A Bend in the Road

Cheryl Gowin and Dennis Gowin.  Call us at our counseling practice with your feedback, comments, issues, or questions at 434-808-2637.

Have you been watching the Olympics?  Have you enjoyed watching the joy on the faces of the contestants as they give their all for an Olympic best?  It would be easy to believe that their lives are straight roads.  However, many of them have faced major bends in their life’s road.

Were you around in 1984 when Scott Hamilton won his gold medal?  Do you know his story?

At six weeks old, Ernest and Dorothy Hamilton adopted Scott.  When he was two, Scott mysteriously stopped growing.  After years of struggling, his diagnosis was Shwachman’s syndrome, which interferes with the body’s ability to digest food.  Conquering this syndrome, Hamilton started skating at age nine.  At 24, he was a multi-time national champion and an Olympic gold medal winner.

Then, he faced a bend in the road.  Hamilton was diagnosed with stage four cancer that had spread to his abdomen.  Hamilton successfully fought the cancer, retired from skating, and married Tracie Robinson.  Happily married they welcomed their first son.

Then, he faced a bend in the road; another fight with cancer.  This time it was a rare tumor, craniopharyngioma, near his pituitary gland.  At 46, Scott Hamilton underwent an unusual treatment called a Gamma Knife.  The tumor was reduced to a cyst.

In 2008, Maxx, his second son was born.

Then Scott faced a bend in the road; another tumor.  During brain surgery, an artery was nicked.  Surgically removing the resulting aneurysm resulted in the loss of two-thirds of the vision in Scott’s right eye.

Following the Haitian earthquake, the Hamiltons adopted two children they met while helping in the stricken country.  Jean Paul and Evelyne joined the Hamilton family in 2014.

Then, Scott faced a bend in the road.  Scott Hamilton is still monitoring his third brain tumor.

In talking about his facing bends in the road, Scott said, “I calculated once how many times I fell during my skating career — 41,600 times.  But here’s the funny thing: I got up 41,600 times.  That’s the muscle you have to build in your psyche, the one that reminds you to just get up.”  Hamilton said he would never forget his wife, Tracie’s, pep talk: “Joy is not the lack of suffering or fear; it’s how you choose to handle the suffering and fear.”  Scott’s response is, “I figured I needed to go through this with joy.  It was just a muscle I needed to build, like the muscles I built skating.”

The Helen Steiner Rice poem, A Bend in The Road, provides a picture of facing bends in the road:

When we feel we have nothing left to give and we are sure that the song has ended
When our day seems over and the shadows fall and the darkness of night has descended
Where can we go to find the strength to valiantly keep on trying
Where can we find the hand that will dry the tears that the heart is crying

 There’s but one place to go and that is to God and dropping all pretense and pride
We can pour out our problems without restraint and gain strength with Him at our side
And together we stand at life’s crossroads and view what we think is the end

 But, God has a much bigger vision and He tells us it’s only a bend
For the road goes on and is smoother and the pause in the song is a rest
And the part that’s unsung and unfinished is the sweetest and richest and best

 So rest and relax and grow stronger,  let go and let God share your load
Your work is not finished or ended you’ve just come to a bend in the road

Easter is April 1.  For this season of Lent, let us visit others who have faced a bend in the road.  This week, Scott Hamilton, and next week we’ll visit David Jeremiah’s bend in the road.

When your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise, glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.  1 Peter 1:7b

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Call us with your feedback, comments, issues, or questions; our phone number is 434-808-2637.