Keep Swimming...

The guest preacher at our church this weekend told the story of Florence Chadwick, the first woman to swim the English Channel. On July 4, 1952, she made her first attempt to swim the 21-mile channel between Catalina Island and the mainland of California. She jumped in off the beach of Catalina, swam her heart out and for a while all was well. However, the water was freezing cold and then a thick fog rolled in. The fog made it difficult to see the support boats and the constant threat of hidden sharks made each stroke all the more grueling. After 16 hours of struggling with the ice-cold ocean, dense fog and relentless fear, Florence Chadwick gave up and asked to be pulled into the boat. When she got in the boat, she was so disappointed in herself. because she immediately could see that she only had a few 100 yards to go. She could have made it easily. Later, Florence Chadwick said to a reporter: "If I could have just seen the land for myself, I would have made it!" On her second attempt, she made that swim in record time.

Wow, can I ever relate to her...I bet she was wearing camouflage on the second attempt!!...and she probably had Dori from Finding Nemo (and all the rest of her great friends!) singing, "Keep swimming, keep swimming."