Christian Rosha Hosoi (/hoʊˈsɔɪ/ hoh-SOY; born October 5, 1967) is an American professional skateboarder. He is also known by the nicknames "Christ" and "Holmes".
Who would have ever thought I'd find love, contentment and joy in a prison cell, but I did. I knew that I knew that I knew that day, I'd been released, and I thought to myself, "I need to tell everyone about this" because no one had ever told me.
I'd searched everywhere for this thing called love. I went through life seeking something that would be the ultimate.
I had people telling me I was the best and when it would sink in, I'd feel like I'd have to push things further, otherwise I wasn't worthy of their praise.
God always puts somebody in your life at the right moment.
Without parental guidance telling you there's another way to live it can be tough but my kids have an advantage over my life. I can tell them I know what it's like and that they don't ever want to go to the places I've been, whereas when I grew up, it was so accepted and normal that if you didn't do it, you were considered weird.
I want to be an example, the person who when they look at, they say, "That guy is a Christian, there's no doubt about it. " I want to be blameless. I want to be an encouragement. I want to be a role model for the believer.
I wanted to turn pro at like 12 years old when I was riding for Bones Brigade.
Contests were so pertinent that you had to think that way but today, it's not like that. You have your contest skaters, you have your video skaters, you have your skaters who don't like either of them, but they all are sponsored and get paid.
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.
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.
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 was introduced to skateboarding through my father. He was a surfer back in the 50's & 60's in Hawaii, where my parents grew up. They later moved to California and I was born. Skateboarding was the thing for surfers here in California in the 60's and my Dad immediately made me a homemade board.
Every kid wants to reach their goals in life and be the best. During my Bruce Lee phase, I wanted to be the best martial artist in the world.
I'm having a blast using the gifts and talents that God has given me as a platform to minister to people and love them and shine the light that He wants me to shine.
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.
Kids get caught up in technical & electronic things like games & videos when all we had were magazines.
Skateboarding and that whole industry just became so far away. I was trying to find that ultimate place, that place of contentment but I couldn't. I didn't find it in pushing the dark things of life to the limit either.
I read the different translations of the Bible they had and really just dove into it, almost so I could prove it all right.
Back in the day however, careers were strictly built on competitions, just like surfing, though surfing is changing too so you can free surf and still get paid. So I think that rivalry was really because of the fans and the media who built it up, but it did bring something exciting about the sport, just like in any sport, whether it's Larry Bird or Magic Johnson, I think it just made skating that much more exciting.
I won contest after contest until finally I realized, "Ok, I am the best in the world, but now what?" So I opened my own company, but there was still that feeling of, "What else do I need to do?"