BILLY Blog By Billy — Kickstarter

The Grand Canyon Skywalk, a place my father and I had the pleasure of visiting about ten years ago, is a giant horseshoe-shaped cantilever walkway outstretched over the Grand Canyon's west edge. The walkway surface and five-foot high walls around the interior and exterior perimeters are made entirely of thick, clear glass. The only opaque structural elements are the two massive 32"x72" box-beans underneath the transparent floor that allows the whole cantilever walkway to exist. In other words, when you are upon the walkway and standing in between the box-beams it feels as if you are hovering in the air—WAY...

A couple of weekends ago, my wife and I were driving over Snoqualmie pass, which is about 45 minutes east of Seattle.  Seeing the snow covered slopes I was reminded of a story from my childhood that my parents frequently tell.  When I was around seven years old, my mom and dad took my sister and me skiing for the first time. I remember being in the parking lot by our car getting all of our gear on. My sister, three years younger than me, was not really cooperating so our mom struggled to get her all bundled up. "Do you...

Growing up I played a lot of sports. And springtime always meant baseball season. Thinking back, the coaches we had were all great. In the early years, most of the coaches were volunteer dads who had sons on the team. But as we got older and the game became more technical, we started having coaches that simply coached for their love of coaching.  Regardless of who the coach was, I remember I learned so much. And it was more than just learning the game of baseball. It was learning how to work as a team, how to encourage your teammates...

In the early morning hours of October 9, 1996, I awoke to find myself already screaming for help. Lying flat on my back, I was staring straight up into the air. Adjacent to me was the south-facing wall of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, my college residence at the University of Washington. Beneath me was a cold concrete walkway, which lead to the front door. There was no one around. And I was very confused. "Why am I outside?" I wondered. "And why can't I move?" I had no idea my body was broken.  Soon one of the widows on...

"Faith makes all things possible… Love makes all things easy."  This quote by American evangelist Dwight L. Moody is written on a little sticky note on the inside of the front door our Seattle condo. My wife and I became married in September of 2015 and in the days leading up to our union, my wife's sisters raided our home and peppered it with countless messages of love. And of those notes, many still remain in their original places a year and a half later.  On one of our bedroom doors are the words of Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu, "Being...