I am a 42 year old father of 3 daughters and a son. I am a business manager. I am an artist. I am a youth pastor. I am a published author. I am married to my very best friend. Although these things have shaped me, they are not me. I am much more than my hobbies, my job, and my societal roles. So when people ask me who I am...

I remind them that the question is not who I am .... it's whose I am. I am a child of the one true King. I am a child of God! And it is in Him that I find my identity.

So, if you're still listening after the God thing and are interested in MORE ABOUT ME...here goes!

Let me begin by saying that I am not new here. I made my first post to #steemit a little over a month ago. It was very similar to the paragraph above. In fact, that above paragraph, was a very week attempt at my #introduceyourself post. It is still my most highly valued post in terms of #steem earnings, at $59 bucks and some change. Not much on the grand scheme of things, but much better than anything Facebook every gave me. And, just to be upfront, at one point when #steemit was hacked, I panicked and created another account, where I posted a very similar #introduceyourself. So, @cheetah bot, please don't condemn me to the dark side. I have abandoned that account and just want to properly introduce myself. So, here goes...

Hi! My name is Brian, but most people know me as Hoops! Have you ever seen the John Cusack movie from the 80’s One Crazy Summer ? Well, that’s where the name came from, and it has stuck with me ever since Junior High School. Mainly because I’m a pretty darn good artist, and not such a good basketball player. Watch the movie and you’ll get the reference. Anyway, enough of what people call me. We could very easily be here all day if we dove too far into that.

I live on a tropical island in Texas!

Yep, you heard me correctly. Most people, other than a few thousand hardcore spring breakers, don’t even know it exists. South Padre Island is located on the southern-most tip of Texas, just a few miles from Mexico. The tropical climate keeps things warm most of the year, which lends itself beautifully to the beach life…and year around gardening (my zen)!

My Passions

I am an artist with no particular style. I’m sort of all over the place when it comes to both medium and subject matter. This might be one of the things that keeps me from making any sort of good money at it. I love to write and have even published my own children’s book that you can currently get on Amazon right now. It was a dream of mine. I did it! Crossed it off of my bucket list! Time to move on...

I love God, but I love the creepy, scary, gore of All Hallows Eve. But, more importantly, it allows me to live out my dream of being a Hollywood Monster make-up artist. You can click here to see a previous post about it. However, I am including a pick just to wet your whistle.

My Family and The Compound

I live on what my family calls The Compound. I’ll let your imagination run wild with this one for a bit. I love and adore my family. We are not perfect, but we are family. We have a pretty good life and I'll share more about that in future posts.

The Fam

I have never been much of a traveler but have learned to love to travel by tagging along with my wife on some of her crazy adventures. She keeps my exploring. We’ve been on some crazy adventures together. I’m glad I’ve found a platform to share all future travels.

Steemit Community, thank you for giving me an opportunity to introduce myself. You will definitely be seeing more of me. Until then…keep rockin’!