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Outpost Stories
The Becker family was a house built on the rock of Christ Jesus. Wyatt Becker, now 19, was a boy whose childhood faith was rooted in carefully-tilled and nurtured soil. He had a firm foundation for understanding the love of Christ, and what it looked like to walk with Him. Wyatt describes himself as a life-long believer in Jesus, but he differentiates believing from truly following Christ. Becoming a true Christ-follower took an up-and-down journey of loneliness, false security, and misplaced priorities. Read Wyatt’s story to see how the Lord patiently waited for Wyatt to give Him his whole heart.
Wyatt Becker
Wyatt was born in California, the second of six children. He grew up living on his grandparents’ land – a mountain haven of family and adventure.
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We didn’t have a lot of friends, necessarily, because we lived up in the mountains away from town. We homeschooled, and we home-churched. But I had the joy of growing up with my grandpa, who was a wonderful and kind man. I had an awesome childhood. I got my first chainsaw at age eight, and I just got to follow my grandpa around. Our church was church as it should be – a closeknit group of families who took care of each other.
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At age four, Wyatt was diagnosed with Type I diabetes. While he never let his medical diagnosis define or limit him, diabetes was a portal for Wyatt and his family to see God’s tender provision. Whether that provision was financial (a doctor offering free insulin during a time when the budget was tight) or physical (waking someone in the middle of the night to discover Wyatt’s plummeting blood sugar), Wyatt grew up understanding and trusting that the Lord would take care of him.
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When Wyatt was middle-school age, his family moved to Cody. As a pre-teen, Wyatt was beginning to desire friendships outside of his family and home-church group, and the move to Cody offered new possibilities for sports and social life.
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I started playing soccer, which I really liked. I made one good friend and we started doing everything together. But after a while, that friendship became distant and just faded. I didn’t know, then, that this would become a theme in my life. I would find a close friend, and then that friendship would end abruptly.
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During Wyatt’s freshman year, the soccer field became a backdrop for bullying. Wyatt didn’t have friendships or community to bolster him during that season, though his hospitable family continued to welcome new faces into their home. Eventually, he did make another friend – and this time, his friend introduced him to downhill skiing. Alpine skiing, with its snow-cold thrills, was an instant passion for Wyatt.
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I wasn’t very focused on God at that point. I was focused on skiing, and on soccer, and on my new friends. I was a believer in Jesus, but I definitely wasn’t a follower. I was living for myself – not for the glory of God.
During my sophomore year, I decided to run cross-country. That group of guys welcomed me into friendship, but their influence wasn’t all good. I ended up trying drugs a couple of times before deciding I didn’t want to go down that road. Instead of joining the party-crowd, I decided to devote myself to running harder and faster.
Looking back, I think God knew my priorities were misplaced. He wanted me to straighten up and learn to put Him first, so He let me fail.
Wyatt’s junior cross-country season was a mish-mash of personal best running times and blood-sugar crashes. His desire to run fast was consuming, and his priorities were upside-down. At one race, while hyper-focused on his speed and position, Wyatt experienced a panic attack.
Looking back, I think God knew my priorities were misplaced. He wanted me to straighten up and learn to put Him first, so He let me fail.
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Wyatt’s junior year was the year the pandemic began. Those months of isolation were tough on Wyatt, especially when another close friend abandoned him. When sports began in the fall, Wyatt was more than ready to return to “normal” life.
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I became a social butterfly my senior year. I had a relationship with a godly girl, and she introduced me to all of her friends, which gave me a big group of friends to hang out with. I loved being with people.
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I really was putting God third in my life – behind running, and behind my relationship with my girlfriend. I was joyful that year, but my joy was dependent on other people. At our state meet that year, I had to step up as a team leader when our coach got COVID. That was a pivotal moment where I felt more present with the Lord. I felt Him giving me a calm strength and I didn’t feel anxious at all.
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At a winter ski retreat that year, Wyatt felt convicted. He had been half-heartedly walking with God, and he knew he needed to give Jesus his whole heart. He committed his life to the Lord and planned to be baptized on his 18th birthday.
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June 20th, the day of his planned birthday baptism, brought torrents of rain to the Big Horns. None of the friends Wyatt had invited to celebrate with him showed up, and the baptism didn’t happen. Dejected, Wyatt realized his friends had disappointed him again. A week later, while Wyatt was still wounded from that disappointment, his girlfriend ended their relationship.
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It was tough. So many friends had let me down, and then my very best friend rejected me. I stopped eating, I couldn’t sleep, and I was just a wreck. One day I had an anxiety attack and a seizure at work. For several months, I was isolated and broken. In my brokenness, I finally turned to the Lord.
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I realized that people are imperfect. We are sinners and we mess up. We let each other down. I couldn’t depend on other people for my joy and satisfaction. My joy needed to come from Christ. He is the One who will never let me down, who will always be faithful even when I am not.
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God brought new friends and mentors into Wyatt’s life through Outpost. He was finally baptized by his dad a year ago at Beck Lake, and, a few months later, got to baptize a long-time friend who accepted Christ after living with the Beckers for a season.
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A lot has changed in my heart since I graduated high school. I still don’t have specific plans for what I want to do with my life. I’ve never been a big planner. But I think I am doing what I am supposed to be doing for now, and I’m excited to see what’s next.
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Wyatt has had opportunities to invest in several Outpost ministries, by serving in Kids’ Church, and by helping lead middle school boys.
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I didn’t necessarily have that kind of mentorship as I was growing up, so I love that God has put me in a position where I get to be a role model for these younger boys. I get to show them what it looks like to be a guy who loves sports and working out and hunting and all the things they love… but who is putting Jesus first and depending on Him.
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One of the lessons Wyatt hopes to instill in the boys he disciples is: no matter what, the Lord will always be there for them. People will fail us. We will fail ourselves. But our human faithlessness is met by the unbreakable faithfulness of our God. While we may face uncertainty, trouble, and the shattered chaos of our wayward hearts, His love and steadfastness are unshakable.
“If we are faithless, he remains faithful – for he cannot deny himself.”
2 Timothy 2:13
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