Chicot Verses 2

In all labor there is profit,

But mere talk leads only to poverty.

Proverbs 14:23 (NASB)

This verse has in its sights our work ethic and how it impacts our pocket book. In short, work and you earn; talk without work and you get nowhere and nothing. I think, however, that its application is a little broader than that. Let's take the first line: "In all labor there is profit." I have wondered about that a time or two. When I was a termite man, there were days that I worked very hard and got nothing done. Working on a commission, I had days that despite a lot of sweat, I didn't make a dime. My frustration level on those days would be through the roof, and on more than one occasion, it caused me to question the veracity of this verse. But a little reflections revealed to me that although I did not make any money on those days, I did gain some experience and learned a few things not to do. Furthermore, in a fallen world we have to overcome many things and unproductivity that is not our fault is sometimes on of those things.

But the verse really points to the idea that you have to pull the trigger on action. This is stated in the second line: "But mere talk leads only to poverty." If you just jaw about things and don't do anything, you never make money and/or you never make your dreams come true. The Chicot Challenge, like many things, started with an idea. The idea led to talk. But if it had stopped at the talk stage, the swim would never have become a reality, and my soul and memories would be much impoverished compared to how they are now.

At some point each year, I have to begin training. I mark January 2nd as the opening of my Chicot training. Before that, I talk about it a lot, I think about it a lot, and I even plan for it a lot. But to make it come to pass, I have to start swimming a lot, lifting a lot, and doing anything else I think that will lead to a successful swim. 

Such is life. If you have a goal, a dream, a plan, at some point you have to start acting. Want to go back to school? Take a short trip over there and ask what hoops you have to jump through. Want a new job? Put in some applications, shake the bushes, ask around. After dreaming and thinking and praying there always has to be action. Take the step. Pull the trigger. Risk failure. There is no success without effort and risk.

Chicot Verses 7

The latest Chicot passage is Isaiah 40:28 -31.

28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.


I confess to taking this one out of context a bit. It refers to the people of God struggling in life and God giving them the strength they need to make it. They shall fly, they shall run, they shall walk. "Walk" is a constant figure of our life with God, a life of belief and faith. The condition for getting this renewed strength is waiting upon the LORD.

Although this is a spiritual passage about a spiritual walk, I do believe it has application to my preparation for the big swim. I have to do some waiting. All two of you regular readers know how I get a little doubtful, fitful, frustrated in late February, all of March, and some of April. I have to wait until God, in His good time, warms the water and opens the venues for my increased training. I have to wait for the changes to take place in my body, changes that God Himself has programmed into our physical being. And I have to have faith. Maybe some can train and achieve without it, but not me.

Just today I was talking to Coach Moore, one of my colleagues and a man who has become a bit of a sounding board for me. "I heard you had a good week," he said this morning referring to a big training week.

"Yes. And I need good ones from here on out," I answered.

"You have it all wrong," he rebuked me gently. "You will have good weeks from now until the swim. You don't need good weeks, you will have good weeks. God will help you."

And once more I marveled at my lack of belief. He is absolutely correct. I have to look at it all through the eyes of faith. God will help me. I will wait in faith and when my time comes, I will mount up with wings as eagles, I will swim and not be weary, I will tread water and not faint.

Chicot Verses 6

Today's selection is from the Book of Ecclesiastes Chapter 3.

Ecclesiastes 3King James Version (KJV)

3 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

9 What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?

10 I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. (copy and pasted from Bible Gateway)

I hope it is obvious why this passage speaks to me in the context of my training. Currently I am in the season of training for the big swim. The spring is not only the season of the year when I prepare for this personal swim, but it is also the season of my life when I am engaging in as many extreme endurance events as I can and still stay alive and married. Looking back, I am beginning to see a structure to my adult life. There were the early years of our marriage, the school years when I earned four degrees and we raised a family, and now the athletic years while I work a new career and have adventures on the weekends.

What comes next? I know not. My hope is that these athletic years will merge with my old age and that old age will be good. For many, aging brings stresses and trials that life does not prepare them or their loved ones for. I have both experienced this with my parents and seen it in older friends of ours. There is failing health, sometimes suffering; at best there is at least some loss of mobility and ability.

For Dad, although he was still very healthy and active, stiffness (arthritis?) prevented him from being able to back his boat trailer anymore. This was a huge stress on him because his fishing, so large a part of his life, changed, diminished, degraded. He could no longer spend a whole day at the place in Carroll County working. Before he passed, he was down to a half day of country work. That's all his body would endure. But he kept at it, doing what he could. That was his nature, personality. He played tennis with his friends a couple of times per week until they died off one by one until they could no longer get up a game.

For Mom, it has been sickness and suffering, the loss of both mobility and autonomy. She no longer drives; she no longer ventures out to take photographs; she no longer spends whole days in her computer room. But she maintains a positive attitude and is amazingly happy.

We had church members we watched age and change and die. I preached their funerals; I pondered mortality and immortality; I grieved. Penny's parents have had the same battles; her mother passed, her father is in decline. We presently have friends who drive to Jackson to see doctors several times per month. Physician visits, medication, medical crises, sickness, confusion, exhaustion are now the norm. They struggle with these things and all I can do for them is pray and talk to them on the phone offering a listening ear and a sympathetic attitude.

How will it be for us, Penny and me, when we enter into that season of life? One thing is for sure: we will either die first or get there. Only our faith can offer us a preparation. No school, no class, no book that I know of addresses the subject other than the Bible. I find that amazing.

Chicot Verses 5

I find myself still in need of Chicot verses. After a good training cycle last week, I am much more relaxed than I was. But I still get uptight and I hope I haven't let my lesson of walking alone go to waste. Today's Bible selection is an obvious one: Philippians 4:13. Before I give the verse, however, let me share a little tip I find handy when flipping through God's Word looking for some of those small epistles. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians can be a little confusing, the order I mean. A little mnemonic device I picked up along the is, Go eat pop corn. That gives the order, so as soon as you find one, you know which way to turn to find the one you are looking for. Go = Galatians,  eat = Ephesians, etc. So here is the verse:

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

The basic meaning is obvious, and surely it is apparent why this verse is on the lips and pens of so many believers. This passage does have a context and at the risk of sounding ridiculous, the context is the Bible. This doesn't mean I can do anything one could name "by Him who strengthens me," but rather I can do anything He wills. For instance, I could not become the most accomplished serial killer of all time by claiming this truth. The context of the Bible rules that out. But whatever God leads me to do, I can do it because He gives the strength. There, however, is the rub. Is the Chicot Challenge God's will for my life? It is easy to think so when the planning and training is running along smoothly. But every March when weather and pool closings and interruptions seem to conspire against me to make the swim an impossibility, I wrestle with this very issue, God's will. Right now, I believe. I believe God has set me on this path, and that He will help me accomplish this goal. If He is for me who or what can be against me? 

Admittedly, almost all ultra-marathon events, the Chicot Challenge included, are laced with self-centeredness. I want desperately to do this as part of my goal-setting personality and to enjoy the fulfillment of something I have to dream about, plan over, and train for over a long period of time in order to pull off. I get a charge out of that. But there is more to it than that. This swim does raise money for a good cause, a health charity that touches lives right here where I and my family and neighbors live. Another aim is to raise awareness of the disease. Yes, I know people know diabetes is in our world. It seems to me, however, that many people are not aware of the risks they themselves face nor are they aware of their ability to reduce those risks by implementing some not so radical changes in their behaviors. 

Furthermore, I hope this series of swims sets an example on a couple of fronts. I like to think my son's recent fund-raising run for the same charity, the Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi, was in part inspired by my example. I like to think that, although I am well aware that his civic consciousness is infinitely higher than mine and for that I can take no credit. I also like to think that if I do this swim long enough, going farther every year as I get older, that some people will be inspired to become more physically active, even late in life, and that they will see ageing not as an inevitable sentence to the couch, to obesity, to bad health. 

I like to think.

Chicot Verses 4

We just rode by Twin Rivers after we ate lunch, my wife and I. They are pumping up the pool. Thank God. My woes have been so many that I began to question if God wanted my to continue this. I want to do it, but maybe God is saying, "No more."

Recently, however, I have had some rays of light. The Twin Rivers pool soon to come on line, the catfish ponds becoming swimable, the newly acquired sponsorship, are a few. From my point of view, none of this happened  a moment too soon. Of late I have been pondering Romans 8:28:

     And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those        who love Gad, to those who are called according to His purpose. (NASB)

If God has called me and if God does want me to do this swim, then all my problems may be problems only in my own mind. Could it be that God is holding me back from over training too early in the process? Unlike running, my swim endurance comes up quickly. I can literally do one hard practice and be in better condition two days later, sometimes one day later. Really. Maybe I should just relax and realize my all-day swim endurance is built in April and May, and without some hold back, I just might train myself into the ground, burn myself out, injure myself. Maybe. At any rate, I believe what the Bible says here and I should continue to believe God has called me to this task until I fail to pull it off.

Chicot Verses 3

A bad week, a good week, and another bad week has me looking to the Scriptures. Psalm 5: 2-3 reads

Give ear to my words, O LORD,

Consider my groaning.

Heed the sound of my cry for 

help, my King and my God,

For to you I pray.

In the morning, O LORD, You

will hear my voice;

In the morning I will order my

prayer to You and eagerly

watch.

I am crying unto God for help, for weather, for water temperatures, for Twin Rivers to be pumped up. I ride by the local pool every day. They are working on it and preparing it for filling. It is being pressure washed and tiles are getting replaces. When it comes up, everything changes for the better.

Chicot Verses 2

I ran across another passage that spoke to me. This one addresses my fear of large reptiles that eat almost anything and have enormous appetites. With the recent flooding, many animals have been moved out of their normal home ranges. Already I have seen evidence of this on Facebook from Arkansas no less. A huge alligator was removed by Arkansas Game and Fish officers from a roadside ditch. High water, no doubt, sent him exploring as it does other animals and fish.

I really don't worry too much about the alligators, but I do think about them from time to time. Before he swam the Amazon River, Martin Strel spent time in a cave several times per week meditating. He was convinced that would make him at one with nature and keep the caiman and piranha and anaconda from devouring him. I don't have a cave and probably wouldn't use it if I did. I rather trust God and this passage. Job 5:22b - 23, in the New American Standard Bible, reads:

And you will not be afraid of

wild beasts.

For you will be in league with the 

  stones of the field,

And the beast of the field will

  be at peace with you.

No mention of a cave here.

Chicot Verses 1

I am starting a new series in the blog today called "Chicot Verses." These are Bible passages that I stumbled across in my devotional reading and made application to the Chicot Challenge and my preparation for it. You who regularly read this blog know I am prone to whine a bit this time of year. Try as I may, I can't seem to help myself. The tension always builds, my confidence always falters, and my nerves always fray. You may think I am a drama queen, but trust me, I'm not. I just want to train and do my swim. But every year I feel like I am reliving the The Book of Job with God letting the enemy cause pain in my body, the weather to work against me, and pool time to get cancelled over and over. All of this makes me mental. I just want to train and do my swim.

In an effort to have more faith and less fear, I started collecting verses that speak to me in this annual struggle. My plan is to post one per week and to make a few comments on the verse or verse, whichever the case may be. The first passage is Psalm 20 verses four and five (New American Standard Version):

     May he grant you your heart's

          desire

     And fulfill all you counsel!

     We will sing joy over your

          victory,

     And in the name of our God we

          we will set up our banners.

     May the LORD fulfill all your

          petitions.

Bethany and Evan Thielman with my (their) banner.

Right now my chief desire is selfishly to be able to train well and complete the next big swim. I fell 10,000 meters off pace this week. Sigh. But I am on Spring Break for the next ten days and by the grace of God I can get some real training in. If you are a praying person, please lift me up to God. I need help.