Big Challenges Demand

BIG CHALLENGES DEMAND big performances. At the 2003 X Games Skateboard Vert finals, the largest halfpipe in X Games history combined with an all-star field to leave the crowd breathless.

Once the fans caught their breath, they saw that Bucky Lasek had won the gold. The best-score-in-three-runs format allowed every boarder to go for broke with each trick. And Lasek’s second run was near perfection. The Baltimore, Maryland, native strung together such a huge array of tricks that fans went into oxygen debt from screaming. His famous heelflip frontside gay twist (where he does a 360 at the lip while taking off backwards) came right after a massive frontside rodeo.

Lasek’s score of 94.67 cemented him at the top, even though the ever consistent Andy Macdonald nailed five consecutive 540s on his final run to earn 92.67 points. The final piece of hardware went to Denmark’s Rune Glifberg. Glifberg posted a 92.33 on his final attempt by landing a frontside heelflip, alley-oop 540 to a McTwist, and topped things off with a nosegrab switch kickflip.

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POINT Bucky Lasek brought fans to their feet with his amazing gold-medal performance. By stringing together trick after trick, Lasek rode his board to perfection and left no doubt who was the best in the world on that evening.

As believers in Jesus Christ, we’re asked to pursue perfection. With Jesus as our example and the Bible as our guide, we try to live flawlessly. But the fact is we’ll never score a perfect 100 in the ultimate Judge’s eyes—just like Lasek’s perfect run didn’t garner 100 either. Instead we must realize that we can’t be perfect. Our perfection has limits, but God—and his Word—are limitless. That’s why we should look to God to forgive our shortcomings. God’s grace makes us appear perfect in his eyes.

GOAL! Try to live just one day following all of God’s commands. Do you think you could do it? How about for a year . . . or a lifetime? It just can’t be done. Praise God that his Word has no limits.