One of my most embarrassing stories is humorous only because it ended well. When we lived in Hawaii, Mike deployed for long periods of time, so I sought out new ways to entertain the children. Once day, we headed to the beach and decided to rent a floating bicycle. As I pedaled along buoyed by the huge tires, the view was breathtaking. The trouble arose as our 30 minute rental period concluded, and I turned to pedal back to shore. The trade winds had begun for the afternoon, and no matter how hard I pedaled, I could not get any closer to land. My difficulty was compounded by the fact that neither of the boys with me could reach the pedals. I tried and tried but realized it was futile.

Deciding to swallow my pride, I waved my arms in distress to catch the attention of the lifeguard who quickly swam out and towed us to shore. The reason this was funny and not perilous was that we were only about 50 yards from the beach, and the water was probably less than five feet deep. In fact, I could have walked back on the sand bar. Since the second boy was my neighbor’s son,  it seemed wiser to call for help instead of us all jumping overboard. As she watched this unfold, the boy’s mom had considered swimming in herself to pull us out, but the lifeguard beat her to it.

As we were being towed in, it was reassuring to hear that this happens quite frequently. Not wanting to repeat my folly, I used the experience to gain a couple of spiritual insights.

*Don’t try to pedal through life alone.

*When you realize you cannot make it own your own strength, don’t delay, call the Lifeguard!

In case you were wondering what an aqua cycle looks like, here is one from google images…..