This past week has been eventful, to say the least. God has been stretching and encouraging me. Originally, JSAW’s wake event, Ride Day, with Matt Manzari was schedule to happen this past Saturday. Unfortunately, the weather report projected thunder storms on that day and there was a great decision to make 24 hours prior to the event, do we cancel or reschedule? The professional rider, Matt Manzari, called me during this moment of anxiety to ask the same question. He was leaving for the airport in 40 minutes and needed to know whether or not to board his flight. I discussed with a co-worker the challenge and decided to push the event to Sunday. Not only did we push the event a day later but also changed the timing and location. This change wasn’t easy but God blessed it by doubling our attendance. This lead to another issue to solve, we needed another boat to serve the now larger group of riders. A boat owner reached out during this moment to check in on the event. I told him about my double bind and he agreed to help. Boom! Just like that God provided a boat right when we needed it.
On the day of the event 20 riders showed up with their families eager to get out on the water. This is way more than I imagined with such a quick turn in the scheduling process. The riders ranged in abilities; some were borderline professional level whereas some had never been on a wake board or wake surf board in their life. More than half of these riders were new to JSAW and Christianity. Throughout the event we built relationships with new riders and their families. The families enjoyed having onshore acitivities to keep them busy while all the riders went out on the boat for a few hours. Parents played yard games, ate food, went fishing, paddle boarding and just hung out around the fire. Once the boat parked for the night we transitioned into watching a film. The film was called Miracle Matt by This Is My Story, a ministry that shares athletes stories through film. In Matt’s video he shared his journey of becoming a bold follower of Christ. One of the coolest parts in my opinion was towards the end when he finds himself battling for his life in the hospital. He realizes that having his identity and value in Christ is worth way more than having it in wake skating. This event was successful because of this truth that was shared. Our mission at JSAW is to make riders into disciples and we connected with so many new riders this past weekend. These riders experienced an event where solid Christian dudes that love riding took time to coach and encourage them. This model goes along with our vision to transform action sports culture. My hope is that they accept our invitation to join us all summer long on the boat. As matter of fact, one rider just 24 hours after the event purchased a season pass for all of our weekly wake events this summer. Continue to support JSAW by partnering with us in prayer for the people that came to this event. We want these riders to know and experience God, even if that means it inconveniences us.
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