"I'm so overwhelmed," White said. "I saw the video footage of the Salt Lake Games, and I saw people crying. I didn't want to cry. But then, the family came up out of nowhere, and everybody's just crying their eyes out. I mean, I really understand what this whole competition's about."

The Carlsbad, Calif., resident, known as "The Flying Tomato" because of his wild, red hair, did what everyone said he could do — win the gold medal. His teammate, Danny Kass, repeated as the silver medalist.

On a postcard day in the mountains, with only the deep blue sky his limit, White scored 46.8 points out of 50 on his first run in the final. He landed back-to-back 1,080-degree jumps, grabbing his board on both, to the pounding beat of AC/DC's "Black in Black."

He won gold only after overcoming a first-round bobble brought on by nerves and the sheer awe of participating in his first Olympics.

White underwent heart surgery twice before the age of five after being born with a heart defect.

photo & story courtesy seattletimes.nwsource.com, 02/13/06

The Most Important Commandment

³⁴But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they thought up a fresh question of their own to ask him. ³⁵One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: ³⁶"Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?" ³⁷Jesus replied, "`You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.'

Spiritual Blessings

³How we praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we belong to Christ.

Fans adore the "The Flying Tomato".  In a sense, he's already become a legend - larger than life!  In the years ahead, he may be worshipped as a hero!  

It's great to cheer for and appreciate our "heroes", but there is only one HERO who is worthy of all of our worship!  He is indeed - larger than life - He is LIFE itself!  If we're going to go for God's "gold", we must follow in Christ's steps.

When Jesus was asked to come up with His answer for the most important commandment to follow, He made it very simple!  Simple to remember, but hard to do, right?

WHAT DOES IT MEAN ON A DAILY PRACTICAL BASIS TO "LOVE GOD WITH ALL OF OUR HEART, SOUL AND MIND"?

Way too often, we view worship as something we do on Sunday morning in church or at a Christian concert.  But worship is so much more than songs of celebration or reflection.  It is so much more than prayers and being with Christ's body once or twice a week.  Worship is following God's greatest commandment - to love Him with all we got!  This means that our values, our thoughts, our attitude, our actions - are all about God - not about us!

And when we think about Who He is and what He has done for us and promises us - Who else could be our HERO?

Just think!  God gives us all of the spiritual blessings that are in Heaven, because we belong to the "HERO"! 

As His children, we must use them and enjoy them!  We must worship our "HERO"!

• Pray every day for God to show you how to worship Him by loving Him with all you got!
• Make a written list of the "spiritual blessings" you have experienced from God.  Place it where you will see it regularly as a reminder to worship Him with your attitude and actions.
• As you watch Olympic "heroes" receiving their medals, take a moment to thank the only One Who is truly worthy of worship.

Daily Devos is published Monday through Friday. Archives can be found at YFC.ORG.  Its purpose is to help you apply truths from God's Word every day.

Our writer, Byron Emmert, has been involved with Youth For Christ for 30 years. He's served as Campus Life Staff, as a writer, and in leadership for the DCLA Conferences. Byron is married to Linda and their family includes two married sons and daughters-in-law, and a daughter in college.  He loves sports, deep dish pizza, and spending time with his family.