The Birthday Wish

This story is about a young man that I have heard about for the past few years and who I have been praying for since hearing about him and his battle with cancer.  My cousin teaches him one-on-one and has kept me up to speed on his journey.  His strength is incredible.  He is an inspiration.

In the story below, the author mentions that James will not be undergoing any additional treatments.  This is a decision that his parents left him to make.  He decided that rather than go through more pain, he’d prefer to live the remainder of his life as fully and abundantly as possible.  Please pray for him and his journey through this life… for his parents and siblings and all those close to him.

The story below is a local story written by Adam Himmelsbach.  I’m wishing I would have sent more than just a birthday card.

As his 12th birthday drew closer, James Dobson said he did not need gifts. He has terminal brain cancer and is confined to a wheelchair, and he can barely speak, so at this point in his life he just wanted to know that people cared. He just wanted birthday cards, lots of them. And no one–not the Dobson family, not the U.S. Postal Service–was prepared for what happened next. Before we get to that, though, you have to understand something about James. He loves football the way most people love a day off. His brain tumor was originally found when he was in kindergarten. But the surgery and radiation and chemotherapy did not stop him from attending Chancellor High School’s practices.

His older brother Matt was the Chargers’ starting quarterback, and his father, Danny, was an assistant coach. James was a mascot, manager, water boy and super-fan rolled into one. “The whole team just adopted him,” Matt Dobson said. “He’ll just walk right up and start talking to you, it doesn’t matter who you are.”

When James was 9, the brain tumor returned. He had surgery once again, and there were complications from treatment. His vocal cords were ravaged, he struggled to walk and he had severe pneumonia. But he fought–goodness, did he fight–and the disease went into remission. Then about six months ago, a tumor emerged that was twice as big as the other two and more aggressive than a linebacker. “We’d done the harshest things you can do and hit the tumors with everything there was,” Danny Dobson said, “and we just couldn’t stop it from coming back.” James will not go through another round of treatment. Rather than trying not to die, he is spending his final months focused on living. And that brings us back to that special birthday request.

One of James’ former teachers at Battlefield Elementary School knocked over the first domino by putting the word out on her Facebook page two weeks ago. Then Chancellor assistant football coach Chris Lam contacted a friend who runs a recruiting service and has most of the college football world on speed dial. Then James’ story and home address went viral.

A few cards trickled in as his Sept. 5 birthday approached. Before long, the neighborhood postal worker was dropping large boxes filled with mail on the family’s porch. Some of the return addresses were startling. There were autographed pictures from Alabama coach Nick Saban and South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier. There was an autographed football from Texas Tech coach Tommy Tuberville and a birthday card from Penn State coach Joe Paterno. There were letters from USC and UCLA, and care packages from Virginia, Virginia Tech, Navy and Marshall. Southern Mississippi and Idaho both invited James to be their guest on the sideline when they play at Virginia later this season. James received telephone calls from Indianapolis Colts offensive coordinator Clyde Christensen and WWE superstar John Cena. Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Miles Austin sent an autographed jersey and a football from team headquarters. The Massaponax High School marching band even showed up on his front lawn and played a few birthday songs. Football was just a slice of this story, though.

James received a letter from a U.S. soldier in Japan who said he would write again when he arrived in Afghanistan. Another card arrived from Alaska. James has received more than 2,600 pieces of mail in the last two weeks. His parents have read each message aloud as James sits in his wheelchair and listens to every word. “It’s overwhelming what’s taking place,” Danny Dobson said. “It’s amazing how many lives he’s touched.”

James does not make it to many Chancellor football practices anymore. Every once in a while his older brother Matt, who is now an assistant coach, rolls him onto the sideline in his wheelchair. He still asks about the Chargers’ final scores. He still tries to draw up plays. But he doesn’t want a fuss to be made over him and he doesn’t want his life to turn into a farewell tour. All he wants, all he’s ever wanted, is to know that people care.

“Thanks, everyone,” James said quietly, “from the bottom of my heart.”

Just for Laughs – No More Sports in Cleveland

As NFL football nears, I had to post this.

My family is from the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area.  My family, for generations now, has always been Steelers, Penguins and Pirates fans.  This video about Cleveland is especially funny to us and I couldn’t help but pass it along.  I hope you have as great a laugh as I had!

The Ultimate Goal

I wrote this article at the beginning of 2011 around the time of Super Bowl XLV for iibloom.com.  Now, as the NFL regular season, NCAA FB regular season and MLB postseason, comes near, it is a good reminder of our ultimate goal.  Hope you enjoy.

For professional athletes, the goal of their career is to become a champion. For players in the National Football League, the Super Bowl is the goal. To hold the Vince Lombardi Trophy and forever go down in history as a champion. To wear an incredibly large, diamond-encrusted ring. To have “Super Bowl Champion” added to your name. But how does one become a Super Bowl champion?

For most, the road to the Super Bowl is a long one. Most have played football since their adolescence and made their way through the ranks playing pee wee football, middle school, high school and college football. Some even had stints in arena football, foreign leagues and on semi-professional teams. They have devoted themselves to countless practices, to weight lifting, running, learning, watching game tape, team work and being coached. They have put in endless hours getting better at what they do. They never give up, striving for perfection.

Now, as the players from the two teams heading to Super Bowl XLV prepare for the biggest game of their careers, their “football past” comes to a head. All of the hard work, the determination, the commitment, the struggle…will it pay off? Will they be rewarded for their work? Only one team, the players, coaches and personnel, will be crowned champions.

Let us now correlate this to our own lives and more specifically, our spiritual lives. If we want to attain the goal, which should always be Heaven, we must put in even more work than professional athletes. Unlike the teams in the Super Bowl, we all have the chance to be crowned! We must, each and every day, place our priority on our spiritual well-being. We can look to the example of these athletes, much like St. Paul wrote in the Scriptures, “compete so as to win.” The example that athletes give us, as to how commitment and endurance can pay off, is a great example to follow. However, instead of being committed to physical practices, weight lifting, running and watching game tape, we should be committed to the Sacraments, to prayer, to spiritual reading, to personal growth in virtue and so on. For us, our hard work is not for the temporal world. Our hard work is not for a perishable crown, a trophy, a diamond-encrusted ring, or history books. Our hard work will be the reward of eternal salvation with God the Father in Heaven.

It seems to me that the hardest thing in life (my “game” situation) is that I allow all the little stuff to prevent me from giving it my all, and I get side tracked from the priority of competing with excellence and I fail to train like I used to when I was an athlete. I sort of “let life happen to me” instead of living life. I think about this a lot and constantly have to remind myself to be diligent in my spiritual training. If only I gave my spiritual training the same effort I used to give my athletic training, maybe then I’d reach my ultimate goal.

The Man Who Would Be Knight

Almost two years ago I became aware of a very impressive young man named Ryan Kraeger.  Ryan haswritten a few articles for TrueManhood.com before, so you may recognize his name.  I got to know Ryan over email and social networking connections and am thoroughly impressed with not only his writing, but with Ryan as a man.  He is young and vibrant and doing great things in our world.

First, I want to draw attention to his service to our great country!  Ryan is a Staff Sergeant in the US Army and hopefully soon (November ’11) will be graduating from Special Forces training.  Great job, Ryan – we are proud of you and honored by your sacrifice.  (Ryan shares some of his military experiences in his writings.  Great stories!)

Next, I would like to draw your attention to two books written by Ryan.  They are hot off the presses and are awesome.  I give my full recommendation of these books.  The first is entitled, “What Every Boy Man Needs: A Young Soldier’s Thoughts on Christian Manhood”.  The second is “My Dearest Sisters: Thoughts about Modesty from Your Brother…”.  Ryan “gets it”, and I think his writings will help others “get it” too.

For more on Ryan and/or to order his books, visit his website, The Man Who Would Be Knight.

TrueMan up!

“How Many Performers Must Become Infected?”

There are many things seriously wrong with this article (below) from the LA Times.  Not grammatical errors, or sentence structure problems – real problems, with the content and the attitude.  I am sickened by the lack of respect for human dignity that our society demonstrates over and over.  As if the other proven problems with the pornography industry aren’t enough (abuse, STDs, rape, domestic disputes, failed/troubled/destroyed marriages, damaged children, and so on) they are spreading killer diseases like HIV around.  Obviously, this is not the first case of a porn actor/actress with HIV.  How degrading to be “a generational partner.”

I have so many problems, I have to respond below in RED.  The article is in GRAY italics.

(LOS ANGELES TIMES) After an adult film performer (performer? – these are far from performances) tested HIV positive, production has ceased for the billion dollar porn industry (let’s be clear… it’s not the billion as in one billion, but as in 100+ billion dollars. No small potatoes) across Los Angeles until further testing can confirm the results, an industry trade group said.

“Until we know for sure, we’ve asked the industry to have a moratorium on production,” said Diane Duke, executive director of the Free Speech Coalition, a Canoga Park-based porn industry trade group. (Free Speech – laughable!  Porn isn’t free speech, it’s addictive, harmful and detrimental to society.  It should not be protected under the 1st Amendment.  In fact, all production and distribution of hardcore pornography is ILLEGAL!  It’s just not regulated, nor is it prosecuted.)

Duke’s group became aware of the possible HIV case Saturday. Duke would not say how her group learned about the possible HIV case.

Adult film production companies across the San Fernando Valley were notified Monday morning that a performer had tested positive and they were urged to temporarily halt productions until further tests were completed.

Duke said company officials she spoke with agreed to the temporary shutdown.

The performer’s name, age or gender has not been released and further testing will likely be completed within a week.

Currently, performers who had sex with the potentially infected person are in the process of being notified. (Again, how degrading!  Pray for the men and women involved in this horrible industry.)

“Retesting and confirmation is underway as is the process of identifying and testing first- and second- generation partners,” Duke said, referring to those who had sex with the person who tested HIV positive or with one of that person’s sex partners. (This should be disturbing to everyone.  People should realize that sexual involvement, at any stage and in any fashion and with anyone, is serious and should be kept sacred.  It’s not about just one or two, but continues on with everyone else that those one or two are sexually involved with in the future.  When someone is bouncing around from bed to bed to bed, they are not only effecting that person, but everyone who comes after them and on down the line.  Marriages are being negatively affected because of this snowballing momentum.)

Adult film performers must be tested every 30 days and show proof of a clean test before they perform, according to voluntary industry standards. (I cynically doubt that the industry is regulating itself like this in all locations.  In fact, I am so cynical about any regulation within the industry that it’s an outrage that they even have “industry standards”. Sickening.)

Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, said the latest possible HIV infection showed an “outrageous disregard for the health and safety of performers and the community at large” and demonstrates why testing is not an adequate substitute for condoms. He called on L.A. city officials to pull all adult film permits until condoms are mandated. (The only adequate substitute is CHASTITY!  Not condoms.  Living chastity is the one and only answer to our culture’s sex issues, which translate into many other areas and issues.  Chastity is the key.)

“How many performers must become infected with HIV and other serious STDs before the industry will clean up its act and government will do the right thing?” he said. (That’s right… when is the US GOVERNMENT going to do the right thing?!?!?  It’s already in our laws as ILLEGAL!  When is the US Attorney General (Eric Holder) going to do something about this industry that is negatively impacted our world?!)

TrueMan up!

iPod, iPad, iPhone (87G) and iGov’t

I haven’t made any comments about our government and the debt crisis yet because I believe there are plenty of people who know the right answer and none of them work or are associated with anything that happens in or around Washington.  The entire situation is beyond frustrating to the American people, especially to those of us who are hard-working, smart-spending, family-oriented, small-government-oriented, red-white-and-blue-proud, military-supporting, separation-of-church-and-state-doesn’t-mean-what-everyone-thinks-it-means, kinda people!!!

But get this… I check Facebook today and see lots of people posting about how Apple has more cash on hand than our government!  How crazy is this?!?!  I mean seriously!  These people sell gadgets… the government is supposed to be in charge of everything!  Gadgets versus government and gadgets is winning?!  I’m actually not as surprised as you might think.  And honestly, I think the whole thing is laughable.

I don’t own any Apple products.  I’m completely fine with that.  (Did you like my iPhone 87G joke in the title?)   The last time I used an Apple computer for any length of time was playing Oregon Trail on one when I was a kid in grade school.  I can’t stand them, mostly because I don’t know how to use them.  I’ve tinkered around with a few Apple products before, but I just don’t get the hype.   Apparently, I am the only one because they’ve got more money than the US government, which means that most of you reading this probably own all sorts of products from this booming company.  Mr. Obama… maybe you should step down and let Mr. Jobs do yours for you.

TrueMan up!

Mentoring Boys into Virtuous Catholic Men

We concentrate our energy on forming and building men.  At Fraternus, a great Catholic apostolate, they concentrate on forming boys into men.  “Mentoring boys into virtuous Catholic men.”  That’s what they’re all about.

What’s happening in these boys’ lives is transforming, and will make an impact on them for years to come.  For boys, you have to engage them with the things that speak to their inner being – the things that make them wild, rough, adventurous and challenged.  This is the way Christ lived, that’s why it’s so appealing to boys.  It’s real, it’s authentically masculine and it’s really fun.

When you can reach a boy, you can teach him and form him.  When a boy is taught and formed properly, he becomes a great man.  Our world needs a lot of great men.

Please take a few moments to watch their video and visit their website.

TrueMan up!

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