During the last week of June 1975, the Hawaiian volcano Mauna Loa suddenly awoke from a 25-year slumber. From volcanic fields asleep for decades, fissures opened, and a white vapor poured forth comprised of steam mixed with sulfur dioxide gas. As the molten magma began to shift and move upward, the ground started shaking in a swarm of earthquakes that could easily be felt underfoot. From our military quarters at Ft. DeRussy on the island of Oahu (location of Honolulu), my friend Bill and I read the news with heightened anticipation. We had already planned a visit to the Volcanoes…

As Prior, it’s very easy not to forget I am a Templar Knight. My responsibility to the Priory requires constant attention or things fall apart very quickly and, invariably, something vital would not get done. Therefore, having to consistently work as a Templar each day refreshes the reality of who I really am: a Christ Follower, husband, father, granddad, and a Templar – in that order. A lot of other identities follow Templar, of course, for I am truly blessed to have an overflowing plate in this life. “I know that nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and…

There’s almost nothing worse than finding yourself being abducted by a UFO packed full of aliens on the way to the golf course. You lose your tee time, it throws your day’s schedule completely out the window and makes you late for everything thereafter. You never know when they will finish their experiments and toss your amnesic body out in the middle of a New Mexico desert. It is a thing, you know. But there is something even worse than a UFO abduction. And that is a Templar Priory being abducted by anything unrelated to our prime mission! In comparison,…

On 14 October 1781, when colonial American soldiers captured British redoubt #10 on the Yorktown battlefield, our war for our independence was won. The official surrender came just five days later, ending the conflict that cost the lives of 70,000 men. Unfortunately, the Yorktown battlefield was not to be our final field of conflict. Indeed, battlefields are quite a never-ending, common theme among humanity – and our own nation.  Jesus prophesied that “there will be wars and rumors of wars” before His inevitable return. (Matthew 24:6) He was right – and will continue to be right until He returns to…

I’ve discovered that there is some sensitivity to my often deliberate display of a historically accurate image of our combat-ready forefathers fighting on a battlefield in my weekly communication header graphic. Perhaps there is even discomfort with what might be viewed as evocative language embedded in the title Battlefield Report. I fully understand and totally respect at least one reason for that. In this 21st century, Knights and Dames of the Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem are not combat-ready for many very good and scripturally consistent reasons, even though we are classified as a “Military Order.” If…

The last GC&I we attended before traveling to Hartford was, of course, hosted by the Temple Church in Orlando, Labor Day weekend 2023. So how did the 2023 and 2024 GC&Is compare from a close-and-personal viewpoint? For those of you unable to attend, here is your report! They did not! As this year’s Hartford GC&I Chairperson, Anne Fraley, published early on, “Hartford is not Orlando!” And it was not. Indeed, it was that clear distinction that made for a unique and engaging GC&I. We planned, attended, and totally loved the Orlando GC&I. Likewise, we also enjoyed Hartford very much. The…

Every new generation of Christians has a new calling – because every generation lives in a different world than their predecessors. In our case as Templars, our world is profoundly different than our Templar forefathers lived in nearly a millennia before us. But we do share one most essential thing – and that is our reason for existing as a functioning entity in the Kingdom of God. Our Templar predecessors and we exist for exactly the same reason: to keep the roads of Jerusalem safe and open to Christians and all worshipers who are led there by God to worship,…

A submarine with screen doors immediately invokes a hilarious image of engineering absurdity. Of course, the moment this brand-new billion-dollar boat is launched, it will immediately sink. What is the problem with this design? It may have been engineered with simple incompetence, or it may have been socially engineered, or it may have been designed with good intentions. But in the end, the design failed because failure was the only possible outcome. The moment the designers disregarded reality, it was doomed to fail. Some real submarines sink – but the vast majority of them do not. It is because they…

Do you remember the moment the sword of the accolade touched your head and shoulders as you heard the words that christened you a Templar Knight or Dame? It was a moment I will never forget. But have you asked yourself what actual, real-world authority was vested in that act? The answer is simple. It was the fons honorum (Latin), or the fount of honour. A fons honorum is a person, who, by virtue of their official position, has the exclusive right of conferring legitimate titles of nobility and orders of chivalry such as knighthood on other persons. In the case of the Sovereign…

I am a Templar Knight – for real. It is my calling from God. I am also an Aquanaut – for real. It too is my calling from God. Therefore, you can take my word for this: it is MUCH more difficult to swing my Templar sword under the ocean than it is on the shore! You may think that this bit of Templar knowledge is of dubious importance. But I can assure you, it is not. I am also a NASA engineer and scientist. These too are my calling from God. From this experience, I can tell you that…