"Last one in is a .....!"

While attending Jr. and Sr. High School at Wallace ('36-'42) - all in the same building (!) - it was the custom for most of the boys who lived in town to go swimming on the last day of school. Back then, when so many of the country boys helped on the farm, they finished the school year late in April or early May. So, when that last bell sounded at good ol' WHS I remember so clearly how a bunch of us guys headed over the hill east of the school for that first (oftimes COLD) dip in Mill Creek. What a refreshing ritual! When the creek was high from spring rains it was dangerous swimming, too, and I recall once trying to swim across when it was out of its banks ... and it almost ended in tragedy. Don't think my folks ever learned about it and I never even shared with the other guys how scared I was when I finally made it across the stream. But we did enjoy the "'ol swimmin' hole" through the summer when, as the old song goes, "the livin' was easy." Other memorable swimming holes included: the Fairgrounds pool at Danville, IL, when visiting my buddy Hubie Fisher there; the artesian water pool at Lodi, IN, which left a rotten-egg smell oozing through your pores into the next day; and, believe it or not, Gatun Lake on the eastern end of the Panama Canal! Our ship anchored there as it awaited transit through the Canal, so the skipper let the crew go for a dip ... not recorded in the WWII news reports! I was never a Mark Phelps, but always enjoyed a good swim, thanks to lessons at age 10 at the YMCA in Danville! The prophet Isaiah makes an interesting statement about God's ability to overcome His enemies in and through the Millennial Kingdom ahead: "...He shall spread forth His hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth forth his hands to swim; and He shall bring down their pride together...!" (Isaiah 25:11) Quite an illustration ... talk about Olympic gold medals!