Sportsmanship – fair and generous behavior and treatment of others – has been as important an aspect of my participation in athletic competition as an athlete and as a spectator as any other aspect of the game. In fact, good sportsmanship supersedes every other feature of the game in any sport and at any level. …
Category Archives: Body
Let’s Talk Prostate
I am willing to share this personal story because I know there are people who can benefit from it, people just like me who tend to ignore warning signs and pull the covers over their heads hoping ‘it will go away.’ Sometimes it won’t! Health is maintained by practicing three essential and interdependent disciplines: Prayer …
Who’s Gonna Do It?
In the ‘Gethsemane’ scene in the 2003 rock opera !Hero that considers “What if Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania?” Hero – played by Michael Tait – sings a powerful anthem that asks the question, “Who’s gonna do it, if I don’t step to it?” It is a formidable and intensely personal question. In my …
Unconditional Healthcare
unconditional Jesus and the leper
The Star Thrower Revisited
In recent days and weeks, I’ve revisited “The Star Thrower” story. This story from Loren Eiseley’s 1969 book The Unexpected Universe was the subject of one of our earliest posts a decade ago. Its value remains true and unquestionable: If you base your choices on what is right, then what you do will make a …
Spiritual Understanding
In a December 2017 interview with Kozo Hattori and Pavithra Mehta from Awakin.org, Dr. Manulani Aluli Meyer said, “A spiritual understanding not practiced under fire is without value.” This is as profound a statement of spirituality as I have heard. It was part of her answer to the question, “Your Greatest Inspiration.” Dr. Aluli Meyer grew up …
I AM
As we hunkered down over the Arizona weekend under biblical monsoon rain, I encouraged my friend Dwight to watch Tom Shadyac’s 2010 documentary “I Am.” True to form, he did, and when I asked him what he thought, he replied, “Everyone needs to watch this film.” I first watched “I Am” a decade ago, recommended …
Feeding Hungry Children
While we tend our small, desert farm and carefully and attentively work to achieve maximum capacity, we are asking for help to maintain our training and feeding facility in Cité Soleil, Haiti. As we’ve explained in previous posts, we intend to sell the products that the farm produces and send 100% of the revenue to …
Kale
From the day I returned to the desert in 2019, my friend Dwight has encouraged me to grow vegetables in my small, residential backyard. Mrs. tVM and I set up a 3’x8’ plot last summer and planted tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant. The plants grew and blossomed but never produced fruit. We were confused until Dwight’s …
If You Want to Change the World
If you want to change the world start with this blueprint… Years ago, I watched Admiral William H. McRaven’s 2014 commencement speech at his alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin. The speech is frequently known as the ‘Make Your Bed’ speech. You may have seen an ad for it on one of your …