For all his snowboarding feats of daring, we’ll always remember Jim Rippey for being the first guy to do a flip on a snowmobile and then immediately credit the Lord Jesus Christ. But that was then, now Rippey is an associate pastor at Grace Church in Reno, Nevada and, according to a story in the Sierra Sun, he doesn’t miss the pro shred life at all.
“I felt like the Lord spoke to my heart,” said Rippey, a Truckee resident who was working in the Tahoe backcountry with Standard Films at the time of his decision. . . “There were these younger kids who were trying to film some lines, and I was sitting there watching them and I remember the Lord spoke to my heart and said, ‘Jim, you’ve been there, you’ve done that and you’ve done it at the highest level, and now it’s time to let go of it. I’ve got something else for you to do.’ . . . “And I was just like, ‘Wow, OK.’”
It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Rippey has gone in on his new life just has hard as he did his old. All we can say is, amen, bro.
[Link: Sierra Sun]
