Head Above Water

On the night of January 14^th, 1978, Kathy Kleiner, a sophomore at Florida State University, went to bed in her room at her sorority house.  In the early hours of the morning, she heard a noise and woke to see a man standing over her.  Before she could react, the man hit her in the face with a club, then swiveled and did the same to her roommate.  He repeatedly clubbed them both until the headlights of a car shone into their room, scaring the man off.  The other girls in the sorority house called the police and paramedics.  Kathy was rushed to the hospital and treated for a broken jaw, a torn right cheek, and injuries to her tongue.  She found out that just before the man attacked her and her roommate, he had murdered two of their sorority sisters.  His name was Ted Bundy.

On December 10^th, 2005, 16-year-old Kechi Okwuchi was on a plane with sixty of her classmates, going home to Nigeria for Christmas.  The plane crashed, killing 107 of the 109 passengers.  Kechi was one of the two survivors.  She suffered third-degree burns over 65% of her body, lost partial vision in one of her eyes, and has had over 100 surgeries in the years since the crash happened.

On June 5^th, 2002, 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart was abducted from her home.  Her abductor and his female partner took Elizabeth up into the hills above her home in Utah.  When the search parties began, Elizabeth heard her name being called, but her abductors threatened to kill her entire family if she made a sound.  Eventually, her abductors took her to California, where she was chained by her ankle or tethered by a rope so that she couldn’t escape.  She was raped every single day and sometimes went days without food and hardly any water.  Nine months after her kidnapping, two women recognized her abductor and his partner from watching “America’s Most Wanted.”  They called the police, and Elizabeth was rescued.

A brutal attack, a plane crash, and a kidnapping—most of us will never have life experiences as enormously traumatic as these.  But we all have life experiences that change us.  We all have watershed moments.  The word “watershed” is a geographic term referring to “a ridge of land separating rivers and streams flowing in one direction from those flowing in the opposite direction.” (Merriam-Webster)  So if you’re standing on that ridge, you’ll see water going in one direction on one side of the ridge, and in another direction on the other side.  You’ll literally see a turning point.  What would you do in one of these watershed moments?

You finally try to make a long-held dream come true, and you fail.

You realize that your circumstances aren’t going to change.  But you can.

A friend deeply wounds you.

You’ve prayed about a situation for years, and God’s answer becomes clear.  But it isn’t the answer you wanted.

In a moment of clarity, you realize you have a serious problem—but you don’t know how to begin to climb out of the deep pit you’re in.

You’re diagnosed with a serious illness, and your future is uncertain.

Here’s what Kathy, Kechi, and Elizabeth chose to do in their own watershed moments:

Kathy Kleiner, the woman attacked by Ted Bundy, chose not to let the attack break her.  Just three months after the attack, she got a job at a lumber yard, thinking that working with men would help her to overcome her fear of them.  After that job, she worked as a bank teller and was robbed at gunpoint.  She didn’t quit the job; she took the afternoon off and returned to work the next day.  A little over a year after the attack by Bundy, Kathy testified against him, looking right at him when she answered questions on the stand.  Bundy was sentenced to death; Kathy went on to get married and have children.

Kechi Okwuchi, the plane crash survivor, was brought to America by her mother for treatment of her burns.  While undergoing treatments, Kechi chose to continue her education, graduating from high school, then college.  To deal with the pain of continuous surgeries and treatments for her burns, Kechi turned to music.  Singing was her only escape when her pain became almost unbearable.  In 2017, Kechi auditioned for “America’s Got Talent” and made it to the finals, launching a singing career.  In a few weeks, she will be competing in the final rounds of “America’s Got Talent: The Champions.”

Elizabeth Smart testified against her kidnappers, sending both of them to federal prison.  In the years since her abduction, she chose to use her experience to affect positive change.  She founded the Elizabeth Smart Foundation which supports the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and educates the public about abduction.  She has written two books about her ordeal and the aftermath.  She is now married and has three children.

Elizabeth, Kechi, and Kathy could have made different choices: they could have decided to hide from the pain of life and just survive, day after day.  Instead, they chose to thrive.  I haven’t always made that choice.  I’ve let pain, addiction, depression, and shame break me.  But I’ve learned that those breakdowns don’t have to be permanent.  When I let life break me down to crumbs of who I used to be, I can choose to get back up—no matter how long it takes or how painful and arduous the process.  I can be broken and still be working towards wholeness.

In the past few days, I have come to a watershed moment—I’m at a major turning point in my life, and I know the importance of the choice I have to make.  I think of Kathy.  Of Kechi.  Of Elizabeth.  I think of the enormously courageous choices they made, and I think of the blood, sweat, and tears it will require for me to make the courageous choice and follow through with it.  I see myself on a ridge, looking at water flowing in two different directions.  I look in both directions, knowing it’s once again make or break time.  Survive or thrive.  This is my moment.  With a heart full of nervous hope and my eyes on the God who will lead me, I make my choice.