Beyond the Numbers

01/08/2025

https://youtu.be/Km2mlwWNGHk

A review of 2024 and brief outlook for 2025

11/28/2024

https://us02web.zoom.us/clips/share/A2F3MRYwTGdXdkFRcFJmLU44aldHRXpuXzJ3AQ

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11/02/2024

This struck me during my morning QT: "Perhaps it's good to have a beautiful mind, but an even greater gift is to have a beautiful heart." John Nash quote.

10/24/2024

Grabbing breakfast with my son Ben.

10/02/2024

https://www.premierfuneral.com/obituaries/Clarence-Clair-Loose/ #!/TributeWall

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09/12/2024

"You’re in my sights"

Dear Family and Friends,
Thank you for the greetings and warm sentiments expressed on my birthday yesterday, 9/11. I am grateful for all my family and friends, many whom I fear I have taken for granted in the past. It is a blessed man who has family and friends who truly care for him. 2024 has been a year of loss. However, last night was a watershed moment in the positive. My children helped me see my life from a different vantage point as we shared dinner in an intimate circle.
In the pursuit of life goals, career advancement, work responsibilities, volunteering activities, chasing after frivolity, or just ticking things off the “to do” list, reflection on what is truly important has on occasion (or repeatedly, if I am honest with myself) been missed. Opportunities for human connection have certainly been missed in my hyperspeed-paced life. Deeper still, perhaps the fear of transparency, putting oneself out there for the world to see, warts and all, and the potential for rejection has certainly at times prevented me from recognizing my God-given identity and fulfilling my God-preordained purpose.
Since losing one of my best friends from UVa two years ago, I have more consciously followed the advice of Socrates and critically examined my life’s meaning and that has led me to question and re-focus my priorities. Being Greek I have always had life postulates. I have been refining a new one: To fully know and be fully known is the definition of true friendship/true love. Please forgive me if you have ever felt shorted by me in that regard.
Paraphrasing Jeremiah 1:5, Before He laid the foundation of the world; before He formed us in the womb; before we were born, He knew us and He chose us. I believe that this is the highest form of knowing, the highest form of love, God’s ultimate Truth that He wants to share with His creation in forming a deep relationship with us through the conduit of His Son. God wants to give us our name, our identity, our purpose. God’s prodigal love is beyond comprehension—it certainly blows the circuit boards in my heart and mind. I know it is unattainable for me to love a fellow human being like that, even when I know he/she was created in the image of God---but it is a target for which I aim.
I am grateful to know you—even if not fully yet.
You’re in my sights!
Sincerely,
Dan

09/01/2024

The boys and I introduced Jane to the Loose's favorite pastime yesterday. She proved to be very intelligent like her namesakes, my Great-Great-Grandmother Betsy Jane Loose AND Great-Grandmother Mary Jane Patten Loose were. Jane obviously now loves exploring ghost towns and mining camps. Combining that love with the love of dirt biking and ATV riding to reach those remote locations is simply the cat's pajamas! The ride into the Oquirrhs was indeed rough yesterday but Jane proved to be a total trooper. We were excited to share those loves with her.

08/14/2024

Zac, Ben, and I spent the day exploring mines and ghost towns in W. Idaho. Got to visit a working gold mining operation. So incredibly interesting. I loved every second of it! Ben is pictured in the bucket of an abandoned dredger. I include a picture of what it would have looked like back in the 1930s. My great grandfather, Colonel C.E. Loose and his brothers William and Warren were with us in spirit today!

08/08/2024

Zac, Yours Truly, and Jake on a ride near McCall.

07/05/2024

God’s Economy

I cannot honestly say that I frequently hear God’s voice, but He spoke loud and clear yesterday at Matt Moten’s memorial service in St. George, even answering, at least in part, my questions around Matt’s premature death.

The church’s chapel, where the memorial service was held, was packed with students from Utah Tech, even though it’s summer break. Literally scores of young people traveled from around the country to support Matt’s family and share their personal stories about how Matt positively impacted their lives. It was simultaneously joyful and sad as there were slides of him baptizing students in the ocean off Catalina Island this spring. He was a friend to the friendless, a mentor to those suffering from past hurts, hangups, and addictions, a constant source of encouragement, and a guide to those seeking a transformed life through belief in the One who gives us our true identity and our lives purpose and meaning, Jesus Christ.

There is a song I love by Kutless entitled “Better is One Day,” the refrain of which goes: “Better is one day in Your courts [of your temple], Better is one day in Your house, Better is one day in Your Courts, Than thousands elsewhere.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdE03zRJtxw
This song reminded me of God’s economy which is certainly NOT our economy. Better to have lived 23 years with purpose and leave an eternal legacy than to live 100 years to one’s own selfish ends.

Matt left just such a legacy in 23 short years. Nevertheless, I’ll be selfish and state that I wish we would have had him with us a lot longer. In any event, I, too, wish to leave an eternal legacy in the days he affords me by loving and lifting up those whom He created in “imago Dei,” (the image of God), i.e., in His image, just as Matt did. Thank you Matt for being a role model--even to those of us who are slightly older than you. LOL!

And thank you, friends, for indulging me by allowing me to share my heart. Love and respect to the Moten family who are showing such incredible faith through this horribly difficult time. May your son's memory be eternal.

In His prodigal love,

Dan

Better is One Day - Kutless

07/02/2024

Friends,
My heart breaks for the parents and siblings of Matt Moten, an InterVarsity leader at Utah Tech, who passed away last night after a tragic boating accident Sunday. Matt is the brother to Sam; Sam is my son Zac's best friend at the U.
Matt was a believer in Jesus Christ. The paradox of this story (and that of many of God’s actions in scripture), Matt’s Bible was open to Psalm 4:8 "I will lie down in peace and sleep, for though I am alone, O Lord, you will keep me safe."
I have recently been reading a book entitled Living Fearless that argues that as followers of Jesus Christ, we are never to ask our Supreme Commander, our Holy, Most High King, “Why?” He encourages us however to ask “What am I supposed to learn from this?” and we can even be super real with God, “Can you help me deal with this because from my vantage this really sucks?” or “How can something good come from something seemingly so bad?” I’m firing these questions and similar ones away right now….as my prayers, sadly, were not effective in restoring Matt back to life.
Not much worse in life than losing a child/sibling. I would appreciate your prayers for Matt’s family.
Rest in Peace, Matt.
Thank you, friends.
Sincerely,
Dan

04/17/2024

Normally, this time of year is miserable due to the approaching tax deadline. This year it was beyond measure miserable due to the death of my Godfather, Melvin Gortatowski. I gave him the best send-off I knew how. 'Til we meet again, Mel. May you RIP. Love you dearly!
https://www.starksfuneral.com/obituary/3586-ylgehekcfc