Then I Will Swim

Imagine this scene. In Homer’s Odyssey the character Odysseus—a  Greek hero of the Trojan war—endures tremendous obstacles as he struggles for ten years to return home.

Yet he perseveres; not just for self-preservation but for a calling stronger than himself which propels him forward.

Can you picture it? Thrust in the middle of the sea during a raging storm, through what must have been gritted teeth, Odysseus bellows:

I will stay with it and endure through suffering hardship; but once the heaving sea has shaken my raft to pieces, then I will swim. (The Odyssey, Book 5, trans. Richmond Lattimore).

Then I will swim. Then I will swim.

Do you feel the sheer determination? The resolve?

Do you ever feel like this in your journey as a Christian? I do.

We face hardships but we must stay the course. We must swim, even if our raft shatters, but we do not swim alone.

Jesus knew it would not be easy for us. In fact, he prepares us in advance for the trials we would face. “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart: I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33, CSB).

We are not alone. God promises to be our safe harbor whether our raft is shaken to pieces or whether it floats. He is able to guide us through the storm.

Whatever trouble we meet, God is enough.

“Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us. We are afflicted in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; we are persecuted but not abandoned; we are struck down but not destroyed.” (2 Corinthians 4:7–9, CSB).