When I Grow Up I Want To Be Like Sam
When I grow up I want to be like Sam.
What an incredible man of God! Not to mention the fact that not too many men his age can pull of a “Got Jesus?” T-shirt.
He is seriously a spiritual stud and an inspiration to me.
It doesn’t matter when you see him, if you ask how he’s doing he always responds, “more than a conqueror through Christ who loves me.”
Posted on December 28th, 2009 by David | 3 Comments »
The Making of "Prayer"
My friend Taras is brilliant and an artist in every sense of the word. Below is his latest creation that includes hundreds of prayers; many from our small group an other friends and family. Check it out!
[vimeo 8254084]
If you like that, make sure you check out his site www.visualspicer.com.
Posted on December 21st, 2009 by David | No Comments »
This Is For You Dennis
I have a friend who’s been getting on my case about not blogging… his name is Dennis.
I suppose it’s reasonable for him to get on my case considering my last post was in October and I talked about how I had all of these great things that I wanted blog about. And ultimately I’m glad to know that I have at least one regular reader.
So here goes nothing, in the midst of work, grad school, some volunteer work, being married and the holidays, I will attempt to reengage my readership with regular…at least semi-regular posting.
Let’s see how this goes!
Posted on December 10th, 2009 by David | 2 Comments »
If You Need A Photographer
I’ve been getting ready for a wedding this weekend and it’s come to my attention that I know a lot of very talented photographers. So I thought I’d give a little link love.
If you’re looking for a photographer, start here.
One other great link for wedding design “stuff” is for Steven Moore Designs
Posted on August 31st, 2009 by David | 3 Comments »
A Follow Up To P. Kerry Bunday
Several months back I posted about a great guy, Kerry Bunday. Well it turns out his daughter came across my post and linked to it to shed a little more light on why he’s such a cool guy. So in return, and to enlighten all of you who read my blog, here is a link to her original post about her dad.
As well, here is a link to my original post on P. Kerry Bunday.
Kerry – If you read this it would be great to connect sometime soon. It’s been too long. I’ll shoot you an email.
Posted on August 22nd, 2009 by David | 1 Comment »
Hands & Feet : Thoughts on Sharing and Experiencing Him
A good friend of mine started a blog a couple years ago called, “hands & feet: thoughts on sharing and experiencing Him” and it is exactly what it sounds like; a blog devoted to thoughts and reflections on living a life for Christ.
Last weekend was my friend’s birthday and I had the opportunity to celebrate with him. We had great food at a this beautiful studio in Bellingham and my friend got some great gifts.
I gave some C.S. Lewis books and a journal, someone else gave an ipod touch, he got some first editions of a couple of Lewis’ works (He’s a big Lewis fan), but the most incredible gift was saved for last.
In a medium sized square box wrapped in light blue paper and embellished with a ribbon bow, were ten hardback and ten paperback copies of a book.
His book.
hands & feet : thoughts on sharing and experiencing Him by R.J. Pemberton
One of his friends had taken some layouts of the blog and had it compiled into book form.
From my perspective standing across the courtyard watching a close friend open his first book, it was a historic moment.
I couldn’t help but imagine what it was like the first time C.S. Lewis held a copy of The Pilgrim’s Regress. How incredible that must have felt flipping through page after word filled page.
Perhaps some day R.J. Pemberton and D.N. Miles will discuss life and God the same way Lewis and Tolkien did.
Or share stories and essays like Hawthorne and Melville, Emerson and Thoreau.
It’s fun to think about where God might lead him… as well as to know that I was given a first edition, hands & feet by the great R.J. Pemberton.
Posted on August 14th, 2009 by David | 1 Comment »
P. Kerry Bunday
A couple years ago my wife Monika and I met a great couple, their names were…and still are…Shane and Shelley. We’ve become close friends over the course of the last couple years and have even had the privilege of getting to know their parents, siblings even their nephew. All of whom are incredible people. Shelley’s dad Kerry has even become our unofficial accountant, helping with our taxes the last couple years.
Kerry, is an incredible guy and savvy business man and each time I see him I come to appreciate him more and more. He truly is unlike anyone I have ever met; you never know exactly what you’re going to get when you’re around him. Off the wall comments, funny antidotes, brilliant insights, standoffishness, warm and welcoming conversation it’s always an adventure.
Well, I met with him this morning at his beautiful high rise office in Bellevue and was greeted with a head nod as he arrived. No conversation, simply a nod as he walked past me in the reception area on the way to his office.
When we met after about 5 minutes of him settling in and me pretending to read the Harvard Business Review, we jumped right into taking care of the taxes. He crunched numbers as I sat there staring at the GQ magazine sitting on his desk; a magazine he actually gave me as I left. Slight random but I’ll enjoy browsing through it this evening.
Anyway, the time in his office flowed from awkward silence to him teaching me about my tax return and how tax brackets work, to conversations about him flying his plane in “the soup.” I loved every minute of it.
Kerry is intense, passionate and in a very positive way quirky. I could spend hours in conversation with him, picking his brain on life, business, fitness – he’s on the board of an incredible gym in Seattle, etc.
He’s the type of person that would be an incredible mentor.
Who in your life, would you like to be mentored by?
Posted on March 9th, 2009 by David | 4 Comments »
$8.99, All You Can Eat Sushi
Totally sketchy.
$8.99 all you can eat sushi at The Best Western?
That sounds like the recipe for bed sores in the shape of a toilet seat and major acid burn of the esophagus.
However, it’s legit.
A couple weeks ago I started going with a couple guys from the office to this all you can eat sushi bar for lunch. It is actually at a local Best Western hotel.
However for $8.99, you really can’t beat that. Nonetheless it’s such a good deal that you have to wonder if they just bought some platters from Costco, put the sushi on plates of varying color and tossed them on the conveyor belt.
But in fact it’s fresh and really pretty good sushi. They have pretty much everything you could want, rainbow rolls, sashimi, katsu chicken, California rolls, eel, etc.
Over the course of the last couple weeks I’ve had lunch there five times. One time, with some of the guys from my small group, I downed 10 plates or 30 to 40 pieces.
It’s become quite the bonding experience for some of us guys from the office as well as my small group buddies.
That’s definitely worth $8.99.
Posted on January 29th, 2009 by David | 1 Comment »
Friends
Okay, so this is going to totally be a sappy post. I get it. But if this blog is truly going to be about recognizing the great things in life and making every attempt not to take them for granted I’m going to have to get sappy every now and then. Not my favorite thing in the world, but nonetheless here we go.
Over the course of the last few months I have truly begun to recognize the value in friendship. That’s not to say I haven’t valued friends in the past, because I have. But for some reason lately I have begun to appreciate the small things, like regular phone calls just to check in and say hi. Being able to visit friends in the hospital after having their first child, or supporting others as they went through an incredibly challenging pregnancy and now celebrating the health of their child.
There is something great about still being friends with my roommate from my freshman year of college, a guy who was a sixth year senior when I arrived as a skinny, 18 year old freshman (Side note: I’m still a lean mean fighting machine, aka skinny. But while it would be nice to bulk up a little, I appreciate the fact that I have farther to go than some when it comes to putting on the middle age pudge).
I appreciate text messages and phone calls from friends that live in other cities, Christmas cards with obserdly long letters updating me on the most random of events that took place throughout the last year, and facebook status updates that clue me into their lives.
As weird as this might even sound, I appreciate the fact that there is enough of a friendship left with an ex-girlfriend for her ask me what my thoughts are on her photography business.
There is something fundamental about friendship. Something basic and raw, difficult at times and yet so comforting.
I know this is all sappy, or as I refer to my wife’s favorite movies, all “butterflies and ponies.” But the reality is, if we are so focused on ourselves that we fail to recognize the friends around us, we will fail to recognize some of the most valuable parts of our lives.
Posted on January 16th, 2009 by David | No Comments »
Welcome Back To Civilization
What a great camping trip! Monika and I got back a few hours ago from our Labor Day Camping Trip on Rainier with 19 of our friends..and their dogs…and their babies.
It was a spectacular trip filled with scenic views, frigid waters, camp fires, cribbage, puke…yes puke, hiking and a lot of laughs.
Here are a few pics from the trip.
Posted on September 1st, 2008 by David | No Comments »
