NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Brooke Abel was 17 and competing on the junior national synchronized swimming team, but she wasn't having a good time. "The junior team is really hard," Abel said. "You have to be away all summer long. You're away from your family and away from your friends. That was always a really hard time for me. When you're growing up and you're not around people who are influencing you in a good way, you're lost."
Fed up and frustrated, Abel planned to quit swimming. She didn't love it anymore. But for some reason, the next year she went right back to the pool. "The next year I showed up to the pool. I practiced, and I kept going," she said. "I still can't explain today why I kept going, but I think that was God. I'm so thankful that I kept going, and I can't even explain why I did." Abel, now 20, is grateful -- because she will make her Olympics debut on Thursday on the U.S. synchronized swimming team. She's been dreaming specifically about the 2008 Olympics in Beijing since she was 12 or 13. "It's kind of a relief," she said about making the team. "It's such an accomplishment. I didn't just do it for me, either. My family has sacrificed so much for me to get to where I am. I'm super happy to have the chance to get this far." Often the whipping boy for hardcore sports fans, synchronized swimming is more difficult than many people realize. "It pretty much feels like you're drowning for four minutes," Abel said. Combining elements of acrobatics, swimming and dance-type movements, synchronized swimmers perform a routine of about four minutes in length. Read More
Softball pitcher found God in college BEIJING (BP)--Pitcher Monica Abbott contributed a perfect game and a 3-0 record to the U.S. women's softball team's 8-0 run at the Beijing Olympics, but the squad fell 3-1 to Japan ...
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CHEFOO, China--My dear Brother Bell, Yours, so full of assurance of sympathy and prayer, reached me last Sunday. I thank you most heartily for your letter. Several of the [Foreign Mission] Journal readers have already kindly written me, and perhaps others will do so.
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Kenneth S. Hemphill A growing concern
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--Recently I was in Tulsa, Okla., sharing in an EKG/Sunday School conference. It was both well-organized and well-attended.
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