Last night I was doing some writing for my next book, “FEAR-PROOF,” and my wife, Lori was in her “studio” doing some painting.
For some reason I looked at my watch and noticed the date and then I thought about what happened on July 8th, 2010.
At the very young age of 22, Brandon Haskins was tragically taken from this world.
Some of you know who Brandon was. As Lori always said, “Brandon was an old soul in a young person’s body.”
The reason for this blog is because at a very young age Brandon played a pretty big part in encouraging my wife and I to become more serious about a couple of hobbies we have.
Lori is a water color artist and I like to place my thoughts in writing.
Brandon connected Lori to a professional artist, Trish McKinney and Trish is Lori’s mentor. Lori’s art work continues to get better and better and she will have three of her newest pieces on display next week in West Milton at the annual Hoffman United Methodist Church Art Show. This is a really nice show and I would encourage you to stop by. BTW-Lori is also an excellent photographer and she is the “official” photographer for my EagleLaunch website…I just added some new stuff. It is amazing how many people enjoy Lori’s work as an artist and photographer…and she has just scratched the surface of a wealth of amazing talent.
Brandon encouraged me to write a book when I first met him almost four years ago. He was the Chief Creative Officer for Clay Bridges which was a book publishing company. Brandon knew some of my story and history through his work with our church.  He was also a follower of my early blogs on EagleLaunch. Without Brandon’s encouragement I would never have written a book let alone be working on book number two.
Brandon was a connector and an encourager and Lori and I are forever grateful he connected with us and encouraged us to practice our passions. It is much better than sitting around wasting time watching television in the evening.
The moral of this story goes back to the quote at the beginning of this blog from Hugh Macleod. What is so crazy is Brandon posted this quote on his Facebook site just a few hours before his death.
I agree, life is way too short not to do something that matters.
What are you doing today that really matters?
Brandon’s work is still living on. Will yours?
Brandon with my daughter Michelle at church camp.
P.E.A.C.E.
Jay@EagleLaunch.com
