"I was swimming in the lake one day..."

Aaaagh...Castaway! Isn't it gorgeous! I had the most wonderful time in this beautiful green, watery area!

But...here's what you've all been waiting for...the day I swam from the middle of the lake to shore. So, here it goes.

One beautiful, slightly over cast, early morning (5:30 am), the parasail crew headed out on to the lake to start a day of parasail launches. We started earlier than usual to get in other groups that had missed their scheduled times the previous day due to rain! So, we get all of the stuff sorted, the first anxous group strolls down to the dock, and away we go!

We get out in to the middle of the lake, and shut off the boat as usual, and me and another guy start getting the parasail ready to launch. It's all ready and the driver starts the boat.... I said, the driver starts the boat, wait, one more time...the driver starts the boat?

Yeah, the boat wouldn't start! So we drift for awhile hoping to see some early fisherman out on the lake, but no luck. So Teresa the driver suggest that one of us swims to shore. So, I'm not sure what happened next, but, soon I was stripping down to just my suit, and strapping on a life jacket. Which, I objected too, because the lifejacket slows you down a ton when swimming, but they would not let me go with out one. Trust me, there were many times during my swim to shore that I thought about ditching it and saying a huge snapping turtle bit the buckles off and it was of no use to me then.

So, I jump in (a big hoorah from the higschool group erupts) and begin my journey. Now at first, it did not look so far from the boat. But then, at eye level with land while in the water, it looked like miles and miles of cold lake water. Soon though, I worked up a sweat and was pretty warm in the cool water. The other thing I should mention, is I like lakes, but I hate weeds. So the entire time I am just hoping that I do not feel something brush up against me, especially like a huge muskie with teeth.

So the whole time I swam, with each stroke, I said, "I am not afraid, I am not afraid...Jesus is with me, Jesus is with me..." Over and over and over again, with each stroke. And soon, a stranger's dock was in sight. I climbed up the ladder, and heard a huge ROAR of clapping and shouting from the boat, I took a gracious bow, and walked up to the first home. I knocked on their porch door, and thank goodness, they were home! A middle aged couple were home, and graciously let me in to their home, and I was able to call Castaway and let them know where we were and what had happened!

So yeah! Let's just say I gained a lot of confidence that day. Not only in myself, but in the Lord.