(From The SouthEast Outlook Newspaper)
Dylan ...First ran the race.
On Dec. 30, 2011, the 17-year-old senior at Jeffersontown High School pulled on his boots, strapped on his helmet and goggles and straddled his neon green Kawasaki motorcycle with the number 316 in giant letters on the front and side. Everyone who knew Dylan understood the significance of those three numbers that stood for John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."
Dylan loved motocross, but he loved Jesus more. He’d been riding dirt bikes since he was little, a nine-year veteran of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes motocross team that reaches riders for Christ with the themes to “put the cross in motocross ” and “faster for the Master.”
Dylan’s dad, Tony, and younger brother, Matthew, ride motocross. So does his pastor, Ronnie Caswell, along with many from Southeast. His mother, Patty, has been an enthusiastic fan.
Earlier that morning, Dylan led the devotion for the crowd at the FCA winter camp at Durhamtown Plantation in Union Point, Ga. He also did it the night before.
And as he had done a thousand times before, Dylan kick started the bike with his right foot and the engine ripped to life like a chainsaw. A video captured him riding up and down the sides of a deep dirt pit, then flying through the motocross course. Dirt flew as he leaned into curves. He loved jumps, to reach the top of the arc, freeze, rotate and dive for the ground. Dylan rode like a pro.
The track at Durhamtown was not difficult or dangerous, but during that morning ride, Dylan lost control of the bike and flew over the handlebars. The bike landed on his chest. FCA sponsors, some of Dylan’s best friends, held his hands as Caswell prayed and performed CPR, but minutes later, about 11:15 a.m., Dylan “rode to glory.”
Read the rest of Dylan's story in this week's Southeast Outlook.
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