How hard do you have to fall and hit rock bottom before you make the decision to stop doing whatever it is that’s satisfying you on the outside, but killing you on the inside? Christian Hosoi, an All-American professional skateboarder, lived by the creed, “Skate and Destroy.” While he found his calling in skating at an early age, he also found himself in the midst of destruction. “I was trying to destroy myself” because I was searching for love in money, fame and girls. None of it satisfied me.”

Hosoi had fame. He had money. He had it all but it was all taken. It took him losing it all to realize that freedom wasn’t in material possessions. It had nothing to do with cares of this world. He realized who and where freedom really was: in Christ

We were the outcasts.

We were the rebels.

We were the ones that people thought were trouble-makers.

We had a passion for what we loved to do, and that was just to skateboard on anything. Tricks were coming. Every single day there was another trick being invented. There was huge air. The attitude was skate and destroy.

I got introduced to skateboarding when I was seven or eight years old, and that was it for me. From that day on, skateboarding would change my life.  When you’re told you’re really good at that age, you really just take it in and you just start becoming who they tell you you are. And that’s what I became. I became just like my idols. I was smoking weed. I was doing acid. This is like ten years old smoking weed, twelve years old doing acid. Thirteen and fourteen years old starting to do cocaine. I was living in Hollywood, VIP everywhere I went. I was the youngest kid at the clubs. They had all the girls. I pretty much had it all, but inside of me was dying.

You see I was searching for love everywhere. I was searching for it in money.. I was searching for it in fame. I was searching for it in skateboarding. Personally I was like a bucket full of holes. I was searching for it in girls. I was searching for it in everything the world had to offer. Every time I filled it up, it would just drain out, and none of it satisfied me. And it was just this never-ending cycle. I was empty every single time in the vulnerable time in my life. That’s when I got introduced to crystal methamphetamines. And from that moment, that’s when my life began to really change. Going around the mountain. Ice. Speed. Tweak. From ’95 all the way to January 2000, I did Crystal Meth all day, every day. Going around the mountain. Crank. Whatever you want to call it. I smoked it. I snorted it. I shot it. I ate it. Any way possible, I did it. Basically, if you want to say, I was just trying to destroy myself. But I would’ve said I was just trying to have a good time. One more time, one more time, one more time.

In that point, I can remember saying, “I’ve got to quit, I’m going to make a big comeback. I’m going to blow everyone’s minds and I’m going to get sober. I’ll quit tomorrow and I’m going to skate and I’m going to have this huge turnaround in my life.” And I pictured it in my head. But  the same time, it was this constant never-ending cycle of trying to say this but yet be sucked into a vortex covering my pain. One more time. Covering  my shame. Tomorrow. One more time. Covering up the pride that was burning up inside of me that I wasn’t the guy anymore. Going around the mountain. ‘Til finally in ’99, I said to myself, “You know what? I can’t do it.”

I finally got arrested. I’m coming off the plane and at the other  end of the line, there’s people waiting for me. I looked around and I said, “Where can I run?” And there’s people over there, there’s people over there, and there’s a person in front of me standing and saying, “You know, we have the suspicion that you’re carrying narcotics.” WOW, I’m really in a serious situation right now. I walk in and there were these guys like, “Christian Hosoi! No way! What’s up? How ya doing man? We saw you on the news! I had your board when I was a kid!” And I said, “What are you in here for?” and he said, “Murder.” And I go “What am I doing here?!”

I had my first phonecall and it was to my girlfriend, Jennifer. And all I can remember is calling her and saying, “Babe. I’m looking at ten years.” I was crying, she was crying. And she said, “I love you. You just gotta trust in God.” And I went, “God?! I need an attorney, babe. I need bail. I’m not dying. What is God going to do for me?” I believed in Karma. I believed in God in a way that I believed God was everywhere. I thought my good behavior as a good person was that ticket into this place called Heaven if there was one.

I had to question my existence. I said, “Why am I here?” And I needed answers. And she said, “Go get a Bible Christian.” Go get a Bible? Go get a Bible… Hmm. And I remember just going into my room, and me holding the Bible. You know I just prayed right there. I said, “God, if you’re real, I need help.” I opened it up and I started at Genesis and it was like, “This is like a Star Trek movie. I’m not going to start there.” And I opened it up and it said Revelation and I’ve never had a revelation. I opened to John and said, “Who’s John?” And then I opened to puh-smalms. “What’s Puh-salms? And what’s Proverbs? Those are weird names of books.” And then I got to Kings and said, “Now this would be interesting. I’m going to start here.”

I believe in the second chapter, King David is telling Solomon that if he would follow the Lord all of his days that he will be blessed. And it was like immediately the scales fell off my eyes. And I knew why I was where I was. I knew that I was created for a purpose- that it was to know God, follow God, live for God, and love God. And it all started when I just opened up the bible and read it. And from that moment on, all I did was read the Bible. All I did was want to know God. All I did was pray. And in the next two to three weeks, I gave my life to the Lord over the phone at the county jail in San Bernardino with my uncle. He said, “Do you want to give your life to Jesus?” And I said, “Yes I do.” I didn’t know what came with that, I just knew I wanted to do it. It was like all of the sudden, I just cried my eyes out. And it was like all the guilt, all the pain, all the hurt, all the  shame just fell off my shoulders. And I was just sitting there, knowing that I was moving into a whole new realm, and it was living for Jesus.

And, I came alive. And I started getting so excited about life that people were like, “What’s wrong with you?” and I was like, “I’m free! I’m free!” “You must’ve bumped your head there Christian because look at those bars. You’re in prison.” And I said, “No! I was in prison my whole life living in sin and death, to coming into a prison cell and accepting Jesus into my life in saying, “I make you my Lord and my Savior” and in that place I became a free man. It was like all of the sudden I went to prison and got free! And my objective was to move people. My objective was to pray for people. My objective in there was to be changed because I knew one day that I was going to be released and I knew that I knew that I knew that I’d be sitting here telling you my story about how God has changed my life because I said, “Come in and be my Lord and Savior.”

I’ve experienced every level of love that the world has to offer. And there’s no love like the Lord’s love. I am Christian Hosoi. And I am Second.

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