The Chronicles of Kiwi, Part 19

A Surfboard and A Hymn

I mentioned yesterday that Hot Water Beach was beautiful, exotic and unpredictable. I also mentioned that it was dangerous. The water is constantly monitored for its powerful, shifting riptides. Visitors are told to limit their swimming to areas between the flag placements on the beach. Many push those boundaries out of ignorance or arrogance. Hot Water Beach proves it’s a place not to be trifled with.

On our last day I took a very long stroll down the beach taking one mental snapshot after another. The beauty can be overwhelming. It’s supposed to be. This is God’s creation doing its thing as the Apostle Paul once mentioned: For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been created…Roman 1:20. It struck me that I should join with creation and offer my two cents, so I began to sing – nothing fancy, nothing new, just something fit for the occasion: “Oh Lord my God when I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds Thy hands have made. I see the stars I hear the rolling thunder Thy power throughout the universe displayed…Then sings my soul my Savior, God, to Thee. How great thou art. How great thou art. Then sings my soul my Savior, God, to Thee. How great Thou art! How great Thou art!” I even recorded a bit of it with a selfie video. By design, I was far away from the crowds.

I walked the half mile or so back to our dug-out spa and at the very moment I was stepping in to relax, we heard a woman scream – but not the kind mentioned yesterday. She was crying and pointing and then we saw it – her husband or boyfriend had gone too far out and had been grabbed by the riptide. She was moving up the beach shouting and he was moving down the beach and out to sea at an astonishing speed.

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As I stood there listening and watching the general commotion which surrounds a dramatic rescue, I happened to notice that all this was taking place at the very spot I had stood minutes before worshiping the Creator of the universe. In fact, the little lifeguard dune-buggy where the victim was being treated could have been a prop in my wee worship video.

I’ve often taught people not only to pray through problems, but to worship through problems. Worship magnifies God to heaven size and minimizes our problems to earth size. The Lord’s Prayer begins with worship, “Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name…” This worship releases to the earth his presence. In the very next line we see this: “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” The Scriptures teach that God lingers or hovers where worship takes place. The more frequent the worship the more “homesteading” so to speak, of heaven to earth. He lingers where he is welcome. He empowers where he his praised. We call the opening of a worship service an “invocation” for good reason. We’re asking God to show up. Praise is the welcome mat.

I in no way wish to distract from the heroics of the humble lad with a surfboard. He was remarkable. So were the lifeguards. They were the earthly instruments to save a soul from drowning. But I would be remiss in my observations were I not to share the fact that this distressed soul was brought forth from the ocean at the very place of worship. Perhaps it was a coincidence. Faith would suggest that perhaps it was not.

(Leaving on a jet plane in a couple of hours. Hope to keep these up while I’m in the air. If not, see you stateside)!