The Power in My Sail

I park my car at the beach, then open the door against a strong headwind. My thin sweatshirt is no match for this gale, and trekking the sea-grass lined path leading to shore, I hug it tightly to myself .

The brightness of the sun makes it difficult to decipher details on the horizon, but something unusual is happening on the water. I squint. Is that really a human zipping upright across the waves? I hurry closer to observe. Holy smokes! I'm incredulous like a disciple mind-blown by Jesus walking on water. Only this young man isn't walking. No, he appears to be skimming across the waves at speeds close to 60 mph.

I notice a parachute-like kite. Still. Laws of nature seem suspended here. The wind screams past me, tearing at my clothes, the waves churn and thunder, and this kite-boarder is . . . skating, floating, as if the fierceness of wind and sea mean nothing.

He hits a wave head-on. Yikes! My mouth gapes open as he flies into the air, somersaults a couple of times and then slams into the ocean for a perfect landing. No drowning happening here!

The wind sandblasts my ankles, but I stand mesmerized. The kite, lines taut, pulls, lifts, steadies. The young man zips back and forth, leaning as if water skiing behind a boat, the waves his playground. He makes an abrupt turn into a killer wave. Suddenly the kite yanks him into the air at least 20 feet. I gasp. In slow descent, he floats against the cobalt sky and lands as gently as a sea gull.

I tremble from cold but also from exhilaration. Oh, to be so free! This looks like so much fun I want to do it!

"Lord, with You as the wind in my sail, let me ride the waves of life with that kind of fearlessness, joy, and triumph!"