a different reality

Surfing... "Surf to live... Live to surf." It was my motto for too many years. That said, we never dreamed of waves like the one in this video- think that's Laird Hamilton, but not certain, probably at Jaws- a big wave in Hawaii that you want to stay away from: unless your last name is Hamilton, Angulo, Long, or one of the other quickly growing water legends- going where no one has gone before -or for that matter probably should go. Absolutely insane.

A world in crisis- rigged elections, churches burned to the ground while people are taking sanctuary, almost 200,000 young Americans serving and bleeding in Iraq, children around the world living hungry and in fear of the day... and surf... HUGE surf...

I'm not sure- but I'm guessing as he was towed into this wave, as he began to take the drop, as that HUGE mountain of water began to pitch- the rest of the world slipped away, total focus took over and the surfer's survival, if only for a few seconds, maybe a minute or two, became a different reality. Survival, success, seeing tomorrow, suddenly required the ability to not only be completely in the moment- built on years of training in the water, a lifetime of team work with those who pull you in and now must be quick at the rescue if you go down- one thing, one wave, required that he push all else out of the way. Sounds just a little bit liberating... incredibly frightening... lonely.

"Surf to Live. Live to Surf." I was never very good in the water, maybe "good," certainly never above average, even when I was in the surf for hours, every day, every year, around the world... still just ok. But I remember the drops that in the moment everything else slipped away... and the ones where fear refused to leave, responsibility occuppied my mind no matter how many waves I took and rode or fell on... soon, long before I approached the status of "waterman," yet decades after I first paddled out, dreaming of riding perfect surf... perfectly; I figured out that other things needed to occupy my life besides surfing. It was a good realization, for me.

Even still, something about the awe of this wave, this rider, this moment captured on video felt like an invitation to a different reality. I have no doubt that once a person learns to accomplish this kind of focus in one discipline it generalizes into the rest of their life... or at least into their pursuits... my prayer today is that a generation will be lifted up in Kenya, in the United States, in Riverside, in me... with a desire to pursue The Peace of God, His Grace, His Love, His Presence with the same singleness of mind given to this massive wave. It's one way we can start great in 2008. A different reality, His Kingdom, awaits us. It can be our defining horizon in the year to come.

Eric