Surfing: My Story

As my life turns to fifty it just came into my mind to look back a bit. I would like to do that related to my surfing experiences.

About 3 years ago I picked up surfing again. It was many years ago, around my twentieth year, that I was a fanatic windsurfer, always looking to surf. But eventually I changed my life and left windsurfing for decades. And now I surf again; kitesurfing.

I would like to share my story here. (Perhaps it pictures me a bit out of context, maybe, since it is hooked on surfing, but anyway. It’s just one aspect of the story about myself.)

I grew up as a child in a little village at the coast in Zeeland, The Netherlands. A village one meter below sea level, behind the dikes. In the summer days my father and family were often at the water, swimming, water skiing, etc. And windsurfing. I started surfing with two friends when I was 15 years old. When I turned 16 I would go with my Kreidler moped and my surfboard bike trailer attached to my favorite learning spot at the lake Veerse Meer. I couldn’t go to the sea at Borssele, that was too dangerous. When I was 18 years old I could surf the waves in the sea. And I loved it. I never went back to lakes. The sea was my place to be whenever the wind was 20 knots or more. When I heard the wind blowing, adrenaline quickened my blood. I drove my car, an old Opel Kadett without bumpers and covered with big surfing stickers to Vrouwenpolder, my favorite spot when the wind was North-West.

The greatest thing in the world I would like to do at that time of my life was to go out to the water, feeling the wind blow, smelling the sea, tasting salt water, riding sea-foam and ultimately playing with wind and water. Surfing the waves, flying the wind. Mastering the elements which are far more mightier than you. But it sticks. It is a feeling, a sensation on many fronts. Body and mind are in the mood. And whenever you think you can beat nature, you’re crashed into the water and humbled down as a tiny being, alone on the great sea. Hoping to reach the shore again.

I studied electrical engineering and made my own digital display for an analog wind meter, which could remember the maximum wind speed. There were no apps and no internet. You had to listen to the weather forecast on the radio and study maps in newspapers.

I was a fanatic windsurfer when I was about twenty years old. A time in your life which demands important choices. What are you gonna do? A one-way ticket to Hawaii with the few money you have? Raising a traditional family? As a christian I knew there is good and bad in this world. And that you have to deal with it. And although I doubted (at that time) sometimes the existence of God (I’m a human) I also knew that He exists. What am I gonna do? I was searching in this field of life too. A very impactful time of my life. I was looking for God. I was trying to calculate, but that doesn’t work. A real big choice was going to be worked out. The choice of my life; and the choice for life. A choice for God. Not a decision of one day, but it took months.

Life went on. I packed my board and went to the water. Beautiful weather, a blinking sea fantastic to surf. So smoothly over the water. Sun shining abundantly. While my board was tickling over the water, one hand on my boom, one touching the water, I was thinking. So beautiful. But I had learned: God was greater. More beautiful. He is the ultimate destination of life and the fulfilment of all desires. Real eternal fantastic life. That which everyone wants. I slowly surrendered completely to God.

If you turn to God, He will listen. He will accept your face, exactly who you are. You don’t have yourself to make up; He knows you way before. He’s real, you’re real. No fakes anymore, it rather confronts you; you can’t hide. Because He is holy and you are not. He doesn’t show His face like “Hi, here I am, I’m God.” But He will listen to you. I’m just trying to describe where I went through, but I know this is universal. God is looking for the people He created. He’s always the One who begins; the First One. Not you. But you’re the one who answers to His call. I went into the process of this answer. My personal answer. My personal choice.

I turned to God in prayers. No questions about Hawaii or family. But what God wants me to do became my question. His acceptance of my life was something I could rely on, more than the pleasure and fun that surfing provides. What I didn’t know at that time was that God’s love bound me to Him; it made me love Him and everything true and just. Love started to flourish. But an unfaithful response was in my heart: Would You accept me? I was asking God, even demanding God to accept me. That was my concern because I felt myself being failed for Him. I was asking out of love of course, but He wasn’t there to show me that He accepted me. What I began to see was that all acceptance comes together in just one name: Jesus. God accepted Jesus and with Him He accepted us. Belief and faith started to develop in me. God accepted me. But this was not a finished status reached by faith. It rather was the beginning of life. A new life.

I eventually surfed only about three times in a year. To be on the water was great, but it had become way less important for me. I sold my gear to my friend. A new passion was on the rise: books. Just to learn. I needed to know much, very much more than I did. I am a thinker and like to do my research. Before I would believe. The best book was the bible; the revelation from God. His own Word. This is extreme. It has the power to turn the world the other way. I learned Hebrew. I saw the Jewish people, the chosen nation back in time and back on the map of the world. This fascinates me. God and his people of Israel and his work here on earth. How the church fits into Israel. What place the Islam would have. And of course, without a doubt, there’s a battle between good and bad. At all fronts, out and in the church. God is looking for His creature’s answer. He created men with free will. And He will be exalted by the will of men. There’s a very good future. But today, it’s fair to say that there’s war, spiritual war.

We must live our days. “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.” (Matth.6:34) What you do makes what you are. Each day will face you challenges and will force you to make decisions. For two decades my life was about raising a family and I didn’t even look at a surfboard. I learned a lot of christianity, judaism and the bible. The bible as a tool to live your life. There is no good life or bad life. All life is the same and equal in the realm of God and His mankind. He knows what is good for you. But He asks us to do something. Each day we have to live and it is about how we live. You can find this very special life in yourself each day and each hour. Rejoice when you live! Now it’s the time. A life with God is real, extremely real. There’s no fake and no lie in it. God is real and just.

And so do I live. There’s no fear of death because God has become my Master and my eternal life. He created me to live. Death has to pass because of my sins, but it doesn’t stop life. His creation doesn’t fail. I can fail, but He cannot. So, when the dawn is there I do my work. This is the most incredible thing on earth: That you can do your job. This is what matters. Whether succeeding or failing. This will make you the real person. What choice should I make? It is like being God himself. The glory mankind could be endowed with is miraculous. We are just not able to understand. This is too much to grasp.

I raised a family. I thought why not teach my daughters to surf? At least it is also good for me to pick up the sport to strengthen my body. Because I work all day with a stupid screen before my face, it’s good to work on my fysical health. And so we went to the beach with three body boards and just had fun in the waves of the North Sea. This was the beginning of picking up surfing again. We tried to surf the waves. We learned how to see when there is swell and waves are coming in. And both my daughters liked it and bought a surfboard. But my eye was on the kite surfers and I thought this would be great for me to do. So I bought a second hand kite set and a lesson. By a year I could cruise back and forth. I love it.

“Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” (Eccl.1:2) Now my experience of surfing is different than it was in the years of my youth. In my youth it was most important, it took possession of me. Now it is something added to my life. It’s beside other things. I’m not a servant of a lifestyle, but surfing serves me. An important difference. Because in this life, first and for all, I’m a servant of Christ. It is God who is my King. A spiritual wellbeing, which in fact is the ultimate wellbeing, comes not from the greatest and most beautiful sport in the world, surfing. It comes not from a perfect harmony (could it be) in this world. Turning back to God (where we come from) is the only way to real wellbeing. And at the same time that way is the very, very best way to walk in this life. The path to life, which in itself gives life. This path is a spiritual path. Like you use a board to surf, the bible is used to live. God reveals Himself through His word, giving eternal life. It is a path to run. Like you learn skills to surf, God develops your skills to live. And since it comes from God it will give the ultimate joy, happiness, freedom, peace, love and compassion.

When I feel the wind in my kite and when I hit the water and a wave splashes at my leg wetting my face, and the power of wind and water pushes me in the mood, it’s easy to feel comfortable and good. Because it is a pleasure for your body and it takes up your mind. It is good for your physical being to have these activities. Especially for office workers. Health is the first need of all of us. And we have our responsibility. But even whatever we do, it all comes from God.

How is that compared to a dusty book? The bible, however, has the words of God. Words give no physical pleasures. It needs dedication, translation, adoption and willingness to hear the message. Then, when you read it, it will take you with spiritual power. It will give prayer. It will give light. It will comprehend life because it describes it. It will admit having a broken life because of sin. It will restore a broken life. It will lead to faith. And it will remain forever. It’s more than a pleasure; It’s a salvation. Alas, this all will not be without difficulties, without the opposing satan. But it will end in glory. Even death is conquered. This will lead to real satisfaction, real joy without fear. And a blessed future.

Tags: Biography, kitesurfing, Surfing