One of Travis and my favorite traditions is taking our CPC High School students on surf trips. Travis and I had been taking surf trips long before either of us started working at CPC, and once he got here, we were both excited to start sharing these experiences with the Youth. Between our two trips in the past month, we took a total of 22 students to Jensen Beach, Florida.
On a surface level, these trips are about having fun on the beach, surfing, building relationships, and spending time in nature. But beneath that, these trips are designed with a deeper intention - to break away from the rhythm of “normal” life and refocus us on what really matters.
In our everyday lives, it’s easy to get wrapped up in the comforts that we have created. Our attachment to this world is so much stronger than we know. Our homes, routines, and possessions create a sense of safety that we do not often stop to truly question why we desire those things. But when we step away from all our “normal” comforts and distractions, even just for a few days, we often gain some clarity. We can start to think about our relationships, purpose, and perspective more clearly.
Scripture describes us as “strangers” and “sojourners” while we are on earth. Like the Israelites in the wilderness, we are not home yet; we are on our way to the Promised Land. But far too often, we try to recreate the Promised Land on earth with our manmade comforts. We settle. We build. We forget.
That is a big part of why we go on these trips. When the distractions are gone, when we minimize what we have, and when we are constantly surrounded with God’s creation, we are reminded both that we are strangers in this land and of the beauty and glory that is to come.
Over the days on the trips together, we shared meals, stories, surfboards, and laughs. We also shared quiet moments around the campfire, honest conversations, and time in worship and God’s Word. Through it all, we were reminded that we are wanderers with a destination.
At one of our evening campfires, one of our students read an entry from the book Every Moment Holy, Volume 1, titled “A Liturgy For Those Who Sleep in Tents.”
In this wilderness, may our hearts be shed of the insulating layers of daily routines, of the duties and comforts that distract and lull us, of the numbing surplus of our possessions. Here let us feel ourselves more vulnerable and in awe…
In this place may we breathe your quickening breath, sleeping in tents tonight, awash in this glorious ache, sojourners stirred afresh by distant rumors of the return of their King. May we wake at the soft pulse of dawn to find in the wild and whispering winds of your Spirit, our pilgrim hearts ringing like chimes.
Our prayer is that those moments stay with us and the students, and that as we return to everyday life, we do not lose sight of the return of our King and the world to come.
Heather Morrison, Assistant Youth Director
