Behold

The harder the battle the sweeter the victory.

Here is a victory, an image of a massive celestial room of water and light, an image that evokes a respect for the power in the earth and an appreciation for divine power. A place we can dream to be but fear to enter.

On this humbling afternoon few others were out in the water. On the beach however, a large congregation of Pipeline worshippers had gathered to witness her awesome display. After swimming with her for about an hour, I found myself much deeper in the impact zone than I wanted to be. As I swam to get out of the pit, a huge wave comes swinging wide from the north. I was about twenty-five feet in front of it, in direct position to get rolled and held down.

I became overcome with a feeling of weakness as everything went quiet as my eyes started to lose focus and images of my loved ones raced through my mind. I was becoming convinced that soon it was my time to go. Suddenly I snapped out of this slow motion dreamlike mode and abruptly faced reality.

The roar of the ocean seemed to shout as I recomposed to save my life. I took the biggest breath of oh so precious air and quickly dove and pushed myself as deep as possible in what little time I had. Miraculously I cleared the wave unscathed. With my heart racing, I exhaled a sigh of relief and gratitude as I looked to the sky and said thank you. I knew I was being watched over.

— Jon Mozo

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