This document summarizes the story of Florence Chadwick, who set a goal to swim 34 km from Catalina Island to the California coast. On her first attempt, despite training hard, she endured harsh conditions like cold water, jellyfish stings, and sharks. After 15 hours of swimming, she was ready to give up due to numbness, but her mother encouraged her to continue. However, she was pulled from the water just a few hundred meters short of her goal due to thick fog obscuring her vision. On a second attempt two months later, also facing fog, she persisted in believing in her goal and succeeded in also beating the men's record time. The document encourages readers to stay focused on their goals and not

1. Youth Devotional -
Focused on the Goal
Don't quit just before your goal is achieved!
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2. Her goal was the California coastline –a 34 km swim from
Catalina Island. It was no more distant than the width of the
English Channel, a goal she had already conquered as the first
woman to swim it from both directions. Although she was a
seasoned long-distance swimmer with incredible stamina,
she trained arduously to prepare herself to achieve her goal.
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3. July 4th, 1952
Millions watched on national television, as 34 year old
Florence Chadwick began her swim. The water was icy
cold; the fog — so thick she could hardly see the
support boats alongside her. As the hours passed, she
was repeatedly stung by jellyfish. Sharks had to be
driven away with rifles. Yet she pressed on,
determined to achieve her goal.
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4. 15 hours later
Numbed with the cold, she was ready to give up. Her
mother and her trainer were in a boat at her side.
“Florence. You are almost there. Don’t give up now.”
Encouraged by her mother’s admonition, she
continued to swim.
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5. Failure
Fifteen hours and fifty minutes after she began her swim, the support
team reluctantly agreed to pull Florence from the water. Several
hours later, after she warmed up, she realized she had given up only a
few hundred meters from her goal! If she had continued just a little
while longer, the waves would have carried her to the beach. “If I
could have just seen the land for myself, I would have made it!”. She
told reporters it was not the sharks, the fatigue, or even the cold
water that defeated her. She had been defeated by the fog alone. It
had obscured her goal and blinded her reason, her eyes and her
heart.
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6. Never give in to defeat.
1952 was the only time Florence Chadwick ever quit. Two
months later she swam that same channel. The water was
still ice cold and still inhabited with sharks. Once again fog
obscured her view. But this time she pressed on,
BELIEVING that somewhere beyond that fog, her goal
would be reached. Not only was she the first woman to
swim the Catalina Channel, but she beat the men’s record
by two hours!
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7. • What are YOUR goals?
• Have you lost sight of your goal?
• Don’t quit just before your goal is achieved!
• Stay Focused!
“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter
of our faith”
- Hebrews 12:2
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8. www.CreativeYouthIdeas.com
Need an evangelistic Youth Camp/ Bible
Study Series with an Olympic Theme?
What is salvation all about? What does it
mean to be saved? This sports themed
Bible Study / Camp Curriculum uses the
Olympic Flag to introduce the concepts of
sin (black circle), forgiveness (red circle),
purity (white background), spiritual growth
(green circle), heaven (Yellow Circle) and
(Baptism) blue circle.
Creative Youth Ideas
Go for the Gold
-> Tell me about “Go for the Gold”
www.creativeyouthideas.com/goforthegold.html

9. www.CreativeYouthIdeas.com
Need a Youth Camp/ Bible Study Series
on ”Running the Christian Race”?
The race as a metaphor for the Christian
life is used in several places in the Bible.
This series is a great follow up for new
Christians or to re-emphasize the basics of
our spiritual Journey in the Faith. This
Bible Study / Camp Curriculum has a
sports theme and is great for athletes as
well as a tie in to the youth Olympic
Games.
Creative Youth Ideas
Destined to Win
->Tell me about “Destined to Win”
www.creativeyouthideas.com/destinedtowin.html