South Africa

My flight to Joberg was a pleasant surprise, not just with a premium economy upgrade, but sitting across the aisle in God's providence was former CS Coffs Harbour leader Jon Hastings! We caught up on the past 20 years and stoked to see a brother passionate for Christ and investing in building integrity in business in the corruption ravaged Congo. 

Arriving in Cape Town was very familiar, it's now been 13 trips there, and Roy collected me and we prepared for their second annual fundraiser dinner. So good to see many old friends and meet new ones. A special catch up with Bruce McDonald who has produced and directed The Perfect Wave, the Ian McCormack story...you know the jellyfish guy who got stung and went to heaven? How classic! Clint Eastwood's son plays the lead, along with some notable South African surfers. After reviewing this it's a bold move to mention Jesus in a mainstream film here, look out for it! 

Sunday in Kommetjie was a special treat visiting the Band of Brothers surf church. Arriving to tarp surfing in the street and a braii in the backyard of a surfboard-strewn house, I found a church I would love to be part of and could easily invite friends to. Dougal set a great example of passionate commitment and vulnerability and I was impressed hearing testimonies of many hardcore surfers who had come to Christ or been freshly inspired...I guess if you surf 20' Dungeons it leads a man to pray!?

Special thanks to Merv who drove me up the coast to J-Bay with a stop off in Victoria Bay for a surf. Merv has such a heart to serve and is currently our Regional Chaplain for Africa. Reconnecting with Roy and Sharon I'm struck with the longevity of this CS founder and his wonder wife and hyper grom Nathan who is Roy revisiting his parents to torment them. The national conference saw a mixed bag of 80 surfers and skaters of various colours and economies, but all one in Christ. There is an amazing internship program called CSALT and I was impressed with the calibre of students including their first brave married couple, all the way from Canada, go Sarah and Andy! The Africa office sure is rocking with interns, op shop, local hub of mission and more.

Aleph was another highlight as Rehgert and Vanessa do restoration through recreation teaching township kids to surf and teaching them life skills. Stoked to see a small sewing space for kids mums to expand their skills, a surf garage and a new shopfront being fitted out to be a public face of Aleph. So many challenges, the AIDS rate is 30%, unemployment 75% and the life expectancy for most is 51. 

I never surfed once! The BD surf mojo must have been left at home? But I did manage to pick up a near-new Firewire board for $200!

Flying back home out of Joberg I look out at the vast expanse of township squalor mixed with coloured and white communities and it would be easy to despair. But God is at work through his people and many hopeful things are coming out of the ashes. I am reminded again to be ever thankful for the ease of life in Australia. Tragically the greater the comfort the weaker the reliance upon God. 

And I read a favourite text from Brother Lawrence from 1685, "Never tire of doing small things with love, for God is not so interested in the greatness of the thing, but in the love."

Home now for 3 days then CSA National Gathering over Easter!

Raglan Ramblings

Late last year I pitched a surf trip to Raglan, New Zealand to some of the long-term supporters and partners of CSI and last week we set off as 'The Magnificent 7', along with my grommet man/child Taylor to round out our surf team.

What a treat to see 8 strangers become good friends over 5 days of sun, surf, food and godly company. So often men get together to lower the bar - this was a trip where good men got together to raise the bar!

We did a spontaneous detour to the East Coast on Friday to catch a new 2m east swell at Whangamata Bar. We then headed to Raglan that afternoon to catch a rising 2m south-west swell on Sunday.

Even if a couple of the groms (David and Crofty) were in their 60's there was plenty of boyish fun. Stay tuned CSI supporters for your next opportunity!

Highlights included:

• Spectacular sunny days and 20C water temps that had us out of steamers - hello are we in NZ?
• 3-5' groundswell with 16 second period saw lines stacked to the horizon.
• Amazing accommodation overlooking Manu Bay.
• Bruce Baker's budgie smuggler phobia, provoked by the over 60's.
• Taylor's endless reentries at Manu.
• Crofty's airline ticket antics that nearly left him at Sydney International Airport.
• Col Hackfath's rock hopping entertainment.
• David and Mike's underwear frozen solid overnight (an oldie but a goodie!) 
• Wayne Ryan's world surfari stories.
• Steve Heard, our local kiwi surf guide.
• David Smith's noseride at Indicators.
• Gordy and Jean's Sunday night meal invitation...despite sacrilegious application of tomato sauce to NZ lamb!
• After dinner round table discussion about being fruitful for God.
• Late night spa soak solving the world's problems.
• Ruapuke rally cross drive.

Groundswell Book Update

"I read 'Groundswell' in 6 hours straight on the plane and every page I was like, 'Whoa, this is me, this is me!' From the struggles of doubt and inadequacies to longing for companionship. It was amazing. Stoked that you took the challenge and put all this into paper so we younger ones can learn and be inspired to listen to His calling. I am sure the Sri Lanka chapter will start up, but more so due to the words of countless testimonies I just read. That I shouldn't fear but just press on and God will do the rest." Dilsiri Colombo, Sri Lanka

"For Christmas this year I received from my wife and children 'Groundswell', which I had no idea was being written. What an awesome book! Emotions filled me when I started to look through and see some of the past history I was part of at the Taree/Old Bar club. I just wanted to thank you (Christian Surfers ministry) for giving me purpose and for ministering to young people in an area where many families had struggles and needed God's encouragement and love." Mark Vanderzee, Australia

"We are taking Groundswell on our Road Tour throughout the UK to inspire our national movement and encourage others to join in." Phil Williams, UK

Its now been some 5 months since 'Groundswell - The Christian Surfer Story' was launched back in October 2012. It is an anchor for our movement being a historic account of why God birthed this movement and where our core values came from. It is also an inspiring story of ordinary people trusting God for the extraordinary that will encourage you also.

We have cleared about 300 photo books and 1,000 paperbacks, but there are still boxes of them scattered around the world...and in the CSI office! We are about AUD$16,000 away from breaking even on the project.

Word and Koorong bookshops are considering stocking the book in Australia and copies are available in the USA, UK, NZ and South Africa via CS.

If you have yet to read 'Groundswell', order a copy online from http://www.christiansurfers.net/ShopList_All.aspx.

You can also watch a video interview I did regarding 'Groundswell' with Simon Smart for the Centre for Public Christianity at http://publicchristianity.org/library/ground-swell-the-story-of-christian-surfers.