and then there was OKI

After meeting with Shawn for lunch, I headed north from Ft Myers to Tampa, where I had the immense pleasure of getting to meet one of my two WOW best friends: OKI!! Dave B. has been dear to me since the first day I heard him talking in vent about his belief in God. Since that time, we've played alot together in the game and had even more times when we didn't do anything in game at all; rather stood around with our characters just running and jumping in circles while we just talked and joked and laughed.

Dave is funny, sensitive, thoughtful, and an extremely caring person. He's always looking out for his friends. And he gives the greatest of gifts. His main character Oki, was a warlock, and while I don't want to play a warlock for the spiritual implications, I do love the warlock mount: the horse with the firey hooves. Once when we were on this Kara run together, the first boss in the instance dropped the Firey Warhorse Reins, which is a horse very similar to the warlock mount. Oki won the roll for it, but gave it to me. It's goofy I know, but I love this thing. I still ride my Firey Warhorse around in the game all the time.

The only game item I've ever received that was better was when my son saved up alot in the game of Lineage II to buy me a crystal dagger. LOL! He gave it to me for my birthday. Didn't cost him any money, but the time and effort and thought that went into it meant alot to me.

Anyway, back to the Florida story. I went to Dave's house and he was there with Dynn (Dave C. in RL). I also got to meet the best dog in the world: Matty... Dave B's half golden retriever / half chow pup. Matty is the coolest of dogs... extremely playful, yet careful not to overwhelm you.

Dave and Dave and I went out to eat at this Shrooms place... pizza... not drugs! We hung out eating and talking and joking around. I'm blessed to have both of these guys as friends, and I would later get Dave C. to come out to Texas where he interviewed for a job at GameStop Corp, which is yet to come through.

I spent the night at Dave B's under the hospitality of his wonderful parents. The next morning we went to breakfast, where he told me about the things God is doing in his life... the book he's writing... the books he's reading... working with his dad. He'd quit the game at that point and started to focus on his health issues. I'm truly proud of him, and I know God is going to bless him and use him in many ways. I'm just happy to get to pray for him and watch as the adventure unfolds.