Fairbanks is the place of my second birth; Seattle my first 24 years earlier. It was here in Alaska where I made the most difficult decision of my young life.

No it wasn’t the high board – I climbed that 10-foot ladder with a 10-pound block in hand to demonstrate retrieving it from the bottom of the pool in front of 30 students. No it wasn’t breaking the news to a bunch of university students who failed enough classes and became ineligible to play, or doing graduate work, or letting UA know they would no longer play varsity teams.

These were huge challenges. It forced me to find courage!

The gravest challenge for me was to say yes to Jesus knocking at my heart’s door! My president taught me, any time you ask a person to do something there are only three choices:

Yes I will.
No I won’t.
I’ll think about it!

Two of them are bad for you.

Then abruptly the President gently did not answer my request to tell me if he was going to keep his promise of granting 10 basketball scholarships.

As I celebrate the experience at UAF I choose to say YES to loving God and every person I meet. Life is a gift.

If I win the moment the minute can be won. Attitude and effort are choices under each person’s control. Hard work is not enough for me. I choose to LOVE hard work.

Positive thoughts, words and deeds are identical to getting that black, heavy, rubber block off bottom of the pool. IT COMES DOWN TO WANT TO, NOT HOW TO.

Get’er Done SUAVE.