Summary

Surmounting Waves Word on the Week 25th July 2026.
Many people wish to make waves in the metaphorical sense and make a habit of it. It’s how they get things done. What I am writing about is the sea which makes waves according to the weather. After a gale the shore line exhibits all the objects thrown up onto it. This is how it makes its bed!
We had been fishing with long lines and were returning to port with the catch. The fish were Whiting and Haddock which were being gutted by the boat owner’s sons Philip and Charles. Their father Charlie was engrossed in conversation with two holidaymakers who had come for the trip.
My task was to steer the boat, a 23 foot half decked converted Yole. It had had the mast removed and an engine fitted. It was quite seaworthy with four people but with six sea water was seeping through the cracks!
Charlie wanted us to go closer to the shore than normal so he could see what was in his rabbit traps! He had set them in the borrows that covered the headlands and caught rabbits which were visible (this was in the days before traps were banned).
Those on board were not looking at the sea when I spotted a large wave approaching. They are called the ‘Prowlers’ and are loved by surfers. For us it presented a problem because it was going to hit us broadside on.
I alerted Charlie who told me to “head the boat into it”! I got it turned just as the wave lifted us. You could hear the engine racing as the propeller came clear of the water – and then we were on the other side with the Prowler crashing against the rocks behind us as the wave hit the shore.
The instruction to “head on into it” I have come to equate with Jesus ‘setting his face to go to Jerusalem’ (Luke 9 Verse 51). Just as the only way to survive a Prowler in a boat is to face it head on. Jesus would have known that the time was approaching for him to be taken up to heaven. Isaiah prophesies about Jesus “I have set my face like flint and I know I will not be put to shame” (Isaiah 50 verse 7).
Jesus did not deviate from his course. It led through betrayal, miscarriage of justice, sentencing by the mob, torment by soldiers, death by crucifixion, burial in a tomb from which He arose to eventually arrive at heaven itself – safely berthed at the Fathers side!
Because of his journey, our journey is potentially a lot easier. For all who love the Lord and entrust themselves to him the Apostle Peter says the Lord is patient not wanting any to perish but everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 2 verse 8/9). Do not try to go it alone!