One More Kick
Pilot Officer G. W. Spiers was flying patrol over Dunkirk in a twin engine Blenheim IV light bomber when his aircraft was attacked and fatally damaged by a formation of German Messerschmitt 109 fighters. He knew he had to ditch the aircraft and struggled to keep it level as the water came up to meet him. After a violent impact, water rushed into the cockpit as a dam bursting. Spiers tried to get to the escape hatch over his head but his feet were slipping and he could make no progress toward it. He found himself underwater. “I had never prayed to God with such agony or earnestness… as I realized that I would not escape,” Spiers said. “I tried to suck water into my lungs to hasten the end, but I was unsuccessful and only swallowed it. My lungs were bursting and my pulse pounded in my eardrums, brilliant flashes and yellow spots appeared in front of my eyes.”
Starting to drift downward, Spiers somehow found the reserve to give one more kick with his right leg: “I had sufficient consciousness to realize my right leg was straight and not in contact with what I thought was the floor of the aircraft. Thinking this may be a way out, I drew my left leg up to it and paddled my way down… after I had descended several feet I slowly backed away and then swam to the surface.”23
A friendly trawler picked up the brave airman and delivered him back to safety in England where he was hospitalized for a broken ankle and other injuries.
Fortunately, few of us are taken to the absolute limit of either our endurance or our patience. However, we all experience situations where “one more kick” might make the difference between success and failure. We sometimes call it “going the extra mile,” often so important in business and sports. We sometimes forget that such effort is also needed many times with friends and family. Meeting someone more than halfway can save a relationship. God is always there to provide that extra reserve when we need it and call on him for it.
When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who know my way.
—Psalm 142:3