My Favorite Books from 2023

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I love books! I read and read and read some more. In 2023, I read 45 books. 

Here, in brief, were my favorites. These are listed in the order I read the books, they aren’t ranked, except for the fact that I put the Bible first:

The Holy Bible – My goal in 2023 was to read the Bible. I did it. It is an amazing and wonderful book (of course). I learned so much. I am so glad I read the Bible. Of course, it is a very complex book and there is a great deal in there, so, in 2024, I’m reading it again. I think this will be something I do every year going forward.

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Resolutions and the New Year (A Sermon)

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On December 31, 2023, I was provided the wonderful opportunity to be the guest preacher at Grace United Methodist Church in Wyckoff, New Jersey.

Here is the sermon I delivered:

Today is the day when we close 2023 and look forward to 2024.  Today is when we reflect on our past year and look forward to a new one.

It’s on the last day of the year that we might celebrate the New Years’ Resolutions that we succeeded in maintaining and it is also when we set our sights to the new day that tomorrow brings as well as the new hopes for us to find ways to be our better selves.

I set a goal for 2023 that I completed just a few days ago.  I was able to keep my New Years’ resolution.  That’s always a good feeling. 

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Bid Me Run…

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“Bid me run, and I will strive with things impossible.” William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar

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I wrote what I believe is an amazing and wonderfully motivating book. It’s titled 365.2 and it chronicles the time (in 2022) when I ran every single day – for an entire year.

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A Best Baseball Book of 2023!

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I am very happy to announce that FROM COMPTON TO THE BRONX, Roy White’s autobiography (that I wrote with him) was just listed as one of the BEST BASEBALL BOOKS of 2023 in Sports Collector’s Digest.

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NYC Marathon Weekend 2023

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I ran my first New York City Marathon in 2002. That seems like a long time ago. In subsequent years (2003, 2005, 2009, 2013, 2016, 2018, 2021, and 2022) I also ran New York City. It is a race and experience like none other. It’s a race that touches my heart and my soul in many ways. I love the big city; always have. And I love running through it. I love the New York City Marathon.

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Bringing God Into Our Running Lives

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The following is the sermon I delivered at the start of the 2023 New York City Marathon.

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One of my favorite passages in the Bible comes from Hebrews.  Most runners are familiar with the passage as it reads:

“Let us run with perseverance, the race set before us.”

That, of course, is what we are here to do today.  We are here to run, with purpose, and strength, using all our abilities and courage and confidence, that race, a big and mighty race, set before us.  

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Reaching, Failing, Reaching Again

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I am a marathoner.

In less then three weeks, I’ll be running the New York City Marathon. This will be my 25th lifetime Marathon and my 10th New York.

I have always said that I will run forever.

Nothing has ever stopped me before. A torn Achilles? Nope. Stress factures? Nope. Other aches and pains and the like? Nope.

I just kept moving forward. (I did have surgery to repair the Achilles, but got right back at it afterword.)

Nothing ever stopped me… except… me.

Nothing ever stopped me, until I did. Or, better said, until I almost did.

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A Magazine Feature On… Me!

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A New Jersey magazine, Autumn Years, featured a nice article on me for their Fall 2023 issue.

You can read that article on-line here or click the link below.

https://digitaledition.pub/wc/autumn-years/autumn-years/fall-2023/

The article begins on page 44.

ENJOY!

Thinking of Roman Times…

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There was this idea trending a few weeks ago that men think about the Roman Empire on a daily basis. Many found this to be an amazing thing. Many wondered, aloud, “What could these men possibly be thinking about related to the Roman Empire? Why would people think about the Roman Empire today?”

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