As a child, Florence Chadwick wanted more than anything else to become a great swimmer. At the age of six she persuaded her parents to enter her in a 50-yard race. They did, and she came in last. As a teenager she competed for a spot on the Olympic team and failed to make the team.
Eventually she married and became interested in other things, but at the back of her mind she kept thinking, “I wonder if endurance is my forte?â€
When she was a young girl, Florence had often looked towards Catalina Island from the San Diego area where she grew up, and thought about swimming the 26-mile, shark-infested waters. On July 4, 1951 she made the attempt. The problem wasn’t the distance but the frigid waters. A dense fog covered the coast and after 15 hours in the water she grew tired, and finally she gave up. What she did not realize is that she was less than a half-mile, not even a kilometer, from the shore.
The next day at a news conference she said, “Look, I’m not excusing myself. But if I could have seen land, I might have made it.†Not long after that she made the same attempt. Again a misty veil obscured the coastline making visibility impossible, but this time she made it, breaking the record by more than two hours.
When you are tempted to give up, think of Florence Chadwick’s words:“If I could have seen land, I might have made it.†There are some things that are very real though you cannot see them – too far away, obscured by distance, veiled by poor eyesight. That’s the way heaven is, friend, for you who believe in God’s Son. Though you cannot see it, as you keep looking for the city “whose builder and maker is God,†you will eventually reach it.
Used with permission from Guidelines Philippines, Inc. To learn more about Guidelines and the ministry, please write to Box 4000, 1280 Makati City, Philippines or e-mail address box4000@guidelines.org. You may also visit our website at www.guidelines.org.