Lately I’ve been able to do something that I’ve always wanted to do! Wannabe surfer coming at you live with a lot of surfer lingo that probably wont make any sense. So two tuk tuk rides and a 35 minute jeepney ride to a little city called Dulong beholds a little surf camp with barreling waves consistently coming in for your enjoyment. Honestly a dream place for me to grow up in. Being able to wake up early in your little tiki hut on the beach, grab your surfboard and go surfing in your backyard, which is what a lot of these Filipino kids get to do. The image that I’ve always had is from that penguin movie that I watched growing up called “Surfs Up”. You have that old penguin in a secluded beach front with his tiki hut and grade “A” waves coming in all the time while making surfboards for a living. I swear this blog is going somewhere aha just hang in there! So my brew Sam and I have been catching the gnar gnar(waves) or at least trying with the winter swells coming in. To be honest, we probably have been giving American surfers a bad reputation because incidents like riding the surfboard like a boogie board because we can’t actually surf while cutting off a pissed Filipino that could of ripped the “gnar gnar” all the way back into the shore. The Filipino could of pulled a 10 for the judges in a competition. It happens a lot aha (actually happened). Needless to say this guy is a hella good surfer… basically my role model in surfing. I’m making Sam kind of sound like a terrible surfer, which he isn’t. A lot of those situations happened with me. But lately I’ve been getting up and being able to ride the wave in a couple times a surf sesh. I just wish I would of taken it up when I was younger that way I could get some respect from the surfers but they all had to start somewhere as well so that’s what I tell myself when the Filipino surfer shoos me away to go to the smaller waves. Ok now I’m getting a little dramatic. The Filipino surfers have actually been really nice and patient with me and have helped me and given me tips. At least they get to see me get destroyed by some huge waves and laugh at me. It’s all a good time! So something that God has been teaching me lately is, everything is done in His timing. Yeah you’ve heard that before and I have as well but it’s something that I think all of us are constantly trying to get better at. I’ve been struggling with what He wants me to do when I get home and I want the answer like now! As well with this whole fundraising thing… yeah I’m still not fully funded and I’ve been putting my trust in Him with the whole financial situation since the beginning of this journey but I cant help but sit there and ask God what He’s waiting for when the deadline is coming up and I’m sitting in the Philippines putting a budget together realizing that I can only spend like a dollar a day aha. I know for some people that would be easy but I’m a growing 6’3 boy that likes his daily doses of snacks every now and then. It’s what gets me through not being able to have my momma’s cooking (miss ya mom and not just your cooking). I think it’s appropriate to use a surfing analogy in this blog! Just like sitting out there in the pacific ocean, still learning how to straddle the board without tipping over, waiting patiently for that one wave that will make that 45 minute ride out here worth it, I need to be just as patient with God with this whole financial situation and His will for my life and He’ll come crashing in with what I need and more, He always does. And not only that but be where my feet are and look around and take it all in and trust God just like when I’m surfing and look back to shore and enjoy God’s beautiful creation of the mountainsin the background and just how peaceful it is instead of constantly worrying about catching a wave. Who knows, maybe one day I’ll be able to take surfing and turn it into something glorifying God and winning people’s hearts over for God. Now that… that’s something I would love to do! This financial situation and His will might be nerve racking sometimes for me but like I’ve always said, God’s got my back. Surfs up in the Philippines!
