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An
Outreach Publication of the Church of Christ at
Creekwood |
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Beyond The Fog The California Coast was shrouded in fog that fourth of July morning in 1952. Twenty-one miles to the west on Catalina Island a 34-year-old woman waded into the water and began swimming toward California, determined to be the first woman to do so. Her name was Florence Chadwick and she had already become the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions. The
water was numbing cold that July morning
and the fog was so thick she More than fifteen hours later, numbed with the cold, she asked to be taken out. She couldn’t go on! Her mother and her trainer alongside in a boat told her they were near land. They urged her not to quit. But when she looked toward the California Coast, ALL she could see was the dense fog. A few minutes later – at fifteen hours and fifty-five minutes – she was taken out of the water. It was not until hours later, when her body began to thaw, that she felt the shock of failure. To a reporter she blurted out, ‘Look, I’m not excusing myself. But if I could have just seen land, I might have made it.” She had been pulled out only a half mile from the California Coast! Later she was to reflect that she had been licked not by fatigue or even the cold – the fog alone had defeated her because it obscured her goal. It had blinded her reason, her eyes, and her heart. It was the only time Florence Chadwick ever quit. Two months later she swam that same channel, and again fog obscured her view, but THIS time she swam with her FAITH intact – somewhere just beyond the fog was land! This week... many of us remember all too well, not the fog, but the smoke that filled the skies above New York City, Washington, D.C. and Shanksville, PA one year ago. The events of 9-11-01 painfully remind us that in this world there are troubles, trials, and even tragedies. Much suffering comes from the cold hearts of people filled with hate. There are “sharks” around us that seek to destroy us. In
times like these... with our eyes filled with
tears of sadness and our hearts filled with a mixture
of emotions, I encourage all of us to look beyond the
smoke and the “fog” to a loving God Who longs for
us to look to Him for direction and comfort. Heaven holds a prepared place for a prepared people! It is reserved for THOSE who place their trust in God (Hebrews 11:6), repent of their sins (2 Corinthians 7:10), confess that Jesus is God’s Son (Romans 10:9-10),and are baptized for the forgiveness of their sins (Acts 2:38), AND live out their lives in trusting obedience to His will. We
must NOT allow the "fog"
to obscure our goal, nor the "cold"
around us to numb “As
it is written: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
nor have entered into the heart of man, the things
which God has prepared for THOSE
who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). Have YOU obeyed the gospel? (click here) God bless you!
David A. Sargent,
Minister To Subscribe to "Living Water" send a blank e-mail to:
HTML version: subscribe-livingwater@lyris.dundee.net Follow this link to locate the church of Christ nearest you: www.churchzip.com Archived issues of "Living Water" can be accessed from our website at: www.creekwoodcc.org |