"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.

Rules, Religion, and BS

To the furious masses and those who are significantly dissapointed that there's been no new material posted in weeks... Firstly, I apologize and secondly, if you think your going to be impressed by whats to come, another apology, and here's a picture from Patagonia - I digress.

"Religion is the default human mindset."

Here's the good news: Nothing you do (or withold from doing) will please God and make Him love you more. The amount of times you say no to a drink, don't get drunk, say no to weed, decide not to go to a party, resist a temptation, read your Bible, attend a Bible study, go to church, pray, listen to christian music, don't listen to "bad" music, etc, will not and does not make you more righteous, more loved by God, or more precious in His sight. He loves you regardless of what you've done, are doing, and will do...

Often, what we do to ourselves is set out our line of rules, that we think lines up with how God wants us to live, or how we think we should live our lives, and we make it our goal to follow them out to perfection - resisting where we've set to resist and doing what we've set to do. Here's the problem: One, are your "rules" biblical? or do you make them up cause they sound nice, i.e. don't be like Eve (See Genisis 3:3 where she adds to God's command) and Secondly, life (nor christianity) is about following rules, that's not Jesus - It's religion, it's idolizing your progress, it's putting your goals (made-up or not) first in the priority list and striving "after wind" to complete them. Welcome to another form of idolatry. Your check-list, or life's progress-chart, is not what the Gospel is about.

A friend once told me an inspiring story that ended with this line: "Religion will kill you."

Your life is about about loving God and being loved by Him, living your life for Him. Summed in one word: Relationship. The God of the universe loves you.

Ecclesiastes 11:9 - "Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let yor heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things, God will bring you into judgement."

There is infinite freedom in Christ, or as Augustine put it: "Love God and do what you please."

Here's a short illustration (from a sermon I heard) to prove the silliness of religion: A friend is part of a certain Jewish sect who has created a rule that states: On the sabbath day you are not permitted to travel more than a distance of 1 mile...unless you are over water. This rule stands because if you were at sea it would be impossible to judge the distance you've travelled as the ocean is constantly moving, etc. So, this friend, in an effort to abide by this rule (religion) that was laid down, travels on the sabbath, in his car, miles and miles, with a bottle of water underneath his seat. (Travelling "over water".) Crafty isn't he. I know God's probably thinking..."man...that guy sure got me on that one."

No, that's not God's rule, it's man-made religion.

Examine your own life and see if you can find the bottle of water underneath your seat. (There's always half-empty water bottles floating around my truck...maybe you have some too.)

You're loved.

And Jessica, you're beautiful.