Focus on the Family with Jim Daly

Preview:

Scott Hamilton: I was sick, I didn’t grow, I was the smallest and the weakest. I was this, I was that, I was a loser. I’d fallen all these times, I embarrassed myself. I, just, all the bad things that happened, but what I, I started to figure out was that, every single one of those failures was a spectacular learning opportunity.

End of Preview

John Fuller: Well, quite the perspective from former Olympic Champion figure skater, Scott Hamilton. As he describes his many years of discouragement before winning a gold medal. And that’s a reminder that in our own disappointments and failures, we shouldn’t give up. We never give up. We can learn and grow in those dark times. This is Focus on the Family with Jim Daly. Thanks for joining us. I’m John Fuller.

Jim Daly: John, we spent some time with Scott Hamilton and learned a lot about his life. I didn’t know, I thought I knew, but I did not know as much as he expressed in our, uh, taping together.

John: Mm-hmm.

Jim: And one of the significant things we learned was that his gold medal didn’t satisfy him. You know, the scripture talks about that, but, it didn’t meet the need deep in his heart. And he still had an empty spot, uh, that only God could fill. Man, do we hear that story over and over again? And, uh, we’re gonna unfold his story and God’s involvement throughout his life, as we talk with him today. There are so many twists and turns in his experiences. I think you’re gonna relate to so much of it, and especially the behind the scenes stuff that Scott revealed to us.

John: Mm-hmm. Yeah. There was a lot of overcoming, and, uh, what a great conversation with him in front of some Focus friends. Even though Scott participated in the Winter Games, of course, as a figure skater-

Jim: (laughs).

John: … the Summer Games are getting underway and we decided this would be a good time to feature this conversation. And Scott Hamilton is in the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame. His story is captured in his book called, Finish First. Ask for that when you contact Focus on the family, uh, give to the ministry and we’ll say thanks by sending the book to you. Details at focusonthefamily.com/broadcast. Let’s go ahead and hear that great conversation we had with Scott Hamilton, on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly.

Jim: Scott, welcome to Focus on the Family.

Scott: Woo!

Jim: (laughs).

Scott: This is, this is unbelievable. I mean, I listen to you guys all the time, and it’s just being in your presence right now is so surreal.

Jim: (laughs). It’s, it’s so disappointing. (laughs).

Scott: No, it’s surreal. It’s just, it’s wild because, again, I listen to you guys every morning-

John: Aww.

Jim: (laughs).

Scott: … and then to be sitting here with you, it’s just, it’s a, I, I don’t know what to do now.

Jim: Well, that’s very kind. Thank you so much. Let’s, let’s go back, because I think your, your story, your life story is incredible. It’s, in my mind, bigger than a gold medal.

Scott: Oh-

Jim: Sorry.

Scott: … thank you.

Jim: But, uh, it started with a lot of adversity.

Scott: Yeah.

Jim: So describe, I mean, you were adopted.

Scott: Yeah. I was an oops, I was unintended. Um, you know, it’s always that, that thing with adoption, right? You know, and there’s always that kind of little bit of a disconnect of, was I, I know I was unintended, but was I unwanted? And it’s really remarkable that now, all these 65 years later, you know, over the years, I really understood that God is in control, and he chose those parents for me. He convicted my birth mother to stay the course-

Jim: Mm-hmm.

Scott: … and to bring me into the world and to put me up for adoption. And, um, she was brave and wonderful and awesome. And I’ll, I’m gonna be grateful for her bravery and generosity, um, forever. And then, um, I was adopted by two school teachers from Northwestern Ohio, and they were the perfect parents for me.

Jim: That’s amazing.

Scott: Perfect parents.

Jim: So, I mean, when you answer that question about being wanted, being adopted is being wanted.

Scott: It is being wanted.

Jim: That’s what’s, uh, terrific.

Scott: Well, and it’s funny ’cause, you know, when I got teased about being adopted, and I, I always, whenever I do any of my speaking, I, it’s a joke, I always, I tell, but it was true. I, when the kids, because it was unusual in my hometown to be adopted, that I get teased about being adopted, right? They’d come up at me, “You were adopted, you’re … and just, all this just, and it-

Jim: But they’re not talking now.

Scott: No one, yeah.

Jim: (laughing).

Scott: It’s different now. But, um, but then it was like, my ki- my parents always told me, from as young as I could understand that I was adopted, they didn’t want it to be stigmatized or anything, they wanted it to be part of my story. And so, I came home one day and I was like, “Mom, they’re teasing me about being adopted.” And she, my mom was the center of my universe. I love my mom so much. She goes, “Don’t worry about them. Just say this next time.” I go, “Okay.” So sure enough, you know, on the playground at school, and they start teasing me about being adopted. And I go, “Yeah, okay. Yeah, I was adopted. My parents actually chose me. Your parents got stuck with whatever came out.”

Audience: (laughing).

Jim: That’s pretty good.

Scott: Yeah. It was strong. Yeah. And so, they, they didn’t tease me about being adopted anymore.

Jim: (laughs).

Scott: ‘Cause they realized, their parents were stuck with whatever came out. (laughing).

Jim: Alright. Moving, uh, in your childhood, there were many things that, uh, you had to struggle with. Describe some of those challenges you had growing up, uh, physically.

Scott: Yeah. So I was always the smallest kid in my class. I was, you know, um, it was always, I always felt a little different, you know, I, the shortest. Um, and then pretty soon it became apparent that I wasn’t growing or developing properly. And so, we started visiting physicians and hospitals and it, it became this four year journey. Um, and we went to the biggest hospital with the biggest doctors, and that was Boston Children’s Hospital. And there I had every symptom of a disease called Schwagman Diamond Syndrome. It’s kind of a celiac disease. And, and so, Dr. Schwagman himself was looking after me. So this is it. We’re gonna, you know?

They’d taken me off, um, dairy and sugar and flour. So, you know, I’m like four or five, six, seven, eight years old. Birthday parties were awful.

Jim: Yeah.

Audience: (laughing).

Scott: ‘Cause I couldn’t touch it.

Jim: Here’s your slice of cantaloupe.

Scott: Y-yeah. Here’s, yeah.

John: (laughing).

Scott: Exactly. So, um, we were there for a long time, and at the end of it, he just said, “I ca- I can’t figure this thing out. He doesn’t have Schwagman Diamond Syndrome. He’s not growing, he’s not developing. There’s something going on and we can’t, we don’t have the capacity to, to diagnose it. Go home, live a normal life and just see what happens.” And so, we went home, and he was just hoping and praying that I would maybe outgrow this thing or I’d, I’d rise above it. And, um, my parents at that point were shattered, physically, emotionally, financially.

Jim: Mm-hmm.

Scott: I mean, they adopted this little boy and they’re on teacher salaries-

Jim: Yeah.

Scott: … and I’m in hospitals for four years. And so, they, they were devastated, in every way possible. A-and they couldn’t solve my problem, which I think for any parent, is, it, that helplessness is just, it’s toxic. It’s awful. So our family physician came and had a one man intervention, and he said, “You need a morning off to recharge your batteries. There’s a brand new facility at Bowling Green State University, where they teach children how to ice skate from eight in the morning until noon. It’s a great environment, there’s hundreds of kids, it’s awesome. And, um, my, my kids do it, we’re happy to take him and you guys can just rest, restore, re-re- you know, just recharge.”

Jim: This is your family physician?

Scott: Yeah.

Jim: Wow.

Scott: He lived three doors down and-

Jim: Wow.

Scott: … yeah, spent a lot of time with him all the years.

Jim: That was the question. How’d you, how’d you get into ice skating?

Scott: Yeah.

Jim: I figured they were going, “Okay. It’s not gonna be football.”

Scott: (laughing).

Jim: “It’s not gonna be basketball.”

Scott: Basketball. No.

Jim: “So let’s try skating.”

Scott: Let’s try skating. And I was-

Jim: But it was your doctor that said, “Well, well?”

Scott: Yeah. So he, I got on the ice and I was like everybody else, I was clinging onto the wall and trying to figure it out. And, but I was around all these well kids, and I was really excited to be like… And, like I was really used to being with sick kids, but I was trying, trying to and figure out. And so I, you know, being on, on the ice with all these kids, and I realized after I guess a couple weeks, that I could skate as well as well kids. And then, after a few more weeks, I realized that I could skate, (laughs), as well as the best athletes in my grade. And for the first time in my life, I, I tasted self-esteem.

Jim: Mm-hmm. Wow.

Scott: I, like, I felt like, I wasn’t the “st”, the worst or the weakest or the smallest or the, you know, the least. I felt like, “I have an identity in this, I can actually do this, and I like it and I’m good at it.” And so, I just was, I became a rink rat. I was there all the time. My parents had to threaten me to get me off the ice. And-

Jim: How old are you at this point?

Scott: I was nine.

Jim: Yeah. Wow. To, to keep moving on that. So you were accelerating as a, as a teen-

Scott: Yeah. Yeah. (laughs).

Jim: … 13, 14.

Scott: Yeah. But I, I was kinda, like, here’s the deal, I was kinda good regionally, you know, the tri-state area, you know?

Jim: (laughs).

Scott: Not a lot of boys in figure skating, you know? (laughing). Um, nationally, by the time I finally made it to the nationals on the little boys level, I was awful. (laughs). Now-

Jim: It sounds inspiring.

Scott: It’s very inspiring.

Audience: (laughing).

Scott: No, it was like, I don’t know who scheduled that event, I, to this day, I wanna slap them.

Audience: (laughing).

Scott: Like, in a place where they’d feel it.

Audience: (laughing).

Scott: But it was, it was like, they scheduled the little boys novice event, preceding the championship ladies final, where Janet Lynn, the most popular woman athlete in the world, at that time, was competing in her last nationals. So standing room only, 17,500 people, I’d never seen that many people in my life, ever. And I was just, I was ill prepared.

Jim: Mm-hmm.

Scott: I, I didn’t know how to do it. So in my three-minute program, I rose to the occasion, five times.

Jim: (laughing).

Scott: I fell five times in a three-minute program. And let me tell you, falling five times in a five-minute program is a lot of work. To do it in three minutes had to be a record.

Audience: (laughing).

Scott: Like it had… And all I kept hearing the, “Oh,” the audience. And, and then finally on the fourth fall, it’s like, “Oh.” It’s like, and then in the fi- the fifth fall, it’s like, “Come on, you can do it. You can hear the end of your music.”

Jim: (laughing).

Scott: And it was, it was humiliating. And it, it was just like, it was like, “I’m, I’m a loser. I’m last place guy.” And then, we decided to go up to the junior level because, what’s the worst thing that can happen? Last place? I own last place. And I made it to the nationals that year.

Jim: Yay.

Scott: And I, I beat two guys.

Jim: (laughs).

Scott: And they were really embarrassed.

Audience: (laughing).

Scott: Like, can you imagine? It’s like, “Wait a minute, Hamilton beat you? Oh dude, that’s rough. Oh man, that’s, are you gonna keep skating?”

Audience: (laughing).

Scott: It’s like, it was kinda that, right? You know? (laughs). Because, I was the last place guy. And so, it was after that year, um, you know, I trained in Illinois, I’d come home, and my mom, she came, I came home from school and she came in, she goes, “Okay everybody. Family meeting.” And she had this big smile on her face, and it’s like, “Oh.” And she goes, “Okay, okay. All right. Whew. I’ve, I’ve just come from the doctor and I’ve just been diagnosed with a disease called cancer, and I’m gonna have to have some medicine that may not make me feel…” And she was like, so upbeat. And cancer was a word you didn’t say back then-

Jim: Mm-hmm.

Scott: … because there was no hope, right?

Jim: Yeah.

Scott: And she, and she was so happy. And it was like, “Wha- how? What, uh, if you’re okay, then I guess, I guess we’re gonna be okay.” And she said, “Okay, I need some help after school, I need this, I need this.” And she looked at me and she goes, “And you, Mr.” And I said, “Yes.” And she goes, “We’re broke. We’re gonna get you through one more year of skating and then you’re done.” And, um, you’re gonna graduate high school this year, hopefully.” (laughs). I negotiated my high school diploma.

Audience: (laughing).

Scott: “Um, and you’re going to go to college next year at Bowling Green because, we’re both professors and we can afford free. That’s your life.”

Jim: Mm-hmm.

Scott: “Have a great year. Make it your best year ever. And, um, then next year life’s gonna change.” And-

Jim: So, yeah. But, uh, with your mom in that, I mean, how, how did that go down? I mean, that-

Scott: She-

Jim: … she was that upbeat? But did you fill in the blanks and say, “What does this mean?”

Scott: Well, no I was concerned because I, I just figured she, how could she be so upbeat unless she knew something that nobody else knew?

Jim: Mm-hmm.

Scott: Right? And she was just the most loving, compassionate, funny lady, and I, I just worshipped her. I loved her so much. And, and I got to nationals and my mom arrived, and she was wearing a sling because they’d removed her left breast in the inside, all limp in her left arm. And then I remember setting up this triple Salchow and I figured, “Hey, last competition ever, might as well just throw this thing.” And normally my view at the end of my hardest jump in my program, was that of the ceiling.

Jim: (laughing).

Scott: ‘Cause that’s how I did things. I fell down and I’d see, I’d go, “Oh, there’s the ceiling again.”

Audience: (laughing).

Scott: And this time, I was looking at the audience and I was getting backwards on my right foot and an outside edge. And I landed the very first triple I’d ever done in competition. And I got so excited, that I forgot to mess up my program.

Jim: (laughs).

Scott: And I won junior nationals. So now everybody in the event was embarrassed. (laughing). And, um, my mom was so upbeat that week because she had met a couple on her way to the nationals who’d she’d been int-introduced to by a judge who took interest in my skating. Um, they were wealthy, had no children, loved skating, and they wanted to sponsor me.

Jim: Oh.

Scott: So the only string attached was that that year, I had to move to Denver. About the same time my new coach was coaching a girl named Dorothy Hamill, to an Olympic gold medal. I won the lottery.

Jim: Mm-hmm.

Scott: And it was like, “Wow. I get a second chance at skating.” And my mom was still suffering and she was doing… So the next year I’m on the senior level for the first time, I got to Nationals and I came in ninth.

Jim: (laughing). Familiar spot.

Scott: Yeah. And then I went back home-

Jim: Mm-hmm.

Scott: … as I always did. And, um, I went to my mom’s room in the hospital. My brother and I went, we were there till about three o’clock in the morning. And I was sleeping on the couch, ’cause we had a lot of people there that time, ’cause she was pretty much in, she was in the hospital. And my brother-in-Law at the time woke me up and just said, um, only, he, he, he just said four words, “Your mother is gone.” Phew man, I, I’ve told this story so many times and I still, yeah, it gets me every time. And all I could think to say is, “I know.”

Jim: Mm-hmm.

Scott: And so, I went for a walk in the backyard and it, I learned about grief in a really powerful way that day. Because I saw so many people become self-destructive in their grief. And I saw that loss destroy families. And I realized that I didn’t have to lose her. I could take her with me-

Jim: Mm-hmm.

Scott: … every single day to the ice, and I could be accountable to her and I could honor every single sacrifice she made for me, by being the person skater that she always dreamed I could be.

Jim: So that gave you the power, really?

Scott: The power.

Jim: To move forward.

Scott: So I was, “Uh, I’m gonna be late? Nope.” Honor your mom. I’m on time. It’s summer, I don’t feel like doing a long program run through. “Uh, it’s altitude,” honor your mom. Long program run through, competition level, let’s go. And that year, I, I just got into, I was in the best shape of my life. I was, I was focused, I was prepared and I was, that was the year triple lutz went into the program. That was the year that I, I started winning, like against people, beating people I never had any business beating.

Jim: Mm-hmm.

Scott: Like, these are the best guys in the country.

John: Well, today on Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, uh, our guest is Olympian Scott Hamilton, and you’ll find out more about his incredible story, uh, in his book called Finish First. Now Scott has an immense passion for the Lord, and, uh, he has used his talents to advance the gospel, uh, both on and off the ice. Get this book, it’s a riveting read. It’s called Finish First, and we have all the details at focusonthefamily.com/broadcast. All right. Let’s go ahead and continue listening as, uh, Scott shares from his heart with Jim Daly.

Jim: I wanna, let me, uh, talk about your mom a bit more.

Scott: Please.

Jim: Because I, you know, we kinda go through that but, she must have been an amazing woman.

Scott: Oh, she was spectacular. She was, she always wore the same clothes, because she didn’t wanna take anything for herself. It all went to her kids, right?

Jim: Mm-hmm.

Scott: So she wore the same thing all the time. And she, um, she was a school teacher. She started in second grade and she taught second grade and she loved it. So she was, um, amazing. Laughter, laughter, laughter. She was funny, she was loving, she was just, um, she was the best mom.

Jim: Yeah.

Scott: And so, you know, everybody, everybody loved my mom. She had a great sense of humor, she never really let anything defeat her-

Jim: Right.

Scott: … ever. And even during her battle of cancer, um, with cancer, she, she always found the bright side, always found the best thing that could happen. And she was always very positive. And, and her, her attitude showed up in my cancer journey. I, when I look back, I knew that I was, I was gonna survive, because the doctor said, “You’re gonna survive.” And I just, in my spirit, I knew that there was no way in the world I was gonna succumb to this cancer, I just felt it. And so, I was preparing for the next, and I wanted my cancer journey to be joyful.

Jim: Mm-hmm.

Scott: And it wasn’t, always. At, at times it was ugh, right? But I knew that, um, somehow my world was changing and I knew that I was being moved.

Jim: Mm-hmm.

Scott: I was being moved. And I didn’t, like, at the time I knew I’m being moved, but I didn’t, I didn’t really understand, how or who or why, I just, I was being moved.

Jim: Yeah.

Scott: And so, um, I got through that. I had a 38 staple surgery I af-affectionately called Fillet o’ Scott.

Jim: (laughing).

Scott: And, um, and then once, um, that incision, which was very long, once it healed up enough, I was able to slowly get back on the ice and get back on tour that year.

Jim: That’s amazing. Um-

Scott: Yeah. It was, it was really, I learned a lot. And, you know, every, I, the pity party was always there, you know, it’s like, “You don’t deserve this,” you know, all that. And I say, “No. No. There’s something about this that’s really important and I need to pay attention to that.”

Jim: Well, there’s two aspects of this that really, um, come to mind. One is, we haven’t really gotten to winning a gold medal.

Scott: No.

Jim: And what that meant. I think there, there’s a little bit of connection with this because, so many people that pursue that kind of lofty goal.

Scott: Mm-hmm.

Jim: It’s kinda like the businessman that wants to do that one last deal.

Scott: Yeah, yeah. (laughs).

Jim: Or that golfer that wants to win that one next tournament.

Scott: Mm-hmm. Yeah, tournament.

Jim: You know, it’s just always the next thing.

Scott: Yeah.

Jim: And there is a certain drive in certain people, that makes them move in that direction.

Scott: Yeah.

Jim: But, once they get there, so often, if they’re honest about it, it doesn’t fill that hole.

Scott: No, it was, it was really interesting for me, like, after the 80 Olympics, I was fifth, and I thought eighth would’ve been perfect. And I was fifth, so I’m like, “Oh, that’s great, I’m fifth. This is really cool. Like, I could see the guys in the podium. They, they’re like, they’re right there.” You know, they’re like, “Can I have your autograph?”

Jim: You are the optimist.

Scott: Yeah. (laughing). So like, I could see them, I know them, they’re my friends. Like, now I’m like, “Oh, I’m fifth, you know, they’re, on my second whatever.” And um, and then I woke up one morning in the spring and it just hit me all at once that, the Olympic Gold Medalist, Robin Cousins, turned professional. Jan Hoffman, the silver medalist went to medical school. Charlie Tickner, the bronze medalist, turned professional. All I had to do is wake up and I’m ranked second in the world, which is probably easily the best cup of coffee I’ve ever had in my life.

Jim: (laughing).

Scott: And I had to figure out, how do I, how do I get to number one? How do I… I’m glad I’m that close, what do I need to do to win? And, um, I won the long and I won the World Championships, and I’m looking, I’m going, “Oh, no. (laughs). Like, okay, first, if I’m the sports world champion as last place guy, this is the lowest point in the sports history.”

Audience: (laughing).

Scott: “If I’m this champion,” right? It’s like, this, this has gotta be horrible for this sport. And I defended the next year, and the sport changed.

Jim: Mm-hmm.

Scott: That year, it just flipped. Like everybody, all the, all the, I was still one and everybody else had changed places. And I was like, “Holy cow, wait a minute. All I have to do is figure out how to stay ahead of these guys, and maybe I could win an Olympics.” And then it happened. And it is crazy that I still figure that, it’s like, how? I’m the least likely person on the planet to win an Olympic gold medal. No, really. I was sick, I didn’t grow, I was the smallest and the weakest. I was this and I was that, I was a loser. I’d fallen all these times, I embarrassed myself. But what I, I started to figure out was that, every single one of those failures was a spectacular learning opportunity.

Jim: Mm-hmm.

Scott: Like, I, I realized, when I started writing Finish First, you know, because it was Donald Miller’s great. I love Donald Miller.

Jim: Yeah. Don Miller. It was a good story.

Scott: I asked like, “Oh, I need, I need you to help me with, come up with an idea.” And he goes, “I think you should write a book about winning, because, everybody wants to know what it feels like to win an Olympic gold medal.” And it’s like, “Oh, I know but, I know how to do that. I can do that.” And so, it was that whole understanding of, it’s like, how many people in this room have failed? Okay. If you don’t raise your hand, you’re lying or not listening, right?

Jim: (laughing).

Scott: And I realized that in that, that failure, if you had to come up with a list of ingredients for failure, it only has one ingredient. And that’s information. So we all, we all take our losses, we all take our failures. We put ’em in a bag, and we carry ’em over our shoulder. And we just, those are our failures, and we’re just gonna, we’re just gonna carry ’em. And it’s so unhealthy to do that, because it drags you down and it prevents you from being nimble. It prevents you from being, uh, free. It prevents you from being all those things. And when I think about all those failures, right? It, it just, it all made sense to look at ’em as, as information. But as I stepped into faith, I realized that they’d all been taken away anyway, I had no right to hang on.

Jim: Well, and that’s the other point. Where were you with the Lord? What was God doing in your life? Was he even on your radar at this point when you’re winning the gold?

Scott: You know, I, I always believed, when I skated at the Wagon Wheel with Janet, Janet was a, a beautiful spirit. She just loved the Lord and everybody in the rink wanted be like Janet. And they all had their bibles and they all… And I tried to read the Bible, um, and I just, I didn’t understand. There was nobody there to help me understand what this was all about. And so, I, I remember one day just going for a long walk and just praying, just praying. I don’t, I don’t know, I don’t know who you are, but I, I believe in you, I just wanna, I just, I believe, I, I don’t know what to do. And so, that was sort of my stance, I believe, but I don’t know what to do. I believe but I’m stuck. I believe but I… And I would pray at certain times, you know, and, you know, I, I lost my mom, I’d pray, and when I, when Serge Grinkov, you know, fell, went down on the ice, I prayed. When I got cancer, I prayed and I just, but I didn’t know who I was praying to or, or what I was praying about. But I was convicted, I knew that I was never alone. I knew that the Lord s- had something for me, I just didn’t know what it was. To the point where, that year I came in last in Novice Nationals, I was walking outta the building and I was thinking, “Now when they do a movie on my life story.”

Audience: Hmm.

Scott: And I was like, (laughs). Like, “Why, why would I even think that?” Right? And it was just, I never felt alone, I always felt like, I was supported, there was something there, but I, it, it, it was without substance, right?

Jim: Right.

Scott: So, I get cancer, I go through all the professional years, I do all that, and I’m, I’m, I’m really just trying to be the best I can be. And I take advantage of each opportunity and be a good steward of what I’ve been given, all those things. And then I get cancer and I realize, it’s time to move. Um, this, you’re not, you’re not doing something that you need to be doing, you’re doing everything’s wrong. Or things aren’t the way they should be. There’s something that you need to just strip it down and step away. So I got in my car and I just started to drive. And I, I ended up spinning out in the desert near Tucson. And a friend of mine, um, managed a hotel there so I moved off him until I found another car. (laughs). And they found the car and, and I go, “Where is it?” And they go, “L.A.” And I go, “Oh, okay.” And they go, “We’re gonna flatbed it.” And I go, “How much is that gonna cost?” They go, “A thousand.” And I go, “Ooh.” “How much is a Southwest ticket?” And they go, “50.” I go, “That’s a better deal.” I’m homeless right now, I didn’t really wanna go back to Denver. I just, I just felt like I needed to start over. I had a second chance at life, my mom didn’t, I needed to start over. And so, for the next three years, post-cancer, I, I’d just bounce around, you know, just, I’d work, I’d play a little golf in the summer. I was living my life, but I, I just felt toxic and not healthy.

John: That’s former Olympic gold medalist, Scott Hamilton. He’s being so transparent. We have to break into the conversation right here, but we will pick it up next time, to hear more of his dramatic story. This is Focus on the Family with Jim

Jim: John, it’s, uh, an inspiring story. But we’ve primarily heard today about his ice skating challenges and losing his mom, uh, to cancer. And, uh, you know, it’s in this deep valley where things begin to turn for him. And it does leave you with the question, what, what’s God gonna do next?

John: Mm-hmm.

Jim: Uh, some people might be in that spot. And one of the beautiful things about our testimonies is it’s a demonstration of what God can do. And if you’re in that spot, man, uh, hang on, ’cause next time we’re gonna come back and talk about how God showed up in Scott’s life and begin to put those broken pieces back together. Uh, he still faced a lot of challenges-

John: Mm-hmm.

Jim: … uh, no doubt. But it is amazing to hear. And of course, you and I have the benefit of knowing what’s coming. It’s amazing to hear just how God, uh, intervened on his behalf and really pulled the pieces together.

John: Hmm.

Jim: And of course, we want to get this resource to you. If you can make a donation of any amount, we’ll send you Scott’s book as our way of saying thank you for being part of the ministry and helping another family pull their pieces together.

John: Hmm. That’s well said. And the book is great. Um, Finish First is the title. It’ll inspire you, it’ll show you, uh, how God can work even in some of the darkest circumstances. Call today to donate to the ministry and request that book. Our number is 800, the letter A, and the word FAMILY. 800-232-6459. Or donate and request a book at focusonthefamily.com/broadcast. Thanks for listening today to Focus on the Family with Jim Daly. I’m John Fuller, inviting you back as we hear the balance of the conversation with Scott Hamilton. And once again, help you and your family thrive in Christ.