Spiritual Awakening: Never Give Up!!!
As a new week begins and March Madness(NCAA Basketball Tournament) begins I am reminded of Jimmy Valvano and his speech at The ESPYS. Coach Valvano passed shortly after he received The Arthur Ashe Courage Award. He was the first recipient of the award and the folowing is the list of all the winners who share the common trait of never giving up:
The Arthur Ashe Courage Award (sometimes called the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage or Arthur Ashe for Courage Award) is an award that is part of the ESPY Awards. Although it is a sport-oriented award, it is not limited to sports-related people or actions.
| Year | Recipients |
|---|---|
| 1993 | Jim Valvano |
| 1994 | Steve Palermo |
| 1995 | Howard Cosell |
| 1996 | Loretta Claiborne |
| 1997 | Muhammad Ali |
| 1998 | Dean Smith |
| 1999 | Billie Jean King |
| 2000 | Dave Sanders (posthumously) |
| 2001 | Cathy Freeman |
| 2002 | Todd Beamer, Mark Bingham, Tom Burnett, and Jeremy Glick (posthumously) [1] |
| 2003 | Pat Tillman and Kevin Tillman[2] |
| 2004 | George Weah [3][4] |
| 2005 | Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah and Jim MacLaren |
| 2006 | Roia Ahmad and Shamila Kohestani |
| 2007 | Trevor Ringland and David Cullen from Peace Players International |
| 2008 | Tommie Smith and John Carlos |
| 2009 | Nelson Mandela |
| 2010 | Family of Ed Thomas |
| 2011 | Dewey Bozella |
Spiritual Awakening: A Profile Of Courage and Hope- Rabbi Ray Skop
I have had the privilege of meeting a few people who embody the idea of never giving up and one such man is an honoree at The Spiritual Entrepreneurs Visioanry Awards.
I first had the opportunity to meet Rabbi Ray Skop through his sister Shirah Penn (www.grammashirahsays.com) when she invited me to a Friday night service. I hadn’t gone to temple in a while and didn’t know what to expect at The Temple B’Nai Moshe service and I was pleasantly surprised to find an upbeat welcoming service with the traditions of Judiasm presented from a spiritual stand point, there was music, there was interaction, a message from the rabbi, and fellowship with a great Oneg Shabbat. I began to help Rabbi Ray with media relations and attended another service. Services stopped in April of 2011 as Rabbi Ray was taken ill and nearly crossed over due to many illnesses and mis diagnosises and complications with medications and a diagnosis of lung cancer. Rabbi Ray battled through it all and today is doing much better and he plan to bring back the services and help people to continue on their path. Rabbi Ray is continuing to be a beacon of hope for all he comes in contact with.
This week press on and move positively in the direction of your dreams and don’t give up.
