It's Hard to Beat a Person Who Never Gives Up.

George Herman Ruth, he said repeatedly, "it's hard to beat a person who never gives up".

Those words hold a hard truth to them. The words 'NEVER GIVE UP' they apply to all of mankind.

I remember when I was learning how to swim. I was about 13 years old. A few friends and I had decided to go camping at Mt Larson, California.

There was four of us on this camping trip. 5 if you count the adult that was responsible for us kids.

We choose a nice camping ground about half a mile up the river near a waterfall. By agreement, we all thought it would be a cool idea to jump off the bridge and into the river. We could swim back to the side of the river shore, climb up the hill and jump in again, all day!

I was the only one in the group that had never been in water deeper than a bathtub. And only I knew, I could not swim. No one ever asks me, and I didn't tell.

The adult in charge jumps in first.

It looked daring and was the first time I have seen a real live person jump off a perfectly good bridge; only in the movies.

I watch as he jumped so that I would know what to do when it was my turn. He screamed until hitting the waters as he free fell down. Like magic he just disappeared, only to pop up a few seconds later, but further downstream.

I wasn't going to be the next to jump.

James, Theo, and I forget that other kid's name, but they made it look so easy. If they can do this, so can I.

I climb over the bridge guardrail and Instantly, I felt uncomfortable. My knees were wobbly, And only I knew.

Jump, jump, jump, they all screamed at me repeatedly. With my eyes closed, I let go. Oh, so, cold.

When my butt hit that water, I had frozen and the falls were getting so close. Oh, the power of the water SWIM! FALL! ARM! Was all I could hear as I bobbed up and down in the water like a fishing lure.

I can't quite remember all the details of what happened next, but I know one thing, no one was brave enough to jump in to save me that close to the waterfalls.

And I kiss the ground that God made when I got back to shore. I'm here to tell the story, so I never gave up and I'm a really good swimmer.

Never Give Up.

Maybe one day I will tell you the story about how I learn how to Water Ski.