4 minute read
Getting to Know: Dennis Smock
By Our Town Gwinnett Staff
Everyone has a passion. Everyone has something that intrigues them and drives them to do what they do. If you are like most people, you have had several of these passions during your lifetime, but there is always a single, underlying passion that drives everything. It is the foundation for everything that you do. And though all others are secondary, they are all related to your primary purpose in some manner. For many, their primary purpose does not fully manifest itself until the time is right, until everything they have experienced has been nurtured and matured to the point of action.
My name is Dennis Smock. I am a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology. For the longest time, I seemed to simply go with the flow – albeit the flow saw me do things without truly pursuing them. Most people who do pursue them never get to take part in the manner that I was able to. I got to be part of a team that was tasked with putting together a computer monitoring system for a nuclear power plant. I got to be part of the team that designed many recognizable buildings in Atlanta, L.A., San Francisco, and Times Square in New York. I have a patent in my name. I was VP of Creative Services for a $45 million/year retail design/build firm. I was adjunct faculty at a small design college. I was a nationally recognized consultant and had several trade articles published. I was also able to be involved in the music scene and have many stories to tell – but none of these things were my passion.
It is funny how God will use a still, small moment to get your attention. About twenty-five years ago, my wife and I were sponsored to go on a three-day church retreat. The men go one weekend and then the women go the following weekend. During those three days, and the following few weeks, my purpose, my passion, slowly started to come into focus. The number of people in my community who had been on previous weekends like this numbered over one thousand, and they had only the US Postal Service to stay in touch. I was asked to put together the email addresses that they had and use these as a basis for mass email communications. These early communications were simply to notify people of upcoming events and urgent prayer requests. I soon found myself wanting to send out positive messages, and so the daily devotionals were born. Recipients started asking if these could be shared, so I opened the list to anyone who wanted to receive them.
I worked from home during the early years of the daily devotionals. One day, something happened that solidified my passion. I have always used two computers, and this particular day had me only working on one computer with the other computer completely turned off. I heard the familiar sound of the second computer starting up and looked over to see that it had started and had loaded a web browser. It opened a site that I had never been to. It was a site put together by an engineer who set out to disprove the Bible, but became a follower of Jesus. This experience has given me the drive to read, study, and write.
“Be Still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10a) had become my life verse. From the beginning, the daily devotionals were written to be able to be read in just a few minutes. They were created to allow a brief escape from the otherwise hectic lives that we find ourselves living in today’s society. These devotionals have always asked pointed questions that basically try to make the reader respond with per-
“Seeing us have fun at work helps kids relax,” said Dr. Wilmot. “Our patients love to see which sparkly sneakers or colorful crocs and jibbitz we have on at their visit.”
Looking ahead, Dr. Wilmot and her team are excited to include the community in their milestone anniversary celebration at the Mountain Park Aquatics Center in August. Patients are invited, and they should prepare to have lots of – what else? – fun! Dr. Wilmot and her staff even got new t-shirts for the occasion, and they can’t wait to share the joy of a long and successful practice with everyone who wants to participate.
If you’re looking for a family orthodontist who knows how to make every experience a happy one, you’ve found exactly what you need in Gwinnett Orthodontic Care.
“You only get one smile,” said Dr. Wilmot. “We want to help you take care of it.”
More information at https://www.jjwilmot-ortho.com/ or call 770921-2233
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