“If I ride the wings of the
morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me,
and your strength with support me.”
Psalms 139:9-10
[This is a privilege.
This is my calling. This is my passion. This is my life]
This is what I am made for. If I
could give you two words to describe my life in the latest update it would be
“Dreams and Discipleship”. It has been a dream of mine since I was a kid to be
able to write for Surfer Magazine and after college that dream became career
minded. When I came to join Surfing The Nations my degree took a backseat, or
so I thought. I felt as if I had to “give up” so much when I decided to stay
full time in ministry. But little did I know that I was soon to learn the
lesson that you can never out give the
Lord.
In April I was given the opportunity to
lead a Surf Camp for the youth of the West side of the island, through this
opportunity came the blessing of a lifetime. Bryan Jennings of Walking On Water
and John Cobian of Cobian Sandals partnered with Surfing The Nations and
sponsored a portion of our youth camp. With this sponsorship I was asked to
write the Cobian advertisement in the August issue of Surfer Magazine.
The advertisement highlights our
surf camp and the text is my testimony of what I do at Surfing The Nations. The
reality of this hit me when I was in Sweden this past month and I picked up
this issue. Across the world, in the most well known surf magazine, my story
and the glory of God is being spread. It may take years for me to realize the
dream that just happened.
I was on cloud nine of God’s crazy
provision. The Surf Camp was a massive success, a leadership training ground
and a place to fail forward from my mistakes. The summer was rapidly
approaching and that meant Summer Challenge 2012.
It took twenty teenagers, two and
half weeks and my life was impacted forever. Summer Challenge is a program
designed to wreck the stubborn, ignite the lukewarm and bring reality to the adventurous
Father God we follow. Drenching these kids with the Hawaiian culture, love for
prayer, heart to learn and the fervor for a life lived for Christ – us leaders
seem to walk away more changed than the students could imagine. Each and every
one of the Summer Challengers touched my heart and opened my eyes to a
responsibility of discipleship I will always strive to walk in. I know what it
is like to have someone speak boldly into your life and I hope I too could have
that impact.
When I was a sophomore in college
at the University of Oregon I met the Riley family and from that day on my life was never the same. The
mentorship gained from Stephanie and the patience and acceptance received from
the entire family has left a stain of mentorship and lifestyle ministry I want
in my life. This last opportunity of leadership has allowed me to walk freely
in that call on my life. Getting on the airplane for Sweden was both exciting
and impossible knowing I was leaving 20 amazing kids that had changed my life.
Thank you Summer Challenge for ruining me for the good and opening my eyes to a
major calling on my life. I ask you to pray for this crew to stay on fire for
the Lord and to be agents of change in their communities
back home. I also ask you to pray for me that I would learn to love like Christ
and continue to fear nothing but the Lord.
Caleb, Sarah Sims, Libbie, Adam,
Kiley, Jonathon, Kelley, Jessica, Michaela, Travis, Dakotah, Emma, Trent,
Katie, Dallas, Alex, Tristen, Zeke, Maddi and Emily thank you for leaving a
legacy and allowing me to lead you. My heart is forever molded by your hands
and thankful for your investment.
Somewhere
over the great Pacific, our plane headed to Sweden and my hands grabbed the
stack of letters from those who snuck them in my bags as I said my
goodbyes. Tears began to roll down
my cheeks before the first one was even unfolded and my heart start to beat
faster as the first line I read was, “ To
my Stephanie”. I am humbled by the knowledge that God has used me to speak
boldly into the lives of those you see above and I am brought to my knees in
thankfulness I was blessed by the time I had with them.
Sweden
was another dream come true that was planted two years ago and came to reality
July 16th 2012. We left for Sweden to assist in establishing STN
Sweden, help the Eriksson family move in as they commit full time over seas,
reconnect with old friends and make new ones along the way. Go showed up in
crazy ways as He always does and I was reminded of His fun way of showing His power
and grace.
(This photo is my dream list that I wrote August 14th, 2011)
On
our way back to Sweden to wrap up the trip we had an eight-hour lay over in
London. These eight hours turned into one of the most God orchestrated moments
of my life. A good friend of mine from college, Cyrus, was competing in the
Olympic games and he happened to have the day off
while we were in London on our layover. We got to meet up with him and spend a
few hours reconnecting. My absolute favorite moment was when we got to pray for
Cyrus as we stood deep in the London Tube Line. A place that is usually busy,
loud and full of people too busy to even make eye contact all of a sudden went
silent and still. All that I could hear was the sound of our prayers being
blasted echoing against the walls of the underground railways. I am amazed by
God’s reasons for everything.
The rest of the time in Sweden was
an amazing ending to an intense 5 weeks. Within my five weeks away, I met some
of the most beautiful souls, experienced a spiritually heavy culture unlike any
other before and engraved another adventure on my road map of epic trails with
Jesus. Thank you to all those who made this outreach memorable and thank you
for those who opened their homes to us as we try to find Jesus in every corner
and share Him in every moment.
And a big Mahalo to those who supported me and made this trip
possible, your investment is the pebble in the lake that ripples with endless
affect.
“
Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord and he will do this:”
Psalms
37:4-5
On
an adventure with Him,
Julie
Nelson
julie.nelson@surfingthenations.com
1.503.440.7836
Julie Nelson
C/O Surfing The Nations
Po Box 860366
Wahiawa, Hawaii
96786