told me, "You learn that what's important is how you got there, not what you've accomplished."

If you heard a story about a climber who reached the top of a mountain, but never heard about his hurt and joy along the way, you would be pretty bored. In a good story, we want to sweat with the character, feel the rock the he feels beneath our feet, experience the cold and windy nights, breathe the fresh mountain air, be troubled by his loneliness, altogether, we want to be part of the story with him, and when he reaches the summit the hair on our arms rises too, but it's only in knowing how he got there that makes the story so appealing, so real, and so meaningful for us.

We love great stories, from a distance.

We all have these stories, but for us, we want to hide the "how we got there" and just proclaim that we've arrived, because how we got there doesn't always seem beautiful. We couldn't bear to show others that we wore some blisters along the way, that we got lost at mile 14, or that we had to use a map and we couldn't do it all on our own.

The same stories that we love to hear, we hate to be.

I don't think that the story of life, your story, is about where you end up, it's about you're transformation. How you, as the main character in your story, have evolved is far more imperative than where you end up. Don't be too concerned with where you are going, but enjoy how you are arriving, because after all, "the journey is half of the fun."


In Christ we are, "...being transformed by renewal of the mind."

"If you watched a movie about a guy who wanted a Volvo and worked for years to get it, you wouldn’t cry at the end when he drove off the lot, testing the windshield wipers. You wouldn’t tell your friends you saw a beautiful movie or go home and put a record on to think about the story you’d seen. The truth is, you wouldn’t remember that movie a week later, except you’d feel robbed and want your money back. Nobody cries at the end of a movie about a guy who wants a Volvo.

But we spend years actually living those stories, and expect our lives to be meaningful. The truth is, if what we choose to do with our lives won’t make a story meaningful, it won’t make a life meaningful either."

- A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, Donald Miller

Grace.

It's not until you take off on a wave, and stand up, that you actually know the feeling of surfing. It's not until you put a ball in the back off the net and celebrate with your teammates that you know the feeling of scoring a goal. It's not until you stand at the summit, arms raised and spread, feeling the wind whip your face, that you know the feeling of climbing a mountain. It's not until you fall, that you know the feeling of getting back up. And it's not until you realize that you are helpless on your own, that you realize you have a divine helper and a savior that sets you free.

The power of the wave, the rush and fist-pump of a goal scored, and the wind that whips your face at the summit, is the grace the tends to us.

Sure, you can read all of the books you want on surfing, futbol, climbing, and even about the Savior, but it's not until you go out and experience these things (the power, the rush, the wind, and grace) that you get to know them.

But this reminds me of the 'ol SAT format questions: Which doesn't fit? Surfing, Futbol, Climbing, or Savior of the world. Your correct answer is the last. Why? Because the Savior gives you a feeling that is everlasting, His grace never runs out. The ocean will be flat, the game will end, and you must eventually climb back down the mountain, but His grace is everlasting. Psalm 139 says that no matter where we go we can never escape His spirit, He knows us, and He is with us. To me, that's reassuring. Actually that's amazing!

And yet we find another problem. There will be days when, without fail, I have an "off" day in the water (more often than not), when the ball just won't go in the back of the net, and I'm to tired to make it to the summit. In these we measure our progress, our success, our ability. "You're only as good as your last game," my coach will say.

However, with grace, "You're last game doesn't make a difference." You see, no amount of failures or successes makes you. You're saved from the pressure's of success and failure and set free, knowing that the Savior of the world Has come for you. And because of this thing called grace, when God looks upon us, beaten and tattered, we bring Him joy, because He sees Christ.

...But it's not until you experience His grace that you actually know the joy and peace that it brings to your life. It's something I experience new everyday...I'm thankful.

"A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we're in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ. " ...Grace.

Quote

"There was once a man who became unstuck in the world. He took the wind for a map, he took the sky for a clock and he set off with no destination... He was never lost."

Travel

Same Moon Different Stars

"At home spring is in the air...south of the equator it's fall."



http://driftsurfing.com/features/2010/same_moon_different_stars/cover.html


Enjoy.

Some Memories

Amidst the new stuff happening on the blog, I want to bring some consolation to those who were following my travels in South America. Here is a collection of some of my favorite fotos from my time there:

Some changes...

Aside from aesthetic changes to the blog, others are also in the process of being made.

Since my last post, I have returned home from what I will probably continue to call "one of the best experiences of my life", my 5-months in Chile. It's a great feeling to be back on North American soil with family, my beautiful best friend, and others. I loved my time in the south and hope to see my Chilean family sometime again, soon.


"If we have not what we desire, we have more than we deserve."
- Thomas Watson


See you again soon.