Press On

There is a pastor's blog that I follow that I find to be quite inspirational. He has not written any books (that I know of), and he doesn't pastor a church of thousands, but he has a blog that is definitely worth following. He posted a blog the other day called "Press On" that I thought applied to everyone whether they were a Christian or not. It is often because we cannot see the outcome of something that causes us to quit.


It was a fog-shrouded morning, July 4, 1952, when Florence Chadwick waded into the water off Catalina Island. She intended to swim the channel from the island to the California coast. Long-distance swimming was not new to her; she had been the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions.

The cold water was numbing. The fog was so thick she could hardly see the boats in following by her side. Several times sharks had to be driven away with rifle fire. She swam more than 15 hours before she asked to be taken out of the water. Her trainer tried to encourage her to swim on since they were so close to land, but when Florence looked, all she saw was fog. So she quit. . . only one-mile from her goal.

Later she said, "I’m not excusing myself, but if I could have seen the land I might have made it."

It wasn’t the cold or fear or exhaustion that caused Florence Chadwick to quit. It was the fog that obscured the goal. Many times we too fail, because we lose sight of the goal. Maybe that’s why Paul said, "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:14).

Two months after her failure, Florence Chadwick walked off the same beach into the same channel and swam the distance, setting a new speed record, because she could see the land.

As an athlete I understand this woman's delimma. Even today I sit and contemplate going and running in the Master's national meet. I know I am not in my best shape, and I always consider that when I run, seeing that God has given me this talent, and I always want to honor Him with it. I think back to the Olympic Trials in '92 and what was going on in my mind a couple of weeks before the race. I had been struggling with extreme fatigue. I thought it was low iron, but now I believe it was low blood sugar. When I would go out to run and could hardly run a mile, I would walk back home praying and talking to God. He knew that my dream was to make an Olympic team, and this was the closest I had ever gotten and possibly would get. I didn't want to embarrass myself or Him. But even if I didn't finish the race, God had opened the door for me to qualify and to be there, so I would go and just trust him even if I couldn't see the end result.

So I went with the goal of just finishing the 2000m steeplechase over 36 in. barriers, and God did more than I could have ever asked or imagined... I won. (Now if your wondering how I did at the Olympics the event was just an exhibition event. They were still trying to promote it in other countries at that time, so it was not an Olympic event. In fact it has taken 16 years for it to become an Olympic event... and next year in 2008 the 3000m steeplechase will be a woman's event for the first time. Now that would be a miracle to make an Olympic team at the age of 40... so I'll just settle for Masters racing for now) :-)