We recently had the opportunity to take a surfing lesson. The instructor led the class, all carrying their rented surf boards down to the shore and told us to place them on the sand. Then he gave us detailed instructions just how to catch a wave and what to do once we had caught it. Then we all took our places on the surf boards and went through the various positions from lying on it and pretending to paddle, to jumping to a kneeling position after the wave has been caught and then standing upright on the board. It was all very easy to do while on the sand. We soon learned that it was different out in the ocean. Although we personally were old enough to be the grandfather of the youngest members of the class, everyone experienced the same difficulty in following the simple instructions of our teacher. It sounded easy when he explained what to do, it seemed easy when we did it on the dry sand, but doing it in the churning Pacific Ocean was another thing.

Life is like this. It is easy to tell one another to do what is right. It is equally easy to maintain that we would never do this or that. But it is a different story when we are in the sea of life surrounded by the waves of temptation which are trying to toss us this way and that. Peter was convinced that he would never deny his Lord even if everyone else did, but before the cock could crow two times he had denied, (even swearing for emphasis as he did so) that he did not know Jesus.

We will never learn to surf with our board planted on the sand, and we will never live the truth holed up in a monastery high up on the mountain away from civilization. Jesus reached out in an effort to help those he had come to save and we must put our hoards in the water and paddle for dear life. The key to becoming an expert surfer is practice. The key to becoming an effective brother and sister of Christ is also practice. We first must learn the fundamentals while on the dry sand but then we must take our boards and put them into the sea of humanity and try to keep our balance no matter what the waves around us are doing. Isaiah tells us that ”the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.” The expert surfer, balanced on his board, knows how to ride over the raging waves. He may fall many times learning, but he will keep at it until he has mastered it. We too will fail many times but we need to get up again and keep trying. The worst mistake of all is not to try. To say we will not go surfing until we are an expert is folly. To refuse to share our good news with others until we know all the answers to all the difficult questions that we may be asked, is equally absurd.

Even doctors call what they do ”practice.” They practice on us. It may be a difficult way to learn, but in the final analysis it is the only way to learn.

Every athlete in every sport knows that the only way to become proficient is by practice, practice and more practice. Why would we think that we can become experts at living the Truth without constant practice?

What kind of practice is necessary? We need to put our spiritual surfboard in the water, we need to take the Truth to all we meet. We need to study the word so we will know the fundamentals of our faith but then we must put what we know to use in living the Truth out on the sea of life. We are to be doers of the word and not hearers only.

When Jesus talked to fishermen he told them, ”follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Had he been talking to surfers he might have said something like this. ”Follow me, put your board in the sea of life, the surf is up and there are many waves to catch.”