Flax and Sand

Mind if I talk about Grace & Skating again?

You see I recently stumbled across an inspiring person for whom these two words are central. His name is Dan Gemmell  he is a pro skater with a skate company called, and inspired by  Grace!

Dan has done some cool stuff  like skate demos in prisons in Brazil & at music festivals in Norway. But even more interestingly he loves Jesus and doesn’t mind talking about it.Rad!

He kindly answered a few random questions I threw at him.

What does Skateboarding mean to you?

It’s defiantly something I love and am passionate about. Skating give me an outlet for whatevers going on!

Are there lessons from Skating that have translated as metaphors for lessons in life?

Well I guess it’s taught me that if you can dream it or think it, you can do it- if you are willing to put in the work.

What are you grateful for?

Jesus, family & friends.

What does it mean to you to be a Christian?

It means to give your life completely over to Jesus, to say Lord I have fallen short of your perfect standard and need Jesus as my way back to you. I choose to follow you wherever you take me. It Means to die to self.

What are your gifts?

I think maybe being able to connect with people.

What is on your heart to do with your life?

To do the things I am most passionate about while sharing Gods truth.

How do you share the good news with people?

By spending time with someone and getting to know him or her first.

Anything you want to add?

To anyone that thinks God is angry with them I just want to say God is for you, he longs to be in relation with you that’s he whole reason he sent Jesus to die in our place, it wasn’t to judge or condemn us but to set us free from judgment and condemnation, I ask you to really seek God.

Thanks Dan! love your work and stoked that you are stoked on Jesus!

Those decks & clothes are sweet! My favorite is the blue T shirt.

“For by Grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing it is the gift of God, not as a result of works so that no one may boast”
Ephesians 2:8-9

Today I am thankful that I get to wake up with the ocean just across the road. I am thankful for mates to surf with and mates to read God’s word with.

Loving this verse from Matthew 11:28

“Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Just need a laminated tiny bible to fit in my wetsuit so that we can read the word between sets- yeeeew!

Stumbled across the work of Tom Veiga recently. Tom is a Brazilian artist with a nice point of view. I like the way he looks at waves and so gently shows unique characteristics of the various breaks. I have been to a few of the places he paints and I can identify subtle features of the wave he chooses to depict. I asked his to paint some waves from my place-lets see what he comes back with.

As mentioned here is a copy of the article I wrote for Curl Magazine. It feels a little bit strange writing for a Surfing Magazine as I am not a brilliant surfer, I’m not even a little bit awesome. “Super Basic” is how I would describe my surfing.  I am passionate about sharing all the little lessons I have learned as I feel its important to be honest & helpful. You see I found surfing really challenging, so the above is an honest account of what has helped get my surfing from “beginner” to “Super Basic”. Nothing flash.

In 2010 I went to Africa. Our kind CEO at Parragon Publishing International, (where I used to work) decided that instead of spending money on an opulent  Christmas party in the UK, the money should go to a worthwhile charity. That charity is 5 Talents.

It was truly amazing.

This trip kind of changed the direction of my life. I was touched by the way this Christian organisation so brilliantly worked to give people a chance to improve their lives and that of their communities. Check out a few stories here

This post is my little campaign for Giving 5. I also want to put a new thought out there about giving. Why give $5 on the 5th? Simply because you can, because the joy of life is to give to others, because it can be life changing. Because giving is for you as well, it sets you free from holding on to things too tightly.

By the way……..I am a terrible giver, I start to think too much about what others have vs what I have and sometimes I conclude that when someone is better off than me for whatever reason then I won’t give to them because I need the gift more. But with this attitude I miss out! I miss out on sharing and contributing to another person’s life, I miss out on kindness, freedom and a way of love.

One of my favourite songs at the moment is “Spin with the World” by Bonjah. It has a line in it that resonates with me. “Give what you can, despite the fool who takes”

I am so often the fool that takes and I would sincerely like to change that.

The photos show some of the beneficiaries of our gifts, they were taken by my friends and I on our trip. These are beautiful hard working women. Despite hard conditions, these women look after children, run business’s and work the land for food. They also look after orphans from extended families, run households, walk long distances for food or water and care for friends and family and struggle with the impact of aids on their communities. They are joyful people, they laugh, sing and dance together and have generous hearts.

Give here

Been doing some writing recently.

I enjoy the creativity of it and the way that my experience moves out of my memory and on to a page.

These photos were taken to go with a A “HOW TO  keep motivated in surfing” guide. I pulled together a few of my favorite people and we did a quick photo shoot. Just up the road from where we all live. It didn’t take long and we had fun-these are some of the photos from the shoot.

CURL Magazine picked it up and printed it in Issue 32, you will have to check out the magazine to figure out which photo we sent in! It’s OUT NOW.

Will post the article soon.

Big Thanks to Leah, Rache, Jess & Andy for their time and help making these fun photos. We laughed a lot especially when one of the cheeky models tried to take the role of Art director and Photographer! Which, by the way turned out Great so lesson learned- challenge your roles people!

Looking forward to a Roady a little further than up the road next time!

Grace, I love this word.

What does it mean….

1.Elegance-Beauty and smoothness of form or movement

2.Generosity of Spirit-A capacity to tolerate, accommodate, or forgive people.

3.Prayer at mealtimes-A short prayer of thanks to God said before or sometimes after, a meal.

4. Gift of God to human kind-in Christianity the infinite love, mercy, favor and goodwill shown to humankind by God.

I also love Skating and Surfing. And guess what? They can be super graceful, but they kind of take over my life sometimes, I feel this amazing sense of freedom, fun and thankfulness when I am on a board. I sometimes have feelings of greed and competitiveness though, which is lame.

Grace in the mix-now that is more like it.

Check out Scott’s Photos here.