Encouraging each other

When you start a project such as creating a business venture, you really need friends to encourage you through the inevitable roadblocks. Since today is Valentine's Day, we want to take a minute to say thank you to some friends who have encouraged us in the past few months.

Work on pursuing this business dream began in earnest in January after Phil Hutchins with ArkyTech dot com gave David a pep talk before our church care group meeting. Phil told David about a John MacArthur sermon ("God's will is not secret") he recently had listened to. MacArthur said, in essence, that if you are living a God-fearing life, Psalm 37:4 says "the Lord will give you the desires of your heart." That does not mean He will fulfill all the desires in your heart; it means He will put the desires in your heart. So if you have a desire to start a business, Phil encouraged David, go for it! Phil encourages us every time we meet in their home.

In addition, David's friend and graphic artist extraordinaire Scott Brooks with Stormer-Brooks Illustrations has greatly encouraged David as they have e-mailed over the months about our business plan. As Scott developed the sketches and then the logo versions for our dream, he encouraged us to keep at it, to pursue this dream despite the long odds and obstacles. The logo he developed is like a booster shot of adrenaline. It was Scott's idea last fall to try to raise money for this business dream using the Internet.

After Phil Hutchins' pep talk, we decided that we needed to immediately create a Facebook page and a website. At the encouragement of another new friend from church, Frank Turk, we jumped into the blogging world. He's one of the most popular bloggers in the world. His blog covers much more serious topics than ours.

We say a big thank you to Frank and his family for their friendship and encouragement. Frank and his son drove up to North Little Rock one recent Saturday to help us erect a wooden privacy fence around our backyard. That's a real friend to give up a beautiful Saturday afternoon to work, and we are grateful. Frank told us that a blog would be easy to set up but then take the rest of our lives to keep it going.

We didn't get a picture of Frank and his son working on our fence, but here's one of our son helping Daddy attach the fence pickets onto the 2-by-4s.

We are grateful for other friends in our church, too. Mike and Nancy Davidson have been very encouraging. In getting to know them recently, it has become obvious why Mike's Parkway Automotive business is doing so well. To all of you who have encouraged us and helped us in any way these past few months, we say a big thank you. We are so grateful for your support. Keep checking back as we update you on our progress.