Somehow I have managed to go the last four days without a swim. It’s been a matter of fog, time and access to transportation with my car in the shop. However, today the stars are aligned and I’m excited to get in the water. It is definitely a different week this week. Leaving my house at 10:30, it is overcast skies and I seriously question if that will change over the course of the swim. Given the density of the cloud cover, I’d say it will not but the conditions were similar the last couple days and things kind of magically cleared up around 11:00.

As I pass Doheny, the water looks pretty bumpy. There is a small southerly breeze blowing. When I get to the parking lot at the Strand, the water looks a touch calmer but by the time I get to the shore, it’s looking pretty ruffled.

I would not say that I am cold per se, but I feel far from warm and I am wondering what the water will feel like. For some reason Surfline missed its weekly water temperature forecast this week but the buoy data has pretty much remained at a stand still since my last swim so I suspect it won’t be bad. With the current dreary composure of the beach, it just seems like it must be freezing but the data doesn’t lie. Or does it? I’ll find out soon enough.

Looking down this beach I just can’t help but think of the book I just finished: Endurance, which was about the Earnest Shackleton Antarctic voyage. It’s a true story, but the book would have made an amazing novel. I imagine the crew who saw nothing but seascape (mostly frozen) for two years. I look at this shore and feel peace and solace but they experienced constant suffering.

The water hits my feet and it’s really not bad. It feels the same as it did Friday. In fact with the colder weather, it is easier to get wet. Something about walking into the water with the warm sun shining on your back makes it difficult to take that initial plunge. Right now there is a good chance I’ll actually be warmer in the water.

The tide is on the medium-low side. There has been some fun looking surf at the reef breaks but it is dumpy at the shore break where I enter the water.

I make my way out and start swimming before long at all. The water feels pretty good. It is cool but pleasant. Water visibility isn’t great but not terrible either. The surface is pretty active. It is hard to tell if I am swimming with or against the current. There is both northwest and south swell energy in the water today. The current is pushing me toward shore but I don’t notice at first. Then I wonder why I am practically swimming through the surfer pack and I correct course and head westward.

Despite these clouds and the uneven surface, this is a great swim. After not swimming for four days, I feel like I am reconnecting with a friend with whom I have fallen out of touch. I reach the south end of the beach, take a few pics to complement the 500 pictures of the same view I already have. I don’t hang here long and then I turn around and head north.

I’m thinking of this church small group I went to last night. There was a fair amount of discussion about the Israeli-Hamas conflict/war. Naturally this is to be expected given what is happening there since this weekend. I feel so conflicted in this discussion and I don’t participate. On the one hand I think the killings and kidnappings carried out by Hamas are terrible, absolutely terrible and disturbing. However there is a strong tribal tone to this discussion. The phrase that triggers me is “God’s people” or in the context of prayer “your people.” As if the world can be divided into God’s people and those who are not God’s people. I feel like this rhetoric only contributes to the current situation. I think I know what this group would say about this, “the bible says that the jews are his chosen people so there.” I don’t know. Most ancient historic/religious texts depict the authoring community of that text as a community favored by their deity.

I think we have to come to a place where we see all people as God’s people and no one has special privileges. There will never be an end to this conflict for as long as those in power hold this ancient worldview. The thing is, even this statement holds no weight with conservative Christianity because they embrace an end times vision where the conflict is only resolved by God pretty much annihilating all who oppose Israel.

I catch myself getting into these fictitious arguments in my head with one of the more vocal participants and realize how futile this is and how it just makes me feel bad. What makes me feel better is embracing the image of Jesus I hold in my mind as a global advocate for all humanity inviting everyone to a seat at his table. I embrace the thought of him as the embodiment of love. A love that is universally understood regardless of one’s country or culture. Instead of wallowing in unwinnable arguments, these thoughts make me feel like I am falling forward into this ocean of Christ.

As I continue to swim north and with my sight on the horizon, I sense the light brightening. I notice what are small and faint patches of blue at first that eventually become more expansive and allow the sun to shine on the ocean’s surface. It is good. What was a grey scrim covering the entire sky becomes a theater of sky vs. cloud. Now this is a conflict I can get behind. The drama of the deep blue against the large puffy clouds is captivating.

I’m well over half way down the beach and I need to tie the string that keeps my swim trunks attached to my body - an attachment I want very much to maintain. I am looking northward toward the open water and then bend my head down underwater to concentrate on the knot I am trying to tie. Then I lift my head and see cliffs in front of me and I get almost dizzy with disorientation and it feels like the cliffs just spontaneously emerged from the water. What is going on? Then I realize I just got turned around and am now facing the headlands. This makes me laugh and I get back to the swim.

I get to the bathrooms and just can’t stop myself and keep heading north but turn around before reaching the lifeguard tower. It’s just getting brighter and brighter out. By the time I reach the shore, it is a completely different beach from the one where I started. The surface of the water flashes bright silver from what is now fully exposed sun.