Keeping the Faith, Finishing the Race

If you haven’t kept up with the Edmund Fitzgerald Memorial Swim, a 411 mile swim relay, it has been an adventure. About 70 swimmers from around the country are participating in swimming  15-30 mile legs this month.  The ambitious tribute to swim the unfinished route of the Edmund Fitzgerald is ending with a Memorial Service and the ringing of the bell at Mariners’ Church on August 28th at 12:10pm.   [see Detroit Free Press article about the event]

The swimming hasn’t been easy since they started on July 26. They have had mulitiple set-backs due to weather, injuries, and equipment failure. Through all of these difficulties, the event and its participants have pushed on.  I spoke with Jim Dreyer, the event coordinator, on Wednesday of this week.  Jim “The Shark” is a record breaking distance swimmer himself, and an eternal optimist in the midst of setback.  To head such a huge feat successfully, you almost have to have the qualities of endurance and the ability to overcome as Jim has done throughout his swimming career.  [see Latest update from Event organizers]

When I got off the phone with Jim, I started thinking about the scriptures comparing our faith to a race.  As Christians we too need to have a mindset of endurance and overcoming obstacles.  We should’t expect our journey to be just full of blue sky and no hardship.

First, we start with motivation to be in the race at all.

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.” (1 Corinthians 9:25)

Not only does this speak about the strict training of a race, but the motivation of being there in the first place.  When we cross the finish line of our faith race there is a prize waiting there for us.  This prize of eternal life was won, not by our great running or abilities, but by “Christ in us the hope of glory” (Col 1:27).  When we stay close to him we stay on the course set for us.

Its easy to get off course, to not be in the race for the right reasons or to swerve off course. This is especially true when you are swimming!  It’s one reason for the boat in the Fitzgerald Swim is to set a bearing to follow.  What a vivid example of the Holy Spirit leading us.  Paul, in another letter, speaks to getting off course.

You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. (Galatians 5:7-8)

Instead of listening to the Holy Spirit we start listening to the ideologies and philosophies of this world.  Before we know it we can be off course and heading for deep and dangerous waters.  Keeping ‘in step with the Spirit’ (Gal. 5:25) is crucial to finishing the race set out for us as believers.

When we do this we can also look back on our life, like Paul, and say,

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:6-8)

We ‘fight the good fight’ because we know we have the eternal fellowship with Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we can endure all the things this sinful world throws at us.

On August 28th, many of the swimmers in the relay going on now will be coming to Mariners’ Church to ring the bell and memorializing the lives lost 50 years ago. They will also be celebrating the journey they have been on this summer and the money this event has raised for the Whitefish Point Lighthouse and the Great Lakes Historical Shipwreck Society.

If you can make this lunchtime service, please put it in your calendar for  Thursday, August 28th at 12:10pm.  Many of the Swimmers will be there with their families, along with dignitaries and the organizers of this race.  This will be the first of several 50th Anniversary events around the loss of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

For more information on all the 50th Anniversary Events at Mariners please see the link on our website:

marinerschurchofdetroit.org/edmund-fitzgerald/.

Blessings and peace,

Rev Todd