Wow, its been awhile. Well, I finally have a job, which is good considering the fact that I am have been living on bread and water for the last two months, and if anyone needs a great weight loss program, just send them to me.

I have to tell you though, God is Good.  He provides when I least expect it and all I can say is . . . "cool." 

I was excited to go snowboarding this saturday but its been pushed back another few weeks. AAARRRGGGHHH!

Its been too long.

Anyways I gotta run but I thought that I would write and let the wonderful people of cyber-space know that I am doing incredible, and that I hope they are too.

See ya on the flip side!  (Wow, that was 80's!)

     Well, at the end of the month I, and my brother, will be beginning a new chapter in life, to use an overused metaphor. I am excited and anxious and a bit surprised at the lack of hesitation I feel in making the next few steps of my journey.  Needless to say I will miss people and friends, please do not read to much in the distinction between people and friends, and in some sick twisted way I will also miss Tulsa, with its wierd weather and wind chill factor far lower than the actual temperature.

     I fear I will not be able to say goodbye to everyone who has been part of the story of Tulsa, and also fear that this "not saying goodbye" will cause some to doubt my friendship as well as give rise to feelings of anger or bitterness or, more likely, they will choose to feel cold indifference as that is the easier road.  Concerning this feeling I would like only to say...that cold indifference is a much more destructive vice than anger or bitterness, for the latter two feelings, though not healthy, leave a wound that causes pain and thus requires attention in the healing of it. Cold indifference, however, is much more like a callousness that leaves the wound unfeeling and therefore remains open to infection unbeknownst to the victim of the wound. So, in hopes to limit the number of people I may leave behind without saying goodbye I write here and now an apology with all the sincerety that God has given me. I love the people I have come into contact here in Tulsa, whether briefly or for years. All who read this, know that I care for all of you and hope to hear from you as I am horrible in keeping in contact.  I will be attempting to change this character trait in hopes to more accurately reveal the love I have towards you.

Leave a note here, if you read this, with an email address, whether I have it or not, that I might be able to stay in contact. 

Thank you for your friendships and prayers.

Sincerely, Daniel

     I was pondering the other day what the most attractive quality of a woman is...qualities such as humility, wisdom, the physical attributes maybe.  Now...if there are any persons of the female persuasion reading, please take note...this is just the meandering thoughts of a single young man.

     Now, as I was saying...what is the most attractive quality of a woman?  One suggestion I recently recieved was her spirit or heart...the expressions of that heart in the way she talks, or walks, or even cries.  I suppose I must take into account that beauty is found in the eye of the beholder, but this, I believe, only applies to the superficial attributes (without the negative connotation 'superficial' has come to have today), for there are those qualities that transcend mere opinion and define the beauty of women.

     So, if there is a "one" quality, is it really something so nebuluous as the one suggested above or can there be found one, much more concrete...maybe something that is often taken for granted and forgotten among all the more important qualities we must look for? 

     In my humble opinion the answer is a resounding yes...and can be summed up in one brief word:  laughter.  The ability to smile and laugh in the face of...well...anything.  Paul says this...that the whole will of God is to pray continually and to be joyful always.  The power of a woman's smile is beyond what most females would give it credit, but if they were to realize that power...my, my, my. 

     And that, in a brief statement is a very inadequate description of the most attractive and in my opinion, most important quality, found in women.  So...smile.

She Walks In Beauty

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade more, one ray less,
Had half impair'd the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling place.

And on that cheek, and o'er that brow
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!

Lord Byron (1788-1824)

I can't help but say that this is an amazing poem...though I must also be honest and say that for me it is concerning only a figment of my imagination, or a shadow of someone lost in the light of tomorrow.  But when that tomorrow dawns I believe that this poem will take on a new fullness...I imagine, much like life, if it were lived in black and white and were to suddenly take on color, or if we all lived without physical sensation and one day suddenly found that we could feel both pleasure and pain.  I am not sure at all what it will be like in reality, but I hope...