Bethany Hamilton, the 13-year-old surfer who lost an arm Oct. 31 when a shark attacked her off the coast of Hawaii is, by published accounts, upbeat about her ordeal. Not because she one day may resume her championship-caliber surfing career, as many anticipate. But because she is convinced she is being used as a mighty tool by God.
Hamilton's story has both captivated and inspired people. Her steadfast faith in God's will
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"I look at everything that's happened as part of God's plan for my life, and I look forward to new challenges," a family statement quoted Bethany as saying.
Thrust into the spotlight, the family has had numerous opportunities to witness and share their faith in Christ.
"We're doing good, just praying, keeping up our spirits and hoping for the best. We're trying not to be angry, vengeful, just have faith that God will take care of us," said her father, Tom, in an article published by WorldNetDaily.com.
"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 is holding 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.'"
A Rallying Cry
The resilience of young people and their ability to stand firm in their faith - to triumph over tragedy - has been tested time and again through violent acts at schools and churches.
Since Feb. 2, 1996, when 14-year-old Barry Loukaitis opened fire in his Moses Lake, Wash., algebra class, 48 students or teachers have been killed and another 113 wounded in shootings at U.S. schools.
At Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., 14 students (including the two killers) and one teacher were killed and 23 wounded April 20, 1999. Among the students killed was Cassie Bernall, 17, who was asked whether she believed in God and was killed when she said she did.
Outside the United States, 47 people have been killed and 25 wounded as a result of school violence during that period.
In the last four years, at least 11 people have been shot to death in U.S. churches. Among them were four teenagers gathered for a prayer meeting at Wedgewood Baptist Church in Dallas. Seven others were wounded there.
David Overstreet, assistant director of field ministries for San Diego-based National Network of Youth Ministries, said the violence directed at them has served as a rallying cry among Christian teenagers.
"Those things, we have seen, have added to the desire on students' parts all across the country to generally seek God," Overstreet said. "They recognize, after 9-11 as well, that with all the military might and laws we have, that power is nothing compared to the power that God has."
Young people are seeking a peace that laws and rules don't ensure.
"That peace is found in Christ," Overstreet said. "If we're seeing an incidence, and we are, of kids having a greater passion and knowledge of the Lord, I think certainly those are factors behind that. There's no doubt about it."
God Comforts
Jason Medley was a high school student in Paducah, Ky., on Dec. 1, 1997, when 14-year-old Michael Carneal opened fire on a group of students in a prayer circle, killing three and wounding five.
Though he was not a student at Heath High School, where the shootings occurred, Medley said he remembers vividly the impact Carneal's acts had on the community.
"I remember when it happened, everyone had a sense of sorrow," he said. "I remember everybody getting scared. I remember the prayer groups getting together and getting stronger."
Signs and marquees along roads in the close-knit community called out for God's blessing and guidance.
"It was God. We could feel God there. We could see it in the community," he said. "You could drive down the street and see all the billboards. Instead of advertising liquor for sale, it was ‘God Help Us' and ‘God Bless Paducah.' Seeing that everywhere was like being in a dark cave and seeing a thousand little Christmas lights turning on. I would have to say, absolutely, it helped us all through it."
Now a youth pastor at Broadway Baptist Church in Paducah, Medley draws on that experience to help young people develop an understanding of the power of faith.
"I believe it comes from God. I believe the Lord gives it to them, but I also believe the church is responsible for helping them in their spiritual growth," Medley said. "God alone provides that faith, but they need someone (to show them how) to express it."
Empowered Through Programs
Overstreet said his organization was born out of Campus Crusade in 1978 with a vision of impacting communities by having youth pastors work together.
"Our goal is to get youth workers to work together to reach students in their community," he said. "By doing so, we're going to have a much greater impact on our campuses than if we were just trying to work by ourselves."
The network is an alliance of about 86 ministries representing a wide range of denominations and parachurch groups. It brings together groups like Book of Hope USA, Moms in Touch International, the North American Mission Board, and Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
"See You at the Pole is probably one of our most visible ministries," he said. "That is a visible one where we help student leaders by giving them tools and by encouraging youth workers to work with them."
Darian Amsler ministers to Kentucky high school and middle school students through an Assembly of God program called Youth Alive.
The program involves training students to be missionaries on their school campuses.
"We're challenging students to see their school as a mission field. Just as if God calls someone oversees to be a missionary to Europe or Africa or South America, we want students to see that God has called them to be missionaries in their schools," Amsler said.
"We're asking students to make a fivefold commitment each month to being a campus missionary to share their story about Jesus to their friends," he said. "We're asking them to pray, we're asking them to live a godly life, we're asking them to tell their friends about Jesus, we're asking them to serve on a campus club, and we're asking them to give money to world missions."
He said the strategy empowers young people to be bold about their faith.
"I think it is at a critical point in their lives. It's much like when we were kids and someone was paving our driveway or our sidewalk, and we wrote our initials in the concrete while it was still wet," he said. "When it dried, those initials were still there."
He said research illustrates the importance of reaching young people: 85 percent of those who come to know the Lord are teenagers or younger.
"For a lot of these students, if we don't reach them now, the concrete is going to dry up and it is going to be a lot harder to write the initials of Jesus Christ into their lives," he said.
The Home Front
The Rev. Stephen Thompson, pastor of North Shore Christian Church in Kilauea, Hawaii, where Bethany Hamilton and her family worship, said as much as he would like to take credit for her strong spiritual development, it was the home environment that was most responsible.
"I have a feeling it is more her parents than the church," he said. "Her parents are very strong Christians and have exhibited that to the family. All of the kids are believers."
Bob Waliszewski, manager of Youth Culture Department for Colorado Springs, Colo.-based Focus on the Family, agreed about the significant role parents play in the spiritual development of their children.
"I think most important is mom and dad," he said. "It would very much surprise me and shock me to find a 13-year-old girl or boy, any 13-year-old who had gone through a situation like that, who was saying ‘Jesus saw me through,' and whose faith has been central to this trauma, to find out, lo and behold, that their parents are both non-Christians."
He said young people can be independently spiritual, but typically it takes the grounding and the nurturing of a mother and father talking about the goodness of the Lord, and that young person coming to Christ at an early age.
Once that foundation has been laid, pastors and youth workers can build upon it.
"They're incredible encouragers," he said, adding that a strong, solid base of Christian friends is important as well.
Reserve Power
Thompson said a lot of people ask, "What if I went through this?" or "What if my daughter were bitten by a shark?" They naturally question whether their faith would be as unflappable.
"That's when I tell people that God usually just gives grace for when we need it. He never gives it ahead of time for us," he said. "So, in a sense, we really don't know how we are going to react. But what an inspiration to know that at the moment of trial, the moment of testing, that God will be sufficient. His grace will be sufficient. That's what we can trust in."
Medley, the youth pastor from Paducah, said that when the faith of young people is put to the test, it builds character. But, he said, tests do not have to be severe for them to learn they can rely on Christ for strength.
He said if youth workers can show them to rely on faith for something as simple as a homework assignment or going up to a door and witnessing to somebody, then maybe when the big tests come they will be prepared.
"When it comes to that time, and they have something to rely on, to remember even the smallest thing God brought them through, I think the Holy Spirit will use that seed that has been planted and their faith will grow even stronger," he said.
Waliszewski said stories of triumph can and should be powerful tools for inspiration to young people. When they can see that Bethany Hamilton is unshaken in her faith or that Cassie Bernall was willing to lay down her life rather than deny Christ, the teaching they received from their parents and the church becomes relevant.
"Young people always want to know, ‘Where is the bar? What does real Christianity look like?' I know there is a bunch of young people who say, ‘I know I can handle this Christian walk as long as it's kind of like it is right now. Life isn't that rough. I'm going through some problems, but I can handle that,'" he said.
But when those young people see a 13-year-old girl find God's will in a shark attack, they might be empowered to handle the tough stuff.
Then, he said, their response might be, "Wow, if that's what a real Christian looks like, maybe I can do the same thing."
