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.

the quest for guildies

To really deal with this subject, i must back up several months... all the way to March. It's always great to go on a trip paid for by your company, and also get to have a little fun. In March, I found myself on a flight to Florida, for the purpose of checking out an AutoPacker system that Gamestop is interested in for the shipment of Internet orders.

I flew into Miami, but once business was done, I took my rental car and headed directly across the state to Ft Myers, to meet one of my favorite WOW guildies: Demise. He was my Hunter class leader for a long time, and taught me most of what I know as a hunter in the game. He's always been funny and easy going, and willing to help an almost total hunter noob. I should back up however, and state that it was truly Dynn, on his hunter Hroken, who got me started and pushed me to find out more about the game and the gear I needed, etc, etc. But it was Demise who taught me about shot rotations and how to maximize my DPS (damage per second).

Okay, I know... i know... i sound like a total nerd. I am. I admit it.

I once made up new lyrics to the song "Bells will be ringin', the sad sad news... oh what a Christmas, to have the blues..." I changed it to "Bells will be ringin', the sad sad news... oh what a guild run, to have the blues. My kitty's gone. I have no friends... cuz i've wiped my raid group, once again... (many more lines I won't post at this time) ... Friends and relations, send salutations... sayin' 'Surely you're addicted to this game.' But this is Warcraft, yes, Warcraft my dear... and all my friends here, are addicted, just the same..."

I met Demise at his GameStop store in Ft Myers. I'd helped him get a job at GameStop because he struck me as being such a good guy with a great work ethic... and he has been a great addition to our company. We had lunch at a Carribean style restaurant, sitting out on the patio enjoying the beautiful weather. We talked about the game and RL ("real life" for you non-gamers).

He shared his amazing story of mountain biking, taking a highly risky downhill (practically a cliff jump) trail, and ending up with a crushed wrist. He'd hiked 3 miles back out of the area, and I'm surprised he made it. But that's the kind of guy Demise, Shawn in RL, is. He's an adventurer, a risk taker, and yet also a sensitive, caring kind of guy.

It's for that very reason that I longed to share with him about the God who made him into such a thrill-seeker, but he shut me down pretty quickly saying he didn't want any of that "stuff" pushed on him. I didn't want to push, but I did wish he would have let me share. It didn't matter. It caused me to want to pray for him more passionately than ever, and I have been praying for him ever since that day we met.