2 Corinthians 4:8-10 “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”
In 2013, 64-year-old US endurance swimmer Diana Nyad became the first person to swim the 110 miles from Cuba to the US without a shark cage. She took 53 hours non-stop, escorted by boats and her team of 35 people. The rules of the swim meant she wasn’t allowed to hold on to the support boat at any time. Her team helped her maintain the right course and gave her food and water. As well as a bodysuit and gloves, she wore a special silicone mask to protect her face from the jellyfish stings that plagued her last attempt. Her team also had equipment that generated a faint electrical field around her designed to keep sharks at bay. During the last stretch, they guided her through the best route into Key West to avoid dangerous eddies, currents, shipping lanes, reefs and swarms of jellyfish.
Amazing! But further, it turns out she’d tried four other times – in 1978 (i.e. several decades earlier), twice in 2011, and once again in 2012. Each time she’d failed. During her last attempt in August 2012, Nyad had had to be pulled out of the water after 41 hours when a squall and repeated jellyfish stings had made it impossible for her to continue.
Struggling to breathe on completing the feat, she told the waiting TV crews: “I have three messages: one is we should never ever give up; two is you are never too old to chase your dreams; and three is it looks like a solitary sport but it is a team.”
Preach it sister! Paul and Nyad, in very different ways, just wouldn’t give up. They were both big dreamers. And they acted out those dreams with others on their team. God help us to do the same.
Lord, I choose to hang in there, not to give up, and to cling to you, whatever comes at me. Show me also today who constitutes my team. Amen!
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