The purpose of our health message is to live an abundant life here and now in order to reveal God's character of love more perfectly to the world-to live as "wholly Thine."

In the February NAD issue of the Adventist Review, we invited our readers to send us stories of ways they had improved their health--physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, or socially. Below is the story of Ron Thompson of Longs, South Carolina.

From Seaside Lagoon to Senior Olympics
It all started when I learned to swim in a seaside lagoon at the age of 11, while on vacation in Margate, South Africa. During the next few years I improved my swimming until I swam in competition at the annual Swimming Gala held by Prince Edward High School in Salisbury (now Harare), the capital of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). But perhaps the most exciting event was my participation in 1947 in the Salisbury City Inter-Club Gala; I came in third in the boys' 50-yard back stroke.

After my school days, competitive swimming eluded me for many years. When I was baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1949, I embraced the health message and became a lacto-ovo vegetarian.

In 1989, when I was 57 years old, I read about and became interested in the National Senior Olympic Games. But I had to qualify on the state level before competing in the National Senior Olympics. So in 1990 I attained second place (for my age group) in the 100-yard freestyle, and it qualified me for the National, which I participated in during 1991 and placed sixteenth out of 18 competitors.

In 2003, at age 71, I employed Kirk Gallion, of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina (voted South Carolina's Coach of the Year), to streamline my swimming. This resulted in six gold medals for the 50-, 100-, and 200-yard freestyle backstroke. At the 2003 National Senior Games on June 5, in Hampton, Virginia, I took eighth place (age group 70-74) in the 50-yard backstroke. My time was 44.02 seconds--the same time I attained at age 15 when I swam the 50-yard backstroke in the Salisbury City Inter-Club Gala.

When I went for my annual physical examination in 2002, my doctor declared that I have an athlete's heart, and the physical fitness of a 20-year-old. However, this isn't the result of chance, but of lifestyle. I have never smoked or drunk. In recent years I've adopted the vegan lifestyle, eliminating dairy products and eggs as much as possible. I don't have a "sweet tooth," and I follow a vigorous regimen of exercise.

Who would have imagined in the 1940s that a British teenager from an obscure country in Africa, would in 2003 become a Senior Olympian, and in his 70s be among the fastest backstroke swimmers in the great country of the United States of America?