Wakeboarding has been a driving force in my life since the age of seven. I remember being a kid scanning through all of the wakeboarding magazines and watching all the newest wakeboarding videos I could get my hands on to see what the professionals were doing. Now, 20 years later, wakeboarding is not only my passion but my career.
It’s easy as an athlete to be constantly comparing and seeing what you can do to maintain your competitive edge. I found myself in an endless cycle chasing after acceptance and to be good enough. My identity had become so wrapped up in wakeboarding that I would find myself on an emotional roller coaster depending on how I was riding and performing.
I fully gave my life to Jesus Christ in 2010, and I can tell you that six years later that I don’t even recognize the man I was anymore. God is showing me things and helping me to be the man He’s calling me to be. He’s helping me discover my true purpose. He’s showing me ways to improve my wakeboarding, and most importantly helped my find my identity in Him, so that when wakeboarding fails me that I am still confident and secure in God. In God I have found all I need. My passion for wakeboarding is from the Lord. God gave me my talents and abilities to glorify Him. God never intended for me to be a clone of the wakeboarders I admired, but He made me specifically, with a specific purpose.
The summer of 2015, God inspired my now wife and I to begin constructing a booklet to encourage my students in their faith. Over time, what was intended to be a small booklet transformed into a full-scale devotional. Our vision was to create something simple that walks through exactly what being a Christian means. This was something I wish I had had access to long ago.
I would hear bits and pieces about God and knew of Him but didn’t actually know Him. Trying to read and understand the Bible by myself overwhelmed me. I needed something in one place to walk me through everything in order. What we created walks through the basics of what happened in Genesis to when Jesus rose from the dead, while addressing specific questions and later full chapters relating to wakeboarding.
God put it on my heart to create a riding video of my unseen footage from the past two years of filming with Loren Ekart and to title it Wake by Faith. The video is premiering now on Alliance Magazine Online and can be viewed here. We decided to give this title to both the video and devotional as a package. I hope you’ll watch, read, share, and enjoy. My passion for wakeboarding and people is thriving like never before. I’ve completely put my heart into this project with hopes that the truths in it will transform your life and relate to your life in the way it has mine.
DOWNLOAD THE FREE WAKE BY FAITH DEVOTIONAL HERE
Please contact my wife or I with any questions you may have regarding your faith. We would love to hear your comments and feedback. I would also like to give a big thank you to the people who made this project possible:
Firstly, My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
Loren Ekart – Video & Editing
Ben Vens – Video Footage
Timmy Burnier – Driver
My Wife, Sydney
Trevor – LOZ Dive (recovering go-pro footage from bottom of lake)
Also thank you to all of our incredible sponsors and supporters. Projects like this would not be possible without you.
WAKE EFFECTS | FOX | RONIX | XCEL | ZINKA | DISPENSA-MATIC | BEAR TRAILERS | POP’S AUTHENTIC BEEF STICKS | SENTACT
IN HIS WAKES | WAKEWELL | RIDE NATURE | THIS IS MY STORY | ETERNAL RIDERS
