Gratitude

We call them breakers, tides that swell and begin to curl then crash down as they come into shore. There is a whole culture of life around here in Santa Cruz founded on catching these breaks. People have been surfing them here since the late 1800s. In 2020 we have experienced some tough breaks. They crashed over our lives, left us distressed, disoriented or devastated and they don’t seem to stop.

This morning as I was out running I stopped for a moment at pleasure point where there are usually lots of surfers. I looked down and there in the water was a teenage surfer close to the rocks. The waves were pretty big so I wondered if she might be in some trouble. Seemingly in answer to my question she began to cry out that universal human word, “HELP!” 

I wish I could tell you I did something right away but I didn’t. I sort of pulled back out of sight, not sure what I could do that would not put us both in equal if not greater peril. I looked around to see if there was a rope or someone else more qualified. There was no one close by and her cries continued so I decided to do something although honestly I had no idea what that would be. I just ran down the stairs toward her as she continued to cry out.

When I got to the bottom of the stairs I stopped and held out my hand and said, “You’re almost there. Come this way.” She came to the stairs and climbed out of the water. She was shaken so I asked her, are you ok? Did you hit the rocks? She said she did hit the rock but was ok.  She stammered through tears, “Thank you so much for coming!”  I took her surf board and walked with her up the stairs and asked her if anyone was with her and she said no… Do you have someone you can call if you need to? She said yes and that she lived close by. I asked her her name and introduced myself, “I’m Joe.. I’m glad you’re ok.” 

As I resumed my run my own emotion came because I think that cry for help resonated with a prayer I had cried to God only a few moments before. I think in some way God answered my cry by allowing me to be there at a precise moment to hear and respond to someone else with a more pressing need. What I did for her did not feel heroic. I think it was something anyone could have done and yet her gratitude for that simple act was immediate and humbling. 

How many times do I ask for help, receive it but then miss the moment with something other than gratitude? What would I have felt if the first thing she had said when she climbed out of the water was, “It’s about time! “Why didn’t you come the first time I called?” or “Why didn’t you jump into the water?!” We all need help, maybe more then we realize but will we ask for it? And how will we respond if it does not come right away?

Perhaps you feel that you cried for help and there was no response. So maybe you gave up. Could we take a page from this teenage girl who did not stop crying out for help? Once she decided to cry out she was all in. It doesn’t have to be complicated, sometimes it takes more keeping at it.

Maybe you need to pray now with gratitude, expressing thanks from your heart to God who is faithful, ever present in every situation. He did not turn a deaf ear to my humble cry. He truly is the hero of my story. 

God wants to use you to help someone else. And even though you might not know what it is, when you choose to do something it can transform you in ways you never imagined. Wherever you are in this, may you lean into these words:

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Psalm 46:1