As water crashed over my face, I thought, “I can’t die on Good Friday — Amy will kill me!”
My life didn’t rush before my eyes, but a whole heck of a lot of water did. I was facing a very real risk of drowning. A boat wreck a few minutes before found me attached to a stuck fishing boat. I had a drag chain wrapped around my ankle. The current was water boarding me to death.
I was in serious trouble.
I had just finished Paul Lacoste’s Fit4Change Bootcamp and for the first time in my life had a very, very strong core. I literally sat up against the current and poked my head up out of the water. I took a breath and went back under, trying to undo the chain. After the second try, I untied myself from the boat and shot down the river. I didn’t have a life vest on (Yes, I was an idiot) and shot toward another snag in the water. I took a breath of water and thought I was toast. But then I realized I was close to shore. I put my feet down, coughed the water out of my lungs and was safe.
I thought about that chain this morning. First of all, it nearly snapped my ankle off. And it nearly caused me to drown. But metaphorically, it represents something that bedevils us all. That chain is fear. It keeps us tied down and threatens our very existence. It took great strength to break loose from it. That strength wasn’t something I got overnight — it took weeks of training.
Faith is like that to me.
I don’t talk about my faith often. I’m a pray in the closet kind of guy. But Good Friday is a powerful day to me. It’s a day when fear nearly won. Thankfully, like my ill-fated boating trip, there was a happy ending.
Have a glorious Easter weekend. And may your faith always break the chains of fear.