Near Misses,

NEAR MISSES, synchronized stunts, and off-the-charts creativity have made the skateboard vert doubles one of the most popular events at the X Games. So it didn’t surprise anybody when fans filled the Staples Center to watch the finals at the 2003 competition.

With practice kicking off at 2 p.m., riders got together to hone their skills and work out the perfect run. For some competitors, this marked their first opportunity to skate together. Neil Hendrix and Buster Halterman—newcomers to vert doubles—made the most of this time to tweak their performance. The extra work paid off in a third-place finish.

But the night belonged to veteran vert skaters Bucky Lasek, Bob Burnquist, Rune Glifberg, and Mike Crum. The “CrumBerg” duo came superclose to each other on several over-under moves including Crum’s huge heelflip frontside air over Glifberg’s kickflip backflip. The team displayed great amplitude and used the entire halfpipe in finishing second. And second was as close as Team CrumBerg was going to get to the top, because the Killer Bs were on their game.

Bucky and Bob stunned the crowd by pulling out the hardest tricks after barely using any of the practice time. Truth be told, Lasek and Burnquist had been secretly practicing on Burnquist’s backyard ramp. The pair executed several tough board exchanges, such as when Lasek held a board on the ramp and Burnquist rode across the halfpipe, jumped on Lasek’s board, and pulled a tailslide revert.

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POINT Bucky Lasek and Bob Burnquist surprised everybody with their gold-medal-winning performance. But the Killer Bs earned their medal by practicing hard. Their secret runs in Burnquist’s backyard paved the way for victory.

The Bible says God sees everything—even things done in secret. And he rewards our good behavior even when nobody else notices. The Killer Bs were rewarded for their secret practices by taking home the gold and a lot of prize money. God rewards us in a lot of ways . . . some of which we won’t see until we get to heaven.

GOAL! Doesn’t it feel good when others recognize your good actions? Commit to God to do the right thing, even if nobody notices—because he always does.