To know John, I have come to the conclusion, is to LOVE John. He is not only wonderful to work with but even more than that John is a wonderful, selfless, devoted friend. John walks though life searching out ways that he can be of service to others and by doing this GOD, in my opinion, seems to put John in the right places to achieve this goal. I am truly bless to call him a friend.
Beyond that, John is talented beyond words, he is artistic and God uses his artistic talent to touch people lives. I am not just saying this, I have personally seen it happen. Not only can John make some of the most gorgeous jewelry, but he can write in a way that leaves you wanting more yet feeling satisfied. Alright, now I would like to, in fact, I am honored to, share with you a piece of John's writing. This will be a regular (weekly or bi-weekly) feature on our blog tagged "John's Thoughts", hope you enjoy!
Thought on our Limitations : by John Madsen
Years ago, when I first sought 
help with depression, my therapist gave me a list of suggestions that would help people get out of ruts - one was "talk to a pet" . We have a black lab mix named Gus. He came to us as a young abandoned animal. Per his Lab genetics, and his own doggy trauma, he was very high-strung, but intensely eager to please, and took his responsibilities as a guardian seriously. Sadly, I used these as fodder for teasing him. When I read the "talk to a pet" instruction, he was about five, and settling down somewhat. I sat on the floor in front of him, and thanked him for being such a good dog. I thanked him for watching over us so carefully, and that we knew he'd be willing to accept harm to protect us. He sat before me, his eyes locked on mine. I apologized for having teased him, and found myself admitting that I had been less of a friend to him than he had been to me.
I became aware that this inarticulate creature was being supportive of me, in the only way he knew how, as I unburdened myself to him, acknowledged my flaws of character, and formed a resolution to change.
Humans often identify the structure of skills that are cumulatively known as “language” as being a primary evidence of our superiority to other species. Yet behavioral psychologists uniformly agree that many animals behave in ways that have no other explanation than genuine altruism. In plain words, mute creatures form bonds of love, act selflessly, live in service to a larger group; all without language and other social skills by which we humans identify and arbitrate our concept of self.
While we are amazed by our own abilities to construct, to measure, to transport and to learn, even the grandest of our imaginations of time and space extends to only only a fraction of physical creation. Every night we can witness incredible formations of matter and space wheeling around us with surgical precision and silent grace; mute, but eloquent is sheer Being.
When I am physically still, I move at the speed of the surface of the earth – about 12,000 miles an hour. No motion I can make of my own volition even registers on that scale. When I say nothing, That Voice still echoes among the galaxies.
So I’m gonna take a break from thinking, sit still, and shut up.
