When you think about it, all you really need to body surf is yourself and some waves. now there are the optional things, like fins, which I use, or a wet-suit maybe if the water is colder, but when you boil it down, all someone needs to surf is their body and a break. Anyway we were talking about the irreplaceable feeling of being fully in the water (up to your head) and how you get a feel for the ocean and its size by that, and then we talked about how when you ride a wave, you personally feel the power that wave releases with your body; power that has built and traveled miles upon miles to reach that point.
It's also interesting to think about how exposed bodysurfing leaves you. I experienced this recently, as when a monster set comes in, you can do nothing but dive under the wave and hope you get deep enough or hope the wave isn't too powerful that it will get to you anyway. Anyway, bodysurfing can provide a surreal experience, one where the participant excitedly rides, but honestly can (and should) fear the ocean. I can bodysurf pretty well, and usually don't get freaked out by too much anymore, but one trip to the pumping North Shore, or for me these last couple weeks at Sandy Beach where I swear, the faces were mountains of water. Well all that got me thinking about God, partly because the power the ocean unleashes is like a movie preview of God's own power ( I mean not only did God create these oceans and the ability for waves to form, travel and break, but the prophet Isaiah [40;11--13] tells us that God measures all the waters in the hollow of his hand), but also because because all over the bible, fearing God is described as a good, honorable, right and holy thing. It seems that often when the bible mentions people fearing God, its almost as if it is a blessing to them.
Well, our contemporary Christianity tries to neuter our God by making God's defining attribute love. Now the interesting thing is that the bible gives us a much larger and complicated (read, really really hard to comprehend) picture of God. So for so long I wrestled with this idea of fearing God, but also understanding that God is love and that every good and perfect gift comes from God (James 1:17). So there is mentally this disconnect and whenever I heard people talk about fearing God, they would say things like, "well, you shouldn't really fear God, it means more to be in awe" or other things like that. The problem is, however, that the bible continues to talk about fearing God as a good and wise thing.
I think that picture really locks in for me when I think about the ocean and bodysurfing. I mentioned earlier that I'm pretty proficient in the water, and I am, but that doesn't change the fact that at any moment, on any wave or diving under any wave, I could break my neck or even be killed. I know that's kindof heavy and maybe you feel it's in poor taste (as my wife, mother, and mother-in-law might wonder) but the honest truth is that there is a possibility of the ocean totally messing me up every time I go out.
Now, that said, I don't spend my time in the water paralyzed by fear but if the ocean's power isn't somewhere in people's minds when they are in the water, then they are brave or foolish. There is a part in CS Lewis' The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe where the Pevensie's, the series' main characters are about to meet Aslan, the king. They don't know that Aslan is a lion and they ask their beaver friends if he is "quite safe". The beavers respond somewhere to the likes of, "aren't you listening?!?! He is a lion! Who said anything about safe? Of course he isn't safe. But he is good, and he's the king."
These two things, the Narnia passage and my time bodysurfing when the waves were large, have helped me see a little better this picture of a God who is absolutely good and loving and holy, but is also dripping with pure raw power. Our God is not safe and (to paraphrase the beavers) anyone who can stand before without their knees knockin' is either braver than most or downright foolish. God is definitely good and I see markings of that all over my life, and I am thankful that God is also not safe. It seems like the lives God desires for us always are more joyful, contented and blessed when they aren't safe. Here's to trying to live that out and make it a little more real in my life!
PS: the pics are from a pretty small day on the North Shore, only about 3-4 feet (Hawaiian measure, from the back), or 6-8 foot faces. It gets anywhere from 20- 35 feet from the back over at Wameia Bay
1 comment:
I think perhaps one of the reasons Christians struggle with fearing God, or neuter the concept altogether, is the lack of transfer from Old Testament to New. The OT is saturated with Biblical characters who fear God, psalms and proverbs encouraging us toward the fear of God, and yet we really just like to leave it in the OT. Of course, under the new covenant, our relationship with God is reconciled through belief in Jesus, but this doesn't change the character of God. I think if we are to look honestly at Jesus' teachings we will be much more prone to fear God (especially as Americans). Matthew 25:31-46, Luke 18:18-30, and Luke 6:20 scare the crap out of me because I think Jesus means what he says, meaning - God is really serious about how we treat people - especially the least of these, and in our rich American culture we ride this off with a check to a third world country without ever encountering the eyes of poverty. Our fear of fearing God is also a fear to take scripture seriously (the painful ones)... like perhaps we don't actually believe that a good, loving God might actually be really serious about the Holy Scriptures. Just thoughts - I don't know. Thanks for being faithful in your wrestling with scripture and your concept of God. I remember talking about 'fearing God' during our junior year of college and I love that you still tread through your understanding if it. Glad the ocean helps you understand the fear of God. Hope it doesn't kill you.
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