I wanted to be the best in the world and at 12 years-old I won my first big amateur contest called The Gold Cup Series Contest at Marina Del Ray Skatepark. That's when I really started to believe I could turn pro, though it wasn't until two years later when I was 14 that I actually did with Sims.

I want to inspire and encourage people and intrigue them to want to know what makes me tick, which is ultimately the love of God, the grace, peace and forgiveness of God that I'm so thankful & grateful for.

God always puts somebody in your life at the right moment.

Two weeks after the arrested I was on the phone with my wife and we said a prayer and I was crying and just so happy, I can't even explain it. It was euphoric. People said I went from freedom my whole life to prison, but in reality, I went from imprisonment and bondage of sin and death my whole life, to finding freedom in a prison cell.

Gerry Lopez was a famous surfer back then and his board had a lightning bolt in the in the middle, so my Dad made me a surf/skateboard with a lightning bolt on it.

When I was released from prison everybody thought I'd go back to doing the same things I did before, but I had no desire to do any of that anymore. That stuff steals, kills, and destroys your life and robs you of all the blessings that God has for you.

I'd gotten to the place where I wanted to quit using drugs but couldn't and finally I landed in that prison cell where everything was cut.