Keep reaching for shore as you swim in rough waters

With every dropped degree in temperature and less minute of daylight in the evening, I sense a gathering gloom and doom.

The rising numbers of COVID-19 cases and the coming of cold weather and shortened days are having an impact on my mood. Then this awful ice storm that caused such damage. It brings to mind the fear of last March and April when everyone stayed home and all that was on television was the news of death, destruction and economic losses, especially on the East Coast, where I have many friends and my son with his family.

Never did I dream that in October we still would be fighting this same medical battle, and even though we felt some relief in summer months by being outside, the illness is still strong with us. Now, we're facing these realities while trying to plan for the fun holiday of Halloween and especially the joyful Thanksgiving and Christmas season. For our neighbors of other faiths, they also have significant religious days to celebrate this time of year.

But nothing is the same in 2020, and the loss of many traditions and family gatherings will weigh heavy with the losses already accumulated during these months of COVID-19.

I need all the encouragement I can find. And as God would have it, I got a bright piece of it handed to me during a Zoom meeting recently. It was an Oklahoma City University Church Relations meeting, and the Rev. Derrek Belase was called on to give his report. First, he told a story. It brought tears to my eyes because it was so like God to provide inspiration just when I needed it most.

The story was about Florence Chadwick. In 1952, this young woman stepped into the waters of the Pacific Ocean off Catalina Island, determined to swim to the shore of mainland California. She already had been the first woman to swim the English Channel both ways. The weather was foggy and chilly; she could hardly see the boats accompanying her. Still, she swam for 15 hours.

When she begged to be taken out of the water along the way, her mother, in a boat alongside, told her she was close and that she could make it. Finally, physically and emotionally exhausted, she stopped swimming and was pulled out.

It was not until she was on the boat that she discovered the shore was less than half a mile away. At a news conference the next day she said, “All I could see was the fog ... I think if I could have seen the shore, I would have made it.”

Friends, it feels like we are swimming in the fog these days. We're trying to plan for holidays that used to be full of music and family; friends and shopping; travel and joyful gatherings. Most of us can't make any plans but are beginning to realize that there will be little travel, few activities and the possibility of increased illness.

Sometimes, all we can see is

the fog.

But Christians do not live by sight but by faith. We know that the shore is there, and the fog will lift. We will keep swimming.

We all have a role to play in this journey.

Let's be the strong swimmer inspiring others to keep at it because we know that things will get better, the tide will turn, the sun will come out, the shore is near. Or be the encouraging voice in the boat, reminding all of us that we can indeed make it. We are a people of shared hope and strong faith.

Thanks be to God.

“For we walk by faith not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).”