SUP

Jamie came the night before with her kids and Jennifer, Jon and their kids and Molly got up early on Saturday to drive and make a surprise birthday adventure that was planned for 9:30 am that morning. We lined up a babysitter for the babies and the three other kids were to get to hang out swimming in the lake and watch us take SUP lessons. A SUP is short for a "stand up paddle" board of about 10 to 12 feet long. We have seen people doing this exercise on the lake for a while and we had talked about it and considered trying it but I never followed through with it....I didn't have a clue where to start and also did not have the initiative to pursue to hunt. Oh but Jennifer, in her resourceful nature researched it and made the call to the owner of a SUP store and talked him into bringing six boards to our house and giving us all lessons as a "birthday present" for Mel. I think it was one of my all time favorite fun family times. We all did. Even the kids, for they were able to get on the front of a board and ride.

The exercise was easier than I had imagined but it does take balance and an acquired technique. You begin on your knees with a paddle in hand and work your way up to having the courage to stand up and paddle. Some of us dodge trying new things....but that old saying "you don't know until you try" was put to test. And we all knew that we had found something fun. We began by standing on the bank with the boards and Andy taught us how to hold the paddle, how to get on the board, and then instructed us as to how to gain our greatest balance and be most efficient in our efforts. We each got on our boards one at a time and we were off. Everyone managed on their own pace, and in their own direction.

You listen to instruction, begin on your knees, work up to a standing position, maintain balance, try to keep the board steered in a right direction, and gain momentum as you gain confidence. Sounds to me a lot like how we grow our faith through our relationship with Christ. We begin slow, many of us as children learned to say prayers on our knees by our bedside. Then with continued instruction and compliant discipline and obedience we learned to work our way into standing up in the world. The balance deal is a hard one to grasp and maintain, for everyday something seems to rock our waters and send waves of discontent, fear or insecurity, and we have to learn to bend our knees and be flexible and try to hang on.
Sometimes we may fall, but even then, we have been instructed how to get back on board.

We can stay on course only if we paddle with equal stokes on both sides of the board. Our ways staying in unison with God's ways. And as we practice moving forward with balanced stance, and paddled continuity with the Lord, we will gain our momentum in strength and confidence, and even be able to carry others along for a ride of encouragement, comfort, guidance or strength.

This was a new adventure. Our relationship with the Lord is a new adventure each day if we seek his presence and his direction. When we learn to balance our faith according to the measures of what God deems significant and not sweat the small stuff that tend to lead us off his suggested path, there is where we will find balance even in the midst of rough waters. It begins on our knees. Without faith it is impossible to please God , because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly him.

We laughed, we fell off, we got back on, we raced, we had such fun, yet we all were on our own boards. Just as we are all our our own tracks, we too can work together to seek the joy that God has placed abundantly before us. For we all are children of God, in the family of God sent to this earth for the purposes of God. We are all learning new things and new ways.....but the key to any of it is to stay focused on God and seek his ways for balance and direction.

Dear Lord, Help me to learn to stay balanced by paddling in unison with you and give me the confidence through training and prayer to stay on the course that you have designated. Amen

Praise God wherever you are and whatever situation He has allowed you to be in . . . His glory will shine through!