The Reason For The Season

As we're approaching Christmas, and I'm sitting around sick, I've had time to reflect on how good I have it. Most important, I have a loving, gracious and forgiving God, thank you for sending Jesus, for me, an unworthy candidate of His mercy. I have received Him, and praise be to God, I am now called His child.

As I think back on this year, what I've done and left undone, I want to do more, more that matters for someone or something other than myself, which I am often too proud of.

A couple of weeks ago I vegged in front of the telly watching the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii. It was awesome to see the pro's, and how strong and fast they are. But what brought me to my knee's then, and now as I write, was the story of Jon Blais, aka "The Blazeman." In 2005, Jon finished the Ironman at Kona with just thirty minutes remaining in the seventeen hour alloted time. All of that was done with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease. ALS is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that attacks motor neurons in the brain (upper motor neurons) and spinal cord (lower motor neurons). Here's the link of NBC's coverage of Jon, http://waronals.com/index.php. The Blazeman's website located on the links to the right are also full of inspiration to fight, we can do something.

Hopefully you've watched the link above, if not, watch it and come back. If you're coming back after watching the footage, I hope it impacted you as it did me. For me, it's even more personal, my cousin David has been fighting ALS for well over ten years, and I mean fighting. God blessed him with a wonderful wife, Becky, and lots of family and friends to fight with him. Here's a glimpse of their lives with ALS. http://www.wfts.com/video/news/2006/08/0825cfa.shtml

So, now to put the rubber to the road. I have four to six Triathlons planned for 2007, two of which are the Florida Half Ironman and the Florida Ironman. I am setting out to do what I can to raise awareness and money for ALS and if you have received this, well, it's because I'm looking for your support, through prayer, sharing this fight with others and financially. I'm not expecting a bank roll here, I'm asking for lots of people to do a little, versus a few doing a lot. However, if you're able to do a lot, I'm not stopping you.

If you want to help financially, your gifts are tax deductable. You can make your check payable to "ALS Therapy Development Foundation" and send it to me, David Knight, 6804 Worth Court, Tallahassee, Fl 32309, or you can donate directly to them at https://www.als.net/. If you donate directly to ALS-TDF, please send me an email with the amount you donated, I want to have a year end tally for ALS-TDF.

As I often say, if you've made it this far, well, you made it this far. Thanks for all that you're going to do for this cause.

love ya, dk