God’s Holiness

Holiness – God’s holiness means that he is separated from sin and devoted to seeking his own honor.

 

Exodus 26:33 – “and the veil shall separate for you the holy place from the most holy”

 

The Sabbath day was made holy because it was set apart from the ordinary activities of the world and dedicated to God’s service. 

 

Lev 19:2 – “You shall be holy; for I the Lord your God am holy”

 

Romans 12:1,2 – I urge you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. 

 

Holiness is a difficult thing to grasp.  Even as I write this…the fact that God is so uniqe…so different from all things.  He is holy.  Set apart…not that he has attempted to be that, but that he just is.  He is holy. 

 

So the verse that we read above…”You shall be holy; for I the Lord your God am holy”.  How on earth am I supposed to do that?  If God in his very character is good, and holy and perfect…then what am I?  Unholy, unperfect…ungood. 

 

Not me but Christ that lives in me.  Not me but Christ that lives in me. 

 

The veil was torn.  Matthew 27:51 – and behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth shook; and the rocks were split.

 

This means that by the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, and by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in a new creature in Christ, holiness is no longer unattainable.  It’s not something we can’t strive for anymore.  Without Christ, we can’t do it, but as a new creature spiritually we can. 

Strong Legs

Maybe it’s something I’ll start to say to myself when I’m riding. I remember the last few times that I rode I just felt…brittle. The cold weather is having something to do with it. That’s not a good feeling coming into any trick, let alone the tricks that I should own, but deep down inside realize I don’t.

I’ve watched Transgression about 3 times now and I’m in a different mood. Tonight I feel like I can charge anything. I keep watching Randall and I’m amazed at how he tackles the wake and comes down and never seems to get hurt.

Remember Randall rides at 87.5 ft and 28mph. That’s a whole different ball game. To any wakeboarder. Somewhere in the back of my head if I feel like my board can’t “slice” through the water well enough I chicken out on things. Well when I go faster it’s harder to get the board in the water.

So i’ve come up with “Strong legs”. I just need to be stronger on the water. I need to charge a double up again. I need to go for the front flip with everything I’ve got…not the measley attempts at them this year for shudo. I also need to try this stuff every time I’m out, not just once a year. So tonight I’m strong. Tomorrow…who knows.

Go out and ride today.

Ride strong.

Video Review: Transgression

Aside from the truth that I really admire the Gator Boards team…this video straight rocks.

I really think it’s probably the best wakeboarding vide ever produced.

I have a soft spot in my heart for Hit it because in my life that’s when wakeboarding turned into what it is today…or at least solidified it’s position.

I think Transgression is the culmination of the last 10 years of riding, attitude, and style.

I’ll tell you why I think that.

You know when you listen to a good song and you don’t hear the drums? To me that means the drummer is doing his job. If you heard him, that would mean that something got fouled up.

I think this video is that in the wakeboard video libraries. It was like a natural expression of the Gatorboards team, and through that they said, “Here’s what wakeboarding looks like to us.”

I like it.

Let’s start with the hype.
We’ve been waiting for the release of this thing for months. The Vandall being off the water for 720 days and his return contributed to the nail biting.

It felt like it got put back a couple of times, but I don’t know that for sure. All in all, the hype helped me want to see it.

Soundtrack.
I absolutely love it. I have been saying this for a couple of months now, but If I heard one more wakeboard video with a Linkin Park song in it…well, I wouldn’t do anything but further realize that there truly is no such thing as original thought. I stand corrected.
Lot’s of mello chill tunes, with melodic build ups to support the riding, and sometimes the crashing. Nothing was over done, I thought it very subtle and tastefully applied.

Riding.
Keep in mind I use Hit it as the standard for which I measure all other wake vids. I think I remember picking my Jaw up off the floor after probably 5 solid minutes of Scott Byerly’s riding in Hit it. With Transgression I found my self picking my jaw up off the floor due to a few new things that I had never seen, but mostly due to the angles and quality with which this film was done.
Let’s get back to riding. This felt raw to me. The crashes weren’t saved for the “crash section”. I felt like certain gaps and tricks had more of a “timeline” approach to the editing wherein I could enjoy the process with the rider more and not just focus on the perfect. Things that stand out: Lidberg’s crashes on the land gap, Randall’s two boat wake front flips, and Matt Manzari. I’ll be honest I’m not much of a skate guy, mainly because I don’t know all the names of the tricks and I don’t have any skaters that ride with me. This kid was good. He made it look like dancing. You know, the kind of dancing you know you need to do to get the girl, but you’re afraid to try because you realize that you’ll never be the best. Matt’s the best. Hide your girlfriend.

The editing.
Some new cool angles that I haven’t ever seen before were in this that I’m sure will be copied very soon. The destinations where Transgression was made were amazing. Beautiful scenery with some really cool accomodations make me want to head to Bali, Thailand, and the Dominican Republic.

Overall.
If you only own two wakeboard videos you need to own Hit it, and Transgression. If you are going to only own one… you need to get Transgression.

The NEW best wakeboarding video ever!

I just got done watching the new video from Gator Boards, Transgression.

I might be speechless. I actually can’t quite figure out what I feel. I felt the same feelings while watching that I feel when I see God moving in a situation and I want to yell it real loud, but don’t cause I might ruin the puchline or the lesson that God is dishing out.

Oops. I guess I just gave the punchline away.

I started wakeboarding about 11 years ago. I loved the sport from almost the first time I got on a board. Hooked, addicted, whatever you want to call it, I was in.
I’ve been seeing flashes of images from the first couple of years of wakeboarding in my life. I see Doug Homan. I see a grey and blue Flight 69 wakeboard. I see Paul Gogans tail grab. I see the sun going down on endless summer nights. I also see faces of professional atheletes that I’ll never forget. Scott Byerly. Erik Lutgert. CC Roberts. Brannon Meek.

Sometimes I wondered why those faces came to mind. Now I know. God had put a passion in my heart for a people group a long time ago. The problem was that I had brushed it off cause this “people group” wasn’t a nation or didn’t fit in the way that I thought “it was supposed to work”.

God called me to be a missionary in the wakeboarding world.

There. I said it.

I remember praying for these faces. Not only those pro riders, but for the wakeboarders in my life as well. I found an old prayer journal of mine from 98 the other day. This was right before I got married, it was when I had started my first youth ministry position, and I was still trying to hold on to a wakeboarding love. In this prayer journal I prayed for three things on a consistent basis. 1. I prayed for my future wife. 2. I prayed for the students under my care. 3. I prayed for my wakeboarders.

Gus, Drew and the girls that used to hang out with them. I don’t remember Drew’s girls name, but Sandy was Gus’ girlfriend at the time. Gabe Fowler was on that list frequently along with many others.

Why am I writing this? Maybe it’s more for me than it is for you. Maybe not.

As I watched Transgression tonight it was an answered prayer 10 years in the making. I remember praying for Erik. I remember having a passion in my heart for these guys. I remember not so long ago realizing that this passion and the love that I have for wakeboarders would never die.

I confess to you that I’m owning up to what God has called me to do. God has called me as a missionary to the wakeboarding world. I’m not going to doubt because I’ve never heard of it being done before. I’m going to stop the mistrust because “wakeboarders aren’t a real mission field”, and because “wakeboarding is fun”. These are lies that I’ve believe the last couple of years. I just stopped believing the lies and started believing what God is telling me.

God has allowed me to be the founder of wakeboard church.

Now it’s your turn. What call have you been running from? Maybe you need to verbalize some things. You are a youth pastor. You are a good mother. You are a child of God. You are going to make it.

I’m excited about the part you and I have to play in God’s worldwide redemptive drama.

You’re on.

Some Pictures From Wakeboard Church

Some of these are older, but they are still cool. Enjoy.

Greatest Wakeboarding Video Ever?

I think so – check it out!

New Day and Time for WBC

In case you haven’t noticed, it’s getting dark earlier and earlier every day. Since most of the WBC days take place in the Spring, Summer and Fall this isn’t usually a problem. However, since we’re getting closer to Winter, it is quickly becoming an issue.

In order to get the most out of each WBC event, we are moving the ride day/time to Sunday at 1:00 p.m. We will still be posting details here and on www.dallaswakeboarding.com/ but we wanted to be sure that the word was out.

So, what are you waiting for? Go tell every wakeboarder that you know to set aside Sunday afternoons to ride. Seriously. Go do it NOW!