Spiral..

You’d think things would have gone swimmingly for the all-time Olympic gold medal holder, Michael Phelps. But they didn’t.

Phelps carried the American flag during the opening ceremonies on August 5, 2016. Then he added more gold medals to his impressive lifetime total.

As Phelps told ESPN, following his announced retirement in 2012, he struggled to “figure out who he was outside the pool.” In his words, “I was a train wreck. I was like a time bomb, waiting to go off. I had no self-esteem, no self-worth. There were times where I didn’t want to be here. It was not good. I felt lost.”    He self-medicated or kept it to himself.

In the immediate aftermath of that DUI arrest, he cut himself off from family and other loved ones and “thought the world would just be better off without me . . . I figured that was the best thing to do, just end my life.”

A former All Pro linebacker Ray Lewis, whom Phelps considers a kind of “older brother.” Seeing the hopelessness and despair in his young friend, Lewis, an outspoken Christian, told him, “This is when we fight . . . This is when real character shows up. Don’t shut down.

Lewis convinced Phelps to enter rehab and gave him a book to read while he was there: “The Purpose-Driven Life” by Rick Warren.

The book changed Phelps’ life. Within a few days, Phelps called Lewis an told him, man. "You saved my life.’”  The book convinced Phelps to reconcile with his father from whom he had been estranged for more than two decades. Upon seeing each other, they embraced.

Michael Phelps’ story is a reminder that no matter how big a mess your life may be, and no matter how dim the last embers of hope may glow, God is still there.  Just a thought.