Local Custom

Yesterday was the Epiphany celebration of diving for the cross in Tarpon Springs, Florida....In January it is a local custom of the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church. The young men of the church between 16-18 years of age dive into the muddy brown chilly waters of Spring Bayou in the hope of retrieving the ’Holy Cross’ thrown by the archbishop.
Yesterday some 47 young men made the dive with 20,000 onlookers.
James Hughes, 16, a local football player and onlooker for years, emerged triumphal with the cross....
Hughes didn’t do anything different than the other 16 divers...
He ate a good breakfast.
He listened to some rock ’n’ roll.
He thought about the cross.
But Hughes, a Berkeley Preparatory School sophomore, recognized his chance the instant the white oak cross left the archbishop’s hand.
The lanky football player plunged into the 64-degree water.
Less than 5 seconds later, he came up sputtering with the cross in his hand.
“I saw this cross gleaming in the water and I just got it,” Hughes said.
“It kind of stood out in the dark muck.”
The crowd yelled in Greek....”Axios!” - Greek for “He is worthy!”...
“Jimmy, you did it!” came the cries from his friends as they hoisted him on their shoulders.
Red towel over his shoulders, Jimmy tried to shake off the waters chill after he received a special blessing from the archbishop. Women in black dresses gathered around him like he was a rock star, kissing the cross in his hand. Jimmy's’ cheeks flushed with the attention simply said, “It’s not me they’re kissing.”....”It’s the cross. It’s the power of the cross.”
But the word ...epiphany....is used in a nonchurch context in James Joyce’s autobiographical novel ‘Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.’
The book describes the man, Stephen’s personal epiphany on the beach.
In this case it meant....a startling insight, a realization or understanding that changes a person’s life.
A moment of...INSPIRED CLARITY.
Isn’t that what we all need from time to time in order to put our lives in proper prospective and focus? What better time than a New Year to ask for and seek this....Gift of Grace.
Jimmy Hughes had his...Epiphany yesterday....(See link #1...Special People Album)
May you....have yours......today!
God Bless you....and may God continue to Bless.....America!