John Gunter

Thoughts on Life and Living

The vitality of “leaning into pain”

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Phil Autry, Troy Coons, and I during our marathon "taping session" two days after Philip Clarke's passing.
Phil Autry, Troy Coons, and I during our marathon “taping session” two days after Philip Clarke’s passing.

As I pulled up to my house just off of the Georgia Tech campus, I was excited to get home and see my roommates. I had been in Florida for the previous two days celebrating my Grandmother’s 82nd birthday. It was a good time.

My friend Phil Clarke and I had gotten into a habit of often walking around the campus at night and simply “processing” the day. This night walk would take on the added interest of my “exotic travels” to Central Florida.

Upon exiting my car on the street, I began walking to the house. Almost immediately my friends David Moon and Phil Autry pushed open the screen door of the house and began walking towards me. They had strange, puzzling looks on their faces and they seemed to approach me with a purpose.

My immediate response; [Read more…]

3 invaluable life lessons from the death of a best friend

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L to R: Zan Ianerina, Julian Krevere, Phil Autry, Troy Coons, Howie Espensheid,and Philip Clarke at a BIble study a few months prior to Phil Clarke's passing.
L to R: Suzanne Iannarino, Julian Krevere, Phil Autry, Troy Coons, Howie Espenshied (Campus
Minister at Tech), and Philip Clarke at a Bible study a few months prior to his passing.

I was deeply and eternally impacted by the life and premature death of a best friend. His name was Philip Andrew Clarke and he passed on to heaven 18 years ago this week.

As I said in a post last year, Phil was a best friend and brother in Christ of the highest order. It is incredible how I can STILL miss someone who has been gone for so long, but I do. It is not as often as it used to be, but thoughts, memories, and emotions of Phil, his friendship, and powerful life still hold a big piece of my heart. Amazing.

Upon Phil’s passing, I made two personal commitments. [Read more…]

Instagram(able) Asia!

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Here are three Instragram pics I have posted the past year. All have fun/interesting stories, including Meredith & Jack Stuart on the right.
Here are three Instragram pics I have posted the past year. All have fun/interesting stories, including Meredith & Jack Stuart on the right.

As a result of both starting this blog AND the photo sharing application Instagram, I have really enjoyed taking pictures of my life here in Asia (and around the world) and sharing them the past year and a half.  With my new website design, I was trying to figure out a way to integrate both my blog and sharing pics of life.

Here is my attempt! [Read more…]

“Annie”, Noah, Tracey, and other life happenings

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ohn Gunter and Noah playing hide-and-seek
Noah and I playing hide-and-seek last night. . .

Hello!  It feels like forever since I have last written here.  I AM ok and doing well.  Life had just gotten too tiring and busy, so I needed to step back from a few areas for a little while.  Blogging was one of them.  Hopefully I am getting enough emotion bandwidth back to write regularly again!

Today, I looked back over the past few months of my blog.  It hit me that [Read more…]

7 ways to encourage a friend

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My friend praying with me in the midst of a crowded Starbucks
My friend praying with me in the midst of a crowded Starbucks

As you could infer from my last post, it has been a rough few days of fatigue and “re-entry” into Asia.  Nothing cataclysmically bad, but tough nonetheless.

I just finished meeting with a friend over coffee.  He is a local Asian friend who is a committed follower of Christ and works in finance.  We meet together semi-regularly simply as friends and fellow Christians.  We are the same age, so that is nice for both of us.  He is married to a wonderful woman and has a fun little child.

I entered into the time with my friend tired and depleted.  I exited the time energized and filled with a grateful heart.  My friend has truly and genuinely encouraged me.

Upon driving back to my apartment (where I am now), I keep thinking about all that happened during this short one hour time at Starbucks which has taken my soul from “meh” to “yes!!!”.

[Read more…]

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