Dave Cottrell

A Crow Comes to Visit

Dave Cottrell –  pastor, photographer, translator, writer

Dave Cottrell, writer, photographer

Dave is an award-winning writer, now writing articles on a very broad spectrum of subjects, including, but not limited to, the IT industry and business. He also professionally translates French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and German into clear American English.

Dave Cottrell is experienced in web-based marketing, website development, advertising solutions, email marketing, website management, database management, and basic html programming including PHP.  He is interested in writing, translating and community development with the goal of providing high quality content, advertising solutions and strong, lasting business relationships.

He is a pastor, called to preach in 2007, much later in life than most.  Being a pastor is a calling, not a career.  It is not for “filthy lucre,” but to “feed the flock.” The local independent church he pastors faithfully pays him a small stipend.  God takes care of the rest in many ways, including orders for translating and writing.

Dave Cottrell does a lot of research and writing.  He is passionate about educating people, and even more, about encouraging people to think for themselves.  He writes for blogs, websites and the printed medium, according to his client’s needs. His services include creative articles, high quality proof-reading, editing and re-writing, copy writing and content auditing.

Find out more about these services at American English Translations.

The featured image above the headline is of Dave Cottrell about five years ago, before he grew the beard.  A young crow not quite ready to fly left its nest in a tree by the driveway a little early.  Dave and a neighbor rescued it and moved it to safety from roaming cats and other hazards.

The beard came after the arrival of his granddaughter who lives nearby.  All the men in her life have beards.  She always found it a little strange that her papa didn’t have a beard.  She was very happy when he grew one and is very determined, even now, that he does not shave it off!

Dave has chronic Lyme disease.  He began experiencing the symptoms near the end of 2007.  Sadly, there was and is great denial in the medical community about the prevalence of the disease across North America, and most doctors do not recognize it.  He therefore joined the ranks of many others with long term or chronic Lyme disease.

In Dave’s case, he finally was introduced to a doctor who is well-educated on Lyme disease, who was able to help him gain back a reasonable level of activity.  It’s not over, but he has now been off antibiotics for more than two years, and has not crashed.  He is in constant pain and fights fatigue every day, but is able to be very active, once again.

Dave Cottrell’s advice to anyone fighting a chronic disease:  “Keep calm and carry on.”  Too many people give up and choose to opt out of life, figuratively and, unfortunately, literally.  In the words of his mother’s family motto:  “While there’s breath, there’s hope.”  Never give up!

Update: 2022 is a year of change. Dave and his wife, Kathy, are in the process of moving north to Dease Lake. It’s a major move, from the temperate rain forest of the west coast to the sub-arctic climate of a small village just a few miles south of the Yukon!

But this is also an exciting move. It opens up opportunities to explore a vast, rugged wilderness about the size of New Brunswick. It is the home of the Tahltan people, many who are close relatives of Kathy. Their stewardship of the land going back into the shadows of history means that they know it very intimately, and thus have a history that is both closely related to the land and very rich.