Faith Like Paddle Boarding

Last summer, I was on vacation with my family in Branson, Missouri, and I went paddle boarding for the first time. As a person with a natural aversion to humidity, I was pleasantly surprised at how beautiful it was there. The dense woods were crowded with foreign-looking foliage, the views of the gently rolling hills surrounding the lake were dramatic but serene.

I was surprised at the physical challenge paddle boarding brought, but I kept at it. I eventually got the hang of it, and I pushed out farther from the shore. I reached the middle of the lake and sat down on the board. I basked in God’s creation, breathing in his presence and I was struck by an idea:

Faith is a lot like paddle boarding.

The very first moments on a paddle board are incredibly awkward. You start on your knees and get used to the motion of paddling. You stay in the shallow water near the shoreline, where the water is calm, untouched by boats racing through.

When you start to get comfortable, you try standing. You’re mindful as you carefully plant one foot in front of you, then rise shakily to both feet, pulling your body upright, moving with the board, balancing as it wobbles under the shifting of your weight.

Paddle boarding requires a lot of balance, hand-eye coordination, and overall strength.

When we start out on our faith journey, we’re shaky getting on the board. We start on our knees and figure out how to paddle. Then as we gain more confidence, we can stand up and face the open water head-on.

Still even then it’s a difficult task. Part of the faith journey is learning how to surrender to Jesus, letting him transform our hearts and minds, then portraying his love to the world.

God constantly tells us to put him first in our lives. This seemingly simple task is something that we really want to do, however, it is so easy to get distracted.

When paddle boarding, you must remain focused. You have to consciously think about keeping your balance and moving your arms to propel your body forward. The slightest distraction such as looking away, losing balance, or encountering some waves can easily topple you over.

This makes me laugh because it’s so easy to get toppled over in life. We are sinful by nature and despite our good intentions to live a holy life, it is so easy to be tempted. Tempted by old habits, tempted by the things that promise happiness, these temptations are unique to each of us.

Success, relationships, sex, food, shopping, alcohol, gossiping, making money – all of these things promise contentment, like cool water on a hot day; but like falling off the board and into the water, swimming is only so fun for so long before we start to get tired.

This is why Jesus is so amazing. Because even when we lose balance and topple spastically into the water, the paddleboard is right there waiting for us to get back on. The paddle board doesn’t care that we fall in. The paddle board stays afloat no matter what because that’s how it’s built. It’s solid, it’s sturdy, it’s meant to be something that we can haul ourselves back onto time and time again until we get the hang of it.

Jesus is waiting for us every time we stumble and fall into the water; he’s already there, ready for us when we resurface, beckoning us to climb aboard again.

He stays afloat as we haul ourselves back on the board, flopping awkwardly like a seal on dry land, then slowly coming to our knees, and getting shakily to our feet, time and time again. But the longer we keep practicing, the easier it becomes. We start to navigate those rough waves and we catch ourselves when we get off-balance. We become stronger, more confident.

We are not so easily shaken by what life throws our way, no longer losing balance and falling into the water, but instead tightening our core, focusing on the thing we are balancing on and we continue forward.

When you become more skilled on the paddleboard you take it out farther into the water; as we grow in our faith we follow God into the deep. In the midst of life’s waves, we don’t get easily discouraged, distracted or upset, instead we sit down and find peace. We lean into God and trust him to keep us afloat even when there’s deep water and big waves as far as the eye can see.

Confidence on the paddle board creates room for advanced moves, like doing yoga. Just when we thought we gave God all that we could give him, he takes us one step farther. He challenges us to grow even deeper in our faith.

It gets hot on the paddleboard when doing yoga, that Midwestern humidity thick like a blanket on our skin. Even when we’re in the best shape, flexing our faith muscles, the water can still look enticing. It’s no coincidence that the times we are often most tempted are when we are living for God. We’ve learned to lean on Jesus to help us overcome our sins, our flaws, our trauma. We’re no longer swayed so easily. But what about when real trial or tragedy hits? Or when temptation is disguised as a blessing, wrapped up so perfectly that it’s been tailor-made specifically for us? It’s uncomfortable on the paddleboard. Maybe we’ll cool off for just a second…

Some days we don’t give in. We remain strong in the Lord even when we’re uncomfortable, hot and sweaty; we trust in God’s process. Each time we refuse to let the waves pull us in, we refuse to sin, we refuse to give up on God, the muscle of faith grows stronger.

Other times we do slip in; we are only human after all. Sometimes it’s our choice to jump onto the water; we fall to temptation. Other times, a rough wave will come up out of nowhere, knocking us off-balance and before we even know what happening, we’re in the water again. When those unexpected trials hit, it’s scary. And in our fear, we forgot all about balance and keeping focused on the paddleboard. We rely on ourselves to keep us afloat, which never works and that’s why we end up in the water.

But the time in the water becomes less and less frequent as we realize that the initial gratification of cooling off only leads to exhaustion. We can’t swim through the water forever. We need that paddleboard to keep us afloat. Despite the heat, the uncertainty of the waves and the exhaustion that comes from doing yoga, we begin to learn just how much better it is on the paddle board.

God is the paddle board keeping us afloat amidst the waves and water of life.

He takes us on adventure into the deep water, teaching us how to exercise our faith. He challenges us and grows us into the people he’s destined us to be. Like the paddle board, God is always right there, floating on the surface, unperturbed by the waves or the fact that we jumped into them, beckoning us to climb aboard and try, one more time.