Happy hump day! It’s Wednesday. Partly cloudy skies this morning and about 62 degrees when I left the house at 9:45. A mild south wind was adding just a bit of texture to the water when I got to the beach. I jump in the water and nope - the water temperature has not moved since Monday. Surfline still reads 59-60. This week’s water temperature forecast called for some “slight warming” this week in south Orange County but I don’t think that has happened yet.

That cloud of dark brown I saw hovering on the ocean floor Monday seems even thicker now. It is the season for red tide and I think that’s what is going on.

One thing I have noticed lately is that on some days I will move from a cloudy section to clearer bluer sections of water. As I enter the more clear blue water the temperature becomes noticeably warmer. I have no idea why.

In the shower after I got home I found myself thinking about the resurrection. You know…THE resurrection. Easter still has not quite rubbed off and I was at an event in Laguna Beach last night where we were asked to think about what that means to us. Well I didn’t really know what to say and fortunately we were out of time before it was my turn. Whew.

I have certainly thought alot about it this year. Prior to a year ago I definitely considered it legend or myth but I have wrestled with Jesus this year due to some feelings I was having and then some conversations I had with my friend Ed Piorek. I’m not even going to attempt why I believe or why anyone else should believe it was a factual historical event. I do believe it was, and I don’t think it’s something that shouldn’t be discussed but I’m more interested now in why it is significant or at least why it is significant to me. Also I don’t think that if one does not believe it was a historical fact, they are going to burn for eternity in hell. It just seems strange that one’s eternal fate would ever be based in the correct belief of a particular historical timeline.

I think resurrection is like a koan. It exists so completely out of the bounds of normal, natural experience that how can one possibly contain it in an idea or a single meaning expressed with words. You have to let your spirit soak it in and then find the thoughts and images that viscerally arise. I think these poetic flashes are the best we can do, and I think they can be pretty darn good. I guess for me the death of Christ is like the ultimate surrender. A complete letting go of one’s self and ambitions. Having surrendered that, we find it is the doorway to new life beyond what we previously imagined. Jesus called this the kingdom of God. We lose our life to gain eternal life. I don’t think eternal is meant in the horizontal, linear sense here but in a vertical, fuller sense. Jesus provided the ultimate example of this giving up of himself as an act of love. In the end, it’s the love that gives the death and resurrection its juice. As I have opened my own heart to what Jesus has done here, I feel a sense of love that is honestly surprising. It’s not something I expected and it’s not even something I hoped for but is certainly something I have found.

There is so much more that can be said of this and so many more impressions, thoughts and images the resurrection evokes but I guess if there was time last night for me to speak, I would have liked to express this.