caught in the waves

It was a beautiful December morning in Kohala town on the Big Island of Hawai'i. My girlfriend at the time, Amelia, and I were living with her family. We had decided to go to the beach so we packed up and, along with some of her siblings and a mutual friend, headed out for a day of fun in the sun.

When we got to the beach the waves were up so I instructed everyone to stay out of the water while I took my body board and fins to do some surfing. As I was out on the water I could feel the current pushing me but it wasn't anything that I couldn't handle. I made sure to keep glancing at the shoreline to see if any of my companions had decided to disobey me.

after a surf session that lasted a little over two hours I went back to shore. Riding a wave in, the beach was littered with people of all ages. some on boards trying to get out into the surf while others played on shore or in the shallows. When I caught up with everyone they were hot and restless. Taking into account their feelings as well as the power of the ocean currents and possible undertow I made the decision to let them enter the water as long as they went no deeper than their knees.

Putting my board and fins aside I joined them. Jr who I knew wasn't a strong swimmer was amongst us and was playing and splashing. Suddenly he was waist deep and his facial expressions changed from joy filled to worried. I caught onto to his change of mood quickly and ushered everyone else ashore while I tried to coax Jr to swim.

"I can't." he kept saying.

Without much thought I proceed to swim out to him continuing to urge him to swim to no avail. He was being pulled out and I along with him. As we got closer to a rocky ledge the waves crashing around us seemed to become larger and more daunting.

I kept looking around for a possible exit for the two of us while making sure that his head was still above water. The look of terror in his eyes was in indescribable. I watched as he lost faith and started to panic.

"Please please don't leave me don't let me die" He repeated as he struggled to break the surface to breath. His voice was filled with panic and a sadness like he had already given up. Admittedly even I had doubts that he would survive. In my foray of thoughts there was a point where i played out how I would explain how I had lost Jr so close to Christmas. In that moment I decided that I was not going to let him die unless I died with him.

Quickly I looked around and found an area on the ledge that stuck out far enough into the water that we could get out. So I told Jr to swim for it. He tried time and time again and I watched as he got pushed against the rocks and pulled right back out. Whatever hope he had faded quickly and pure panic set in. He grabbed me and tried to climb on top of me to keep himself afloat. I took him under with me until I felt his grip let loose. Furious at him when I got to the surface I had many colorful words for him. That's when I saw it. It's service was smooth and glossy. A light shined on it as if in a dream. It was a wave a perfect wave amidst all the chaos. The wave was coming in and as if God himself had entered my body this overwhelming strength came about me and I pushed Jr forward with such force he landed almost ten feet in front of me and in the perfect spot to catch the wave. The wave grabbed him and landed him right on the rocks shaking.

"Get up those rocks NOW!!!!" I yelled fearing that another wave would come and take him landing him back in the water with me.

I was so relieved to watch him climb to the top of the ledge that in all the commotion I had forgotten one thing I was still trapped.

The entire time my focus was on him, his safety, his rescue his life not mine. I made my way to the rocks riding the push of a wave and grabbed on and was almost immediately pulled away when the water receded for the next wave. After ten or so more attempts my strength was gone. My body was battered from hitting the rocks and worse yet my mind was leaning towards my demise. I looked towards the shore unable to make out which speck was Amelia. A feeling of dread swept over me and I felt something that I had only felt a few times before I felt terrified.

I looked to the rocks and Jr atop them huddled with his head between his knees. I'm still unsure of whether or not he knew I was still in the water. My heart pounding so hard in my chest that I could not even hear the crash of the waves. I let out a loud scream for help, then another and another until I had worked myself into a full panic. My head was going under and when I was able to struggle to the surface there was only enough time to take a quick breath and scream for help again.

Suddenly as I was going under again something told me to stay under the water. I had remembered that I loved the water and if it was to be my time to go there was nowhere that I would rather be. Jr was safe and everyone else was safe back onshore. So I prayed "Lord I am yours to save or yours too take the choice is yours" A calm came over me as if I was already saved and back on the beach. I looked up and saw a light above the water shining down with its rays breaking through and landing on me warming me. I don't know how long I was underwater but it felt like I could have stayed under forever.

I surfaced and laid on my back simply floating on the waters surface while treacherous surf crashed all around me. It was as if God had said "rest your weary head my son I will take care of you." And rest I did waiting for God to choose my fate. No more panic filled my heart only faith. Faith that he would do with me what was right.

The words "get up" rang my ears and I got up to see a wave coming that looked almost identical to the one that took Jr. "catch it" I stroked and was taken by the wave and landed on the rocks as Jr was before me. "climb" I heard and with the strength I had left I climbed the rocks to safety.

Jr and I walked in silence as we made our way back to the beach. When we got there I found Amelia and fell shaking into her warm embrace softly saying "thank you Lord.