For Nearly Three Years,
FOR NEARLY THREE YEARS, Jamie Bestwick missed competing in an X Games bike event. Whether his foot was healing in a boot or his arm was resting in a sling, injuries kept Bestwick—one of the best riders in the world—out of the Games. But Bestwick returned with a bang at the 2003 X Games Global Championships by pulling a new trick out of his bag.
The final event of the Games pitted Team Europe against Team USA in the Bike Vert competition. With the United States already wrapping up the top overall prize at the Men’s Ski Superpipe, the riders competed for personal pride and bragging rights. Bestwick earned both with the first ever tailwhip flair pulled in competition—that’s where the rider flies off the halfpipe, flairs away from the bike, and spins the entire machine all the way around before catching the pedals with his feet and landing it. It’s a got-to-see-it-to-believe-it kind of move, and it easily won Bestwick first place.
Team USA’s Kevin Robinson and Dave Mirra took second and third. Robinson’s no-handed corkscrew flair, 540, and tailwhip over the elbow garnered him the silver. Mirra hit a good final run by landing a tailwhip 540 and double tailwhip that earned him the bronze.
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POINT Jamie Bestwick didn’t just limp back into X Games competition; he returned healthy and with a new arsenal of tricks. For months he had worked on the tailwhip flair, and he pulled it at the perfect time to win gold.
Anyone who doesn’t know Jesus Christ limps through life. Without a Savior, no one is complete. The Bible says Jesus brings us back to wholeness through him. The old injuries of sin disappear. God’s newness of life takes over. We gain strength and the ability to love through Jesus. And now we have the ability and the command to go out and tell others about him.
GOAL! Can you think of anything that’s different about you since you accepted Jesus into your life? Write these things down.
Thank God for giving you a new life.
All this newness of life is from God, who brought us back to himself through what Christ did. And God has given us the task of reconciling people to him.
2 Corinthians 5:18
