A few days ago, I found myself in Jaco, Costa Rica, a famous beach town on the Pacific coast. Jaco is known for a lot of things; surfing, restaurants, coffee, drugs, hookers, parties, and beautiful beaches. I went for 4 out of 7 of these items, needless to say, it was a wonderful time. Realistically, the only reason that I ended up going to Jaco was to surf. I realized pretty quickly in Nicaragua that I absolutely love to surf. I surfed for the first time in my life during the summer of 2016 in El Salvador, at that point, I sucked. I was absolutely terrible at it and in the history of my life, if I suck at something I usually don’t want to keep doing it. While in Nicaragua, some of us visited a beach on an off day and I decided to give surfing another shot. I fell down and got thrashed by some waves…. a lot. But at one point, I stood up on the board and rode a wave; the first time in my life! Instantly, I was hooked. Okay, so fast forward to this past week. I find myself in Jaco, the first thing on my mind is to find a place to rent a surfboard and get in the water.
I walked the beach and immediately found 10 different tents that offered surfboard rentals from “Costa Rica’s best surfer.” I found one that didn’t seem like it was run by sketchy guys and walked up to say “hi.” The man running the show was named Juattie (pronounced Wah-Tee). He was a local, born and raised in Jaco and was deeply passionate about surfing. He gave me a discount on the rental and off to the water I went. I was having a great time; spent the whole time in the water just praying and spending time with the Lord, enjoying His beautiful ocean and doing something that I loved, I was in a really good place. As I was surfing along, I see Juattie come out to the water and just start rippin’ it. He was one of the best surfers I have EVER seen! From California to South Africa to Southeast Asia to Central America, he was one of the best I have had the pleasure of watching, you could really tell it was his passion.
He came over by me in the water and we had some great conversation on our boards, then a huge wave came over the horizon and he was off. After that wave came, I didn’t see him in the water any more, I just figured that he got out of the water or something, so I kept on. I was out for about another hour or so and as I went to return the board to his shop, he was there. I asked why he left, and he limped over to me. He said that this was the first time in his 27 year life and 22 years of surfing that he has gotten injured while surfing. He seemed so devastated. I quickly asked if I could pray for healing and, even though he was a bit skeptical, agreed to let me pray for him.
“Lord, thank you for my friend Juattie. I ask that you would heal his leg, as if it were brand new. In Jesus name, amen.”
Nice n’ quick. Just like that, he was healed! It was so cool! He looked at me in complete amazement.
“Miguel, my leg doesn’t hurt anymore.”
“Duh. That’s what He does.”
It was a really cool moment; it was obvious that the Lord wanted Juattie. He placed me there during the exact time that he would receive his first injury ever. He put me in Jaco on that day to meet Juattie so I could share Him with him. Juattie and I got on to talking about God and then after that I went to dinner with my friends. The next day, I returned to the beach, walked to his tent and there he was, waiting for me with a board. I hopped in the water, surfed for a while and right around sunset, I hear Juattie calling my name from the shore. I surfed in and to see what the commotion was all about. I got over to Juattie and he shows me a picture that his friend had taken. It was a photo of the sun setting over the ocean, truly a pretty picture. Oftentimes, if a picture is taken of a light source, there will be a strong glare and small orbs of light will typically appear in weird parts of the camera and will result in these orbs being present in the picture. Juattie showed me the picture, pointed out the orb and said, “that HAS to be God! He is watching me, and its all thanks to you! You let me meet Him and now He is watching me.”
I swear, I was about to cry. He didn’t say a sinner’s prayer, he didn’t fall on in his face in repentance, he didn’t go off and start his own surfing church ministry, but he did recognize that God is with him at all times. He did recognize that God healed him and that God loves him. His life hasn’t fully radically changed, but it will, and I cannot wait to see it happen.
Much love,
Miguel
