Five "P's" to Wave-Making by Steven Vongchanh

I enjoy all things water: boating, boarding, swimming, and diving.  I was fortunate enough to be raised in a home with a pool in our backyard where we spent countless hours playing Marco Polo, Sharks and Minnows, and Jump or Dive. I am naturally tan or caramel in color, but there are pictures of my childhood where I spent so many hours in the sun and water that my skin tone became the shade of dark chocolate.

One of the least popular games we played was one I called Whirlpool, where the object was to create a current in the pool that would allow you to float around the edge of the pool like a boat on a river. This was achieved by taking a raft and pushing water along the side of the pool. It was tricky in the deep end because you would have to cling to the wall hand over hand like Spider-man swinging from building to building with his web. The faster you swung and moved, the faster and stronger the current became. If you wanted to create a more river-like feel, you could stand in the shallow end of the pool, take your raft, and pump it up and down to create waves. The more people you had involved in this whirlpool creation process, the more fun it became. My father loathed the "Whirlpool." The idea of a pool was to keep water in a hole in the ground, whereas with the Whirlpools and waves we created caused a lot of that water to splash out of the pool. Needless to say, when we played Whirlpool, dad wasn't home.

I wanted to share this story with you to help illustrate ​the "Five P's" and how these five key principles can help you transform your life.

The first principle being practice. Having a pool was a luxury growing up, but there was a lot of things required from us to use the pool. Aside from the clean up and upkeep, it was required from us to know how to swim before we could have fun. My father swam for the University of Maryland and for us kids, it was ever important that we could survive on our own if something should happen in the pool. So he implemented the rule that we had to swim laps in the pool before we could have fun. As we started, we were only allowed in the shallow end of the pool, swimming side to side for our laps. We gained stamina and endurance by doing so. When we were brave enough, we attempted the entire length of the pool end to end. Before we could swim and play in the deep end or jump off the diving board, we needed to be able to swim the entire length a few times. After enough practice and completing the task of swimming the length of the pool, and having gained the trust of our father, we swam 10 laps daily before we played. It wasn't long when the chore of swimming 10 laps transformed into fun and I developed a passion for swimming.

​David was passionate for God's glory and it is revealed in the book of Psalms. And we can learn a lot from David's walk. David was a shepherd by trade. I am unsure of many giants that have been slain from swimming or water sports, but David had practice with his sling. In charge of his flock, he had to protect them from many pray and it is evident in his accuracy and ability to take down Goliath. Passion and lust were also a curse to David. We learn from David's experiences after all success, as a man with passion, walked along the roof top of the palace and saw a woman. What then took place is what happens when our passion is not in its place. We have to learn to put our passion in its place. We must find our purpose and apply our passion through practice, and we can do immeasurable things, through God, who gives us strength.

We are all created with a purpose in mind. Even before the foundation of this world, we were chosen. He knows your needs as he has numbered the hairs on your head. My God is an awesome God. He created the heavens and the earth and created such a vast expansive universe. He also created you and me. That's saying something. One thing that helps spur me onto greatness and may help you is knowing the great things of this world were not created by extraordinary people. However, they are created by ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

You have the power to create a life for yourself. What life will you create? Will you be washed away by the waves of life and sucked into the whirlpool of this world, or will you rise above and exercise the faith necessary to walk on the water? Through practicing prayer, scripture study and action, we can find a purpose for your season in life. And when you find the courage to passionately pursue that purpose, you will do immeasurable things, through God, who will give you strength. And for the remaining two "P's," as you do these things, they become phun and you can develop some lasting phriendships. That's what Coalesce.life has awarded me. I've been blessed with some amazing phrienships. And we have phun. Find yourself some spiritual wave-makers. Set your lights or passion on its candlestick or purpose and shine for the whole world to see. If you have trouble finding a purpose, pray about this one, bring some phriends along with you and have phun with it.

"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen."