God Provides

I realized today that I don't love surfing at El Porto. It's the most consistent spot in LA for the greater part of the year, but almost every session is harrowing in some way. Long paddle-out, powerful waves that often close out, standout sets that make your heart drop to your stomach -- it's rarely a nice, easy-going session at El Porto. But still, we keep returning, because sometimes this is the only surfable spot in Los Angeles.

Today, I went and it was on the smaller side, but no exception in force and paddle-out length. Because of the size, I was riding the Wavestorm, which is almost impossible to duck dive well. And so, whenever a giant wave swamped me, I did what no surfer should ever do and ditched the board to dive under the wave. That's right: I broke one of the cardinal rules of surfing. To justify myself, I always took a good look behind me to make sure my board wouldn't hit anyone. So there.

Taken after the 3-5 ft. session.

If karma is your king, however, I was served for my sins. On a particularly big wave that I couldn't paddle fast enough to beat, I stood on the board to get a better dive, let my board fly, and felt the unmistakable release of a snapped leash on the other side. Thankfully, it didn't get too far away from me before I could catch up, but this is always a bummer, especially in the middle of a surf session. I lasted another twenty minutes or so before jumping off a steep closeout, watching my board toss and turn in the whitewater on the way to shore, and calling it a day.

Anyway, all that long explanation (I love a good story with details!) was to get to the part where I tied my leash together, anticipating that I would forget I had snapped it for the next surf session. But it turns out I didn't need to, because I found a leash on the sidewalk! No one was around, and it was used, but in perfectly useable shape. A higher quality and better brand than the one I was using, this was a Godsend! Which is my point: lose a leash, gain a leash. God provides our needs, but sometimes our wants as well. This isn't the first time this kind of thing has happened to me, and won't be the last I hope. So the next time you find yourself lacking something, look around -- it might be lying on the sidewalk as a little gift from Heaven.

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Listen

Kids aren't innate listeners, are they? I guess none of us are, which is why we read books and attend seminars on communication. Heck, I even have a Bachelor's degree in it...so I shouldn't be surprised when I tell my children something, and then a few moments later they have completely disregarded what I said.

What sparked this is that I told my kids I was going to the bathroom, so they should just play by themselves for a little. A couple minutes later I heard them wandering around the apartment calling, "Daddy...Daddy...where are you?" Did I not just tell them where I would be? I thought to myself. I let them go for a little while until they figured it out, and then reminded them of where I said I would be. They appeared ignorant, so they either totally weren't listening, or are incredibly forgetful; or maybe some combination of the two. Either way, it is frustrating when someone isn't paying attention to you, right? (My wife can attest to that.)

Maybe it was because I was reading the Bible while I was in the bathroom, and so I was feeling super spiritual, but a thought then occurred to me: This is probably what God feels like when he tells us stuff. (This has been a reoccurring theme in parenthood I am finding.) He gave us this whole book called the Bible with lots of answers to life's questions in it, but sometimes we are just lazy and ask him directly, hoping for a reply we didn't have to work for. That has to be frustrating to God, right? He must be thinking, I already told them that.

Often times Katie and I pray things like, "God, teach us how to be good parents," or "God, show us how to love others." They're good and noble prayers, but sometimes I think to myself, Didn't he already do that...in scripture? (Yes, I make dramatic pauses in my head, just for effect.) It's true though, right? There is a ton of insight on parenting and the whole book is about love -- so what are we missing?

I don't think we're veering too off track by praying these prayers, but I think maybe we're just being a little bit lazy. It's work to read the bible, memorize it, put it into practice. Sometimes it's easier to just let God do the work and teach us stuff directly, right? I can't be too harsh, because I'm not always a learner by reading, but rather by instruction or demonstration, so maybe this is just my natural learning impulse showing up. But it still beckons the self-analyzing question of are we listening to what God has already told us? Because he told us a lot, so we shouldn't ignore it.

Furthermore, God often speaks new insight through his word, or using illustrations from his word, so if we are missing this key element of communication with God, it's like trying to write letters to someone with a pencil on toilet paper -- only so much is going to go through (and most of it will be the pencil).

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