Spiritual fitness & hope

  • Published
  • By Chaplain (1st Lt.) William Barker
  • 509th Bomb Wing
WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. --  In 1952 Florence Chadwick was a very well-known swimmer. In her teen years, Florence became the first woman to ever swim the English Channel and not just once, but once in each direction! Florence swam all the way from England to France and then she swam all the way from France back to England.

Having already accomplished all of that, for her next challenge, Florence decided she would swim the distance between Catalina Island and the shoreline of the state of California. This 26-mile swim was not only challenging because of the distance, but also because of the water temperatures and the sharks that were routinely in that area.

After months and months of training, she got into the water off of Catalina Island. It was foggy and cold that morning. Reports say there was an unusually strong scent of salt water in the damp sea air, and because the wind was strong that day, the waves were a bit higher than normal. In the middle of all of that, Florence Chadwick swam for 15 hours. The entire time, she could only see approximately 20 feet in front of her.
Meanwhile, Florence's mother, some medical personnel and some other observers tried to stay nearby in a boat. Although they could not usually see her, they tried to yell out to encourage her. Towards the end, they yelled out, "Come on Florence, just a little further - you're almost there - you're almost there!"

But for Florence she could only occasionally hear her mom, and she could never see her. There was just too much fog all around her. Finally, Florence, in spite of all the encouragement around her, was overwhelmed by exhaustion, and the waves, and the wind, and she said, "I've got to get out!" Less than a mile from the shore of California, and after 15 hours of exhausting swimming, Florence couldn't go any further. Florence gave up less than a mile from her goal. In the press conference afterwards, Florence said, "All I could see was the fog. I think if I just could have seen the shoreline, I could have made it."

Florence was physically fit and had a clear sense of her goals. However, her ability to complete her mission was undermined by a lack of hope - she simply could not see the shoreline and that caused her to lose hope amidst the fog. Often, our lives can be the same way. We all recognize that hope is important, but sometimes hope may seem to be in short supply. So, as part of our effort to be spiritually fit, where and how can we find hope?

One resource on spiritual fitness as it relates to hope comes to us from a text that is shared by both Jewish and Christian faiths. In a text often referred to by scholars as Isaiah 24-27, we find the story of a terrible time of devastating famine, war and disaster. As the people living in these times search for hope in the midst of chaos, their desires and expectations are often disappointed in a world consumed with death at every turn. However, there is finally a turning point when God intervenes to rescue and comfort all those who are hurting. The passage tells of how this compassionate God will personally wipe away the tears of everyone who grieves and also eliminate death and its pains forever. Regardless of your particular faith background, spiritual life or religious tradition, this text can be a great source of hope. It tells us of a God who offers hope - hope that He is watching over us, hope that He is preparing a place for us, and hope that all of our pains, including death, will one day be comforted and healed.

During a week when Christians celebrate Easter and Jews celebrate Passover, this is a timely reflection. For Jews and Christians, this is a time when we recognize that in our own world, there are times when we all might wrestle with pain and despair. But with texts like Isaiah 24-27, we also celebrate our hope that God will one day set all things right and conquer death forever. So, like Florence Chadwick, it can be easy to get caught up in the fog of our circumstances and difficulties. There are fogs of sorrow, confusion, despair and anxiety. We live in a world of fog. But God has come. And God has promised that He will one day take away the fog. And when He does, what we will find is that God's shoreline was always there. So, let's not fail to make it to the shoreline. Let's trust that He is there and hold onto the hope that He will one day set things right and replace despair with life and joy.