Surf Camper

Life should be simple.

Focus on "the" one great thing. Put everything in it. Put aside all other "good" things for it. Together with others or alone, run just for it!

Don't get me wrong. "The" great thing will never be gaining the world but always loving the people of it. And "the" only great thing that can drive us in all eternity is and will only be all about and around Jesus Christ himself. He is great enough.

If you have it, driven by it, convinced of it, your life must be simple and focused, fruitful and beautiful.

We were revealed again to this simple truth in our Tofino surfing trip 2 weeks ago. This simple truth was made alive to us as we stayed in a little community with the "Surf Campers." Let me tell you our story as a surf camper, a story almost couldn't happen, a story of threats and thrills, but ultimately of discoveries and ecstasies.

This is the story... it starts with the things that could have cancelled our Tofino trip.

$ issues. 5 nights camping with 3 surfing courses and 3 days surf gear rentals included was a hard financial decision, not to mention the BC ferries and the gasoline. So 4 months ago, we set aside $500 in a new account, and tried to save for the remaining amount. About 5 weeks before the trip, we had to spend an unexpected $1200 on our vehicle in its 4 times repair and maintenance in just 2 weeks. It ate up everything we had including that $500.

We were about to cancel the trip. In despair, I prayed to God, "I am fine if you cancel this trip for us. But just if you want us to go for this vacation, please PAY for it!" 2 days later, a lady called us and presented us with a gift, a cheque. It was $500, not much not less. Our surfing trip is a miracle, a prayer answered.

Tyres. Tried to get a cheapest pair of tyres on my 1994 Voyage Van. $183 for 2 Cooper tyres from nearby Esso station. When we drove there, the 2 tyres seemed to only appear in computer but never in actual stocking. Our desire to reduce our anxiety of driving the ups and downs narrow winding road between Port Alberni and Tofino was never fulfilled. We had to live with this worry and entrust our safety to God alone, not Cooper tyres

Bear visits. It was our first family camping. We fear bear. You might want a beer, not a bear in your site. We thought it was a slight threat only. But who could believe it was a reality in our campground. Bear signs everywhere. In fact our site was visited by bear 2 weeks ago. We really wanted to leave the campground after the first night.

Cold Water. We went there for one purpose. Surfing. Nothing else. What if the North Pacific Ocean water was too cold? In fact it was very very cold. But the wet suites and the fire inside kept us warm enough.

Back Pain. Within one week of setting off, I still visited Chiropractors. Not one, but two clinics in one week. The muscles I needed most for surfing, the lower back, was sole and painful. My knees problem already seemed minor. Will I lie on the surfboard but got no strength to stand up?

These threats were real. Every now and then made me despair and wanted give up. Every now and then they challenged how much I wanted to surf. Every now and then I ended up more desperate to do it.

Now the wave came, the first wave since April Kenting, the first North Pacific cold water wave came... I paddled paddled, pushed up, popped up, stabilized, stood up. Here I was. Riding my first Tofino wave, to my surprise, yet shouldn't be surprised. It's all by grace that I stood, that I rode a wave, that I felt His power in me over pains, threats, $... and Jesus fulfilled my desperate focus, SURF.

Over those few seconds on waves, it seemed I was having fun time with Jesus on the waves. Jesus walked on waves, loving me, seeing me and endorsing me to surf side by side with him. Every time I surf, I feel his grace of making possible out of impossible, therein I feel his presence. Now you know why I loving it.

Then I rode waves after waves. Never so many before. Even though I was wipe out many times. Who cares? Why cares! I did what I desired. I was fulfilled. I was surfing.

It is about surfing and it's not about surfing! You don't need to surf. But everyone need to have a mission, a passion, all and only about and centered on Jesus. Rather die to have one, than live without it. And if you have this focus and passion, life is simple, fruitful and beautiful, as my surf campers friends...

They didn't come for digging oysters or catching crabs, not for stomachs.

They didn't care to pitch a tent or if it's too crowded, some slept in their Subaru, uncomfy.

They would forget to bring matches for the woods but never forget to stack up their surfboards nicely on top of each other over their car's roof.

They ate quick and simple foods, canned foods always.

After breakfast they set off for beach, at sunset they came back with full load of funs. After supper, they made camp fire, they shared the excitements, they laughed, they played guitar, they sang loud... At about 11 pm, they were disciplined enough to sleep. To sleep well. Why? Simply to ride another morning wave. They stepped in the water, gave each other a high 5. "Let's do it."

Their lives were simple. They made them simple. In order to accomplish their biggest desire and their greatest focus: to surf. Only surfing. And nothing else...even catching a crab is a good one. Simple and focused. That made them make it.

Jesus forms us a community, a community of 2-3(Mat.18:20), or any numbers up. So we learn to love one another, accountable to one another, encourage one another, share food and life together... Always knowing that it is only because Jesus and for Jesus that we get together. Life. Simple enough.

Jesus assigns a mission to this simple community. To plant Jesus everywhere we go, to every one we meet. Make the pre-believers his disciples. Make them the Jesus followers (Mat.28:19).

Who are we then? The Baptists. The Evangelicals. The Anglicans. The Catholics...The Apollos's. Paul's. Cephas's. Man complicated God's simple truth.

Who are we? What are we here for?

We are a spiritual family, with Jesus' presence, together on a mission. A church.

We laugh, we cry, we share and we encourage...that we all could set out for accomplishing the Jesus' mission.

If there is no mission, there is no direction. If there is no mission in God's people, complications and shallowness set in. There will not be deep life sharing and exchange from the hard-fought SWAT team.

Mission. The DNA of being church, of being Jesus' followers, of our story being a part of God big story of redemption. Take it away, we live. But never with spirit and soul. Simple. To me, it is that simple.

The devil is in the details. God requests a life of simple trust and obedience. That is life. A simple life.

But if we let complications set in, let "what to eat, what to drink, what to wear" overwhelm us, let busyness and programs replace living life together as Jesus followers, then we are a bunch of God's people on earth ends up catching crabs, digging oysters...

Forgetting we came here for the waves, for surfing, and for fulfilling Jesus mission.

If eating crabs and oysters make me stumble, I would never eat crabs and oysters - Paul said similarly. Die to them, that I could live for a mission. My only passion for His mission alone.

To reward you with this long reading, I have a not-my-best surfing video clip for you. Although the sea is rough, I want to have you in this missional fellowship to surf as well as to witness Jesus:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RoxdCNSRMY

Enjoy Surf Campers!