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Day 2 - Holding Your Position

Galatians chapter 2

Key verse

But when Peter came to Antioch, I had to oppose him to his face, for what he did was very wrong. When he first arrived, he ate with the Gentile (local) believers, who were not circumcised. But afterward, when some friends of James came, Peter wouldn’t eat with the Gentiles (locals) anymore. He was afraid of criticism from these people who insisted on the necessity of circumcision. As a result, other Jewish believers followed Peter’s hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.

(Galatians 2:11-13)

Holding your position in the line-up can be critical to getting the right wave as your turn comes and the ocean surface heaves with the arrival of the next set. Your cred with the crew in the water at the time can also play a big part.

During an extended trip through Indonesia, with our ultimate destination a break-off Sumatra, only accessible at the time by boat, we bumped into another group of traveling surfers from time to time. We got to know them casually and chatted in the water or over a meal as we ate together. They were a bit younger and new to surf travel but were on the stoke of new experience and they welcomed our travel tips and tales. We parted ways again when they were keen to push further up the coast and we had hearts set on our ultimate destination.

It took a storm-ravaged boat trip that involved having to lash our boards to the deck with our leg ropes to stop them blowing away, then climbing into the board covers ourselves, as the only reprieve from the driving rain, followed by a local bus from the port to the village. But it was on. We had timed it perfectly for a mid-size corrugated swell stacked to the horizon. The crew already there were travel and surf hardened and quite tight with each other.

It took a couple of days to gain respect and to be able to hold a position in the line-up and by the end of the first week we were all talking up each other’s waves over fresh grilled fish, steamed veggiesand rice as the sun set over the palm trees and the last light turned off the waves for the day.

At the start of the next week, who should turn up but the crew we had bumped a few times on our way there. We hadn’t shared our plans to be there, not that I remember anyway, but it was good to see them. However, before we got to re-connect, one of the crusty lads goes, “Oh no, these guys are kooks. They paddled out at Lacerations last month when I was there, and it was embarrassing.”

Immediately the others were off them. I told them we had met them and they were ok, but there was a steely ok-you-go-surf-with-them ultimatum! Do I keep my position with assumed cred in the line-up or do I forfeit the relationship?

I’m not proud of it, but I caved. We stayed up the point with the crew and left the others to surf and eat alone. I could have, should have, included them, and brokered an introduction, but no, I settled for my own position in others’ eyes rather than show equal respect. Because I did that, I perpetuated a massive divide. It was us and them and it consolidated the view of one in the minds of all. What a hypocrite I felt and it still tarnishes the memory. I tried to put it right on a plane flight we were all on a few weeks later but damage is hard to undo sometimes.

Like the key verses for today, I needed to stand up and oppose the view of others and the hypocritical stance we took in favour of loving those who are still on a journey. To show love, respect and acceptance.

Reflection

1) What is most important – holding your position for self-gain or lowering your position to let another have a dig and feel the stoke and being hooted into something bigger than they have ever imagined?

2) Where may you be holding a hypocritical position in your life?

3) What can you do to change it?