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Today's Christian, March/April 2004
The Surfer Girl's Faith
A deadly shark bite could not keep this amazing teen down.
Quick Takes on people, news & reviews
Bethany Hamilton
Photo: Noah Hamilton
Thirteen-year-old Bethany Hamilton, a top-ranked amateur surfer, was
catching waves off the coast of Kilauea, Hawaii, one morning last
October when the attack happened. As she took a breather, dangling her
arm in the Pacific waters, a "gray blur" suddenly appeared.
It was a shark. A tiger shark, to be exact.
The 15-foot creature locked onto Bethany's left arm and yanked the
teen-ager back and forth.
"I looked down at the red water," she recounted to the Detroit Free
Press. "Right away I knew it was a shark, and I knew my arm was gone."
She remembers praying to God for help, though she cannot recall the
exact words.
The attack lasted only a few seconds, but it has changed her life
forever.
In no time, Bethany's story became international news. The world soon
discovered that this blond dynamo was not only a skillful surfer—who
at 13 had been on her way to turning pro—but also a Christian who
credited church and family for her remarkable resilience in the face
of tragedy.
"Losing her arm will change a lot for her, but she never cried once,"
her brother Noah told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. "The doctor was
amazed at how well she [held up]. She told one of her friends that
she's glad this happened to her because 'now I can tell the whole
world about God.'"
And she has. Bethany has already made numerous media appearances on
MTV, Oprah, and in magazines like Teen Vogue and YM. Wherever she
goes, people soon hear about her dynamic faith. When asked by one
reporter about her happiest moment so far, she answered, "I think my
happiest moment was when I found out two girls on Kauai got saved" as
a result of hearing her story.
Just weeks after the accident, Bethany was already back on a
surfboard. In January, she was fitted with a prosthetic arm that she
hopes will enable her to continue her surfing aspirations, and to one
day play her guitar again.
"I can't change it," she told the Free Press about the shark attack.
"That was God's plan, and I'm going to go with it."
For more info, visit www.bethanyhamilton.com
Source: The Detroit Free Press, Nov. 24, 2003 and ChurchCentral.com,
Nov. 14, 2003.
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