Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Papuan Surfman

I surf.  Mid-life crisis or something.  I surf poorly.  Really poorly.  My main accomplishment is that I've been doing this for a little over a year and I still count myself among the living.  I started out borrowing boards...most were a bit beat up.  Then I bought a nice used board in Bali last summer.  So now I've got good equipment.  Isn't helping.

A friend, Michael Cochran, who works out in the Bird's Head region of Papua, is out scouting potential surf sites the other day.  He's got his camera along and is filming what looks to be a nice wave and takes this amazing video... 


So here's a guy surfing on a plank.  And did you notice the 180?  Dude.

Got me thinking.  Here I am with a made-in-Australia latest/greatest surf board and I can hardly stand up, and here's a Papuan guy with nothing more than a rough hewn plank and he's looking like Kelly Slater out there.

And that got me thinking some more.  Perhaps surfing and serving aren't that far removed from each other.  The Papuan guy in the video obviously had the heart of a surfer...and the skills of a surfer.  His tools were crude in the extreme.  Those of us who call ourselves servants of the Master, though we be equipped with the best tech and tools, will never hold a candle to the simple man of God who has a real servant's heart and a servant's skills.

The temptation for me is to put my time and energy into finding and using good 'tools' instead of taking the time with God to make sure my heart is in the right place...and that my skills with people are as good as I can make them.

Anyone want to buy a good used surf board?  I'm in the market for a plank.

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