Growing up in Michigan I remember how much I loved the outdoors. So much of my time was spent outside of the four walls of any physical structure. If I didn’t need to be indoors, then I was on the go taking in the excitement of sights and smells as I set out to explore every part of God’s artistic hand in nature that surrounded me. These journeys led me to take up hiking and backpacking in my high school years. It was so wonderful, especially as I found a group of friends to do it with.
I recall one such occasion where we found ourselves in the northern part of the lower peninsula on a shorter backpacking expedition of 4 days. As we were hiking on day 3, we came across the most beautiful lake you could imagine. Somehow, the water in it was crystal clear, allowing you to see far into its deepest center. Having already done a good number of miles the previous few days without a real shower, the water looked too inviting to pass up. It didn’t take long for us to drop our gear; toss on some shorts and hit the welcoming water. As with any group of guys, soon we found ourselves becoming somewhat bored with the current situation. It was then that my buddy presented the challenge of someone swimming from one side of the lake to the other. Now, this was nothing close to Lake Michigan's size; in fact (though it seemed much larger at the time), it was probably only slightly larger than the length of a football field. The echo of his words hadn’t even had a chance to resolve when I found myself, even slightly to my own surprise, volunteering to take up the said challenge.
So, wasting no time, I set out to swim the span of this beautiful lake. Everything started out great; I was in good shape and a decent swimmer, but about halfway across, I began to experience a challenge I had not anticipated. While physically I was doing fine, something in my mind caused me to look back at how far I had come. When I took a look over my shoulder, something in me longed to return back to the shallows where my friends were. This desire caused an inner conflict between my desire to complete the challenge of arriving at the other side and the desire to return to what was familiar and known. The reality was that there at the halfway point it seemed like it would be easier to return to where I came from. It seemed like there would be greater joy to go back than there would be going forward to complete what had been started. Well, I’m pleased to inform you that I chose to press on through some of the doubt to what was ahead of me and soon found myself standing firmly on the opposite shore from where I started. I completed the journey. As I look back on that day, I credit three things to my success and I believe they can apply to us as a congregation today as well.