What Surfboards and Evangelicals Have in Common

I have a few friends who are excellent surfers, and I'm crazy jealous of them. I have little to no athletic ability, and the added possibility of meeting a shark really seals the deal on my non-surfing identity. For my friends who do surf, it's their passion. These guys get up at the crack of dawn, and head to the water so they can catch great waves, and find the best spots possible. That's a lot of commitment compared to any of my hobbies, and I really admire their dedication. I don't wake up at five in the morning for much of anything.

Faith and surfing have a lot in common. More specifically, I believe faith looks a lot like the most important part of surfing - a surfboard.

When we first embrace God, and faith. Our relationship with the divine looks a lot like what surfers call a long board. That is, a huge hunk of floating material, maybe even foam, that we can't possibly sink. It's designed like that on purpose. In fact, the only challenge for a surfer on a long board is to be able to stand up. The board is basically a small canoe, so you aren't going to have too much trouble getting into a wave; it's going to do a lot of the heavy lifting for you.

The long board has a lot in common with the early stages of our faith development, and even the churches we attend. It could be likened to the classic, Five Steps to a Better Life variety of a sermon.

I'm not putting down this type of board. Some people really dig the long board, and stay on it forever. I have great affection for this point in my own faith journey as well. We all need a place to begin.

However, my surfer friends would tell you that the longer you surf; you start trading in your long board for shorter and shorter boards. The long board itself was never a bad thing, but when you progress, you tend to use a shorter board. Which is way more difficult to maneuver/catch waves on, but it becomes more challenging and thus, more rewarding.

The long board in all of its simple goodness simply can't handle the surfer you have become.

I wonder why that isn't the same when it comes to our faith?

The institution that helped shape our early faith, be it the church, or its leaders, have been doing most of the heavy lifting for us, and that isn't their fault. They're catering to us. I find it heartbreaking that when a leader encourages their congregation try a "shorter board" approach, they get in trouble, or their people leave and find another church.

There is this great story in the bible about the people of Israel.

God had just sent Moses to free His people from slavery in Egypt, and bring them across the Reed Sea. He parted the waters and walked his people through them, drowning Pharaoh's army behind them. From that moment on, they weren't slaves anymore.

At this point, the Israelites were a people that had not experienced freedom. Being free, was a foreign concept and as a result, some of them began to bicker and complain that they had it better back in Egypt.

Again, just for reference, they were slaves there.

Can you imagine a former slave, experiencing freedom for the first time, and actually requesting to go back into captivity?

It seems like a ludicrous response, but we do it all the time when it comes to our faith.

When God calls us into something new, to step out into the unknown. We don't often answer the call, because we're really comfortable in the "known". To take a step of faith into something new is risky. Even though its what God is calling us to, and we know it, we stick with the familiar. It's safe.

If the Israelites had stuck with the familiar, they would have remained captives.

What is keeping us captive?

What is it that keeps people of faith coming back for more and more of those classic Five Steps to Change Your Life sermons?

There could, very well, be Five Steps to Change Your Life, and the practical reaction to such a sermon would be to embrace those steps and see all that sweet, sweet change.

Here's the thing. That sort of change really is possible, and there are more people than I can count who have experienced the redemption and grace of God through this sort of teaching. My question is, when that change happens, what's next? Once we encounter this living God, where do we go from there?

The reality that I'm praying for is that some of us, who have been on the long board for a healthy amount of time, recognize the hope that this isn't the only sort of board out there. That there are deeper layers to this thing. Instead of staying static, let us embrace our relationship with God and perhaps move to a shorter board.

That's a beautiful picture of the kingdom.

A bunch of human beings just floating in the water, all of us on different sized boards, surfing together. Beginners along with skilled pros, all experiencing the same thing, at different levels of relationship with the water. All waiting for the same wave.

Every one of them learning, progressing and moving forward.

Because at the end of the day, it's just more fulfilling.