On more than one occasion someone has suggested that I am competitive. The truth is they’re right, but it’s much deeper than that “I am competitive.”

Broomball

I learned to play broomball courtesy of Bethel U’s VP Ralph Gustafson. In 1987 Ralph was the youth pastor of Bethel Baptist Church of Green Bay, WI. I was Ralph’s “Youth Ministry Associate” or some such title. I worked long hours, got paid for a few and loved my boss and the teens so much I volunteered the rest of the time.

Today when asked to describe me in one word Jocelyn “Jozey” Wichterman described me as passionate. While I humbly smirked when I read it, she’s right, I am passionate.

Yesterday’s tragic death of Avenged Sevenfold’s drummer The Rev [James Owen Sullivan] drives my passion into a flame.

Chains

Several years ago while having lunch with Heather Crimmins she introduced me to Avenged Sevenfold. Over the years I realized that Avenged Sevenfold’s lyrics spoke to people; they touched wounded souls:

“Tormented young with no souls, haunting me
Pain in their lives all they know is misery
Take these chains away that are holding me down” [Eternal Rest]