It has been a gnarly week around here. The beach-themed VBS was amazing. Led by Pastor Andrew, the team has worked very hard to ride the wave. The beach theme got me reminiscing about my love of the beach. Growing up my family would camp down in Carlsbad for two weeks every summer. That could be why I now have regular appointments with a dermatologist. My current swimming coach is trying to convince me to join the Pier-to-Pier swim in August. Fortunately I will be in Mammoth with the family. I’m heartbroken. Not.
But, I may consider doing the swim in 2023. It’s a South Bay institution and attracts over a thousand swimmers. I hear most of them survive. I did one ocean race back in my youth. I had no goggles, and we left from Seal Beach. I swam out and made the turn to swim parallel to the shore. All was going well. Until. Yeah, something tingly covered me. The tingles began to hurt. I stopped and looked around and discovered I was swimming through a lovely group of unkind jellyfish. I made an easy decision: get out of the water, ASAP.
That was my first – and last – competitive rough water swim. But maybe after 50 years and the invention of goggles, I am ready to take the plunge again. Since it is over a year away, I think I’m safe to allow the thought to ruminate around in my brain. It’s a nice goal to consider at least. The coach at my master swim class thinks so. It’s a two-mile swim from the pier in Hermosa to the pier in Manhattan. Sounds fun. Maybe.
For me, it would be the introduction of goggles that would revolutionize the swim. Why? Because it’s sort of nice to see where you’re going. Swimming “blind” is not fun, especially with the abundance of sea life roaming freely. Closing your eyes adds an uncomfortable level of stress. I don’t want to run into unknown sea things or end up in Redondo.
Many try to follow God blindly. They close their eyes and swim–or flail. They don’t take advantage of the Word to let it lighten and guide their path. They just jump in and go, but we need to see where we are going if we are to make progress. That’s sort of essential if we don’t want to veer off the race course. God’s Word marks our path, it illumines our way. It is goggles for our eyes in salty water. So why don’t we let it do that? Oh, that’s right…we know better. But do we really? Put on your biblical goggles and get swimming. Swim the race set before you.