Who I am.

David Willis

Hi. I’m David.

I’m a 48-year-old data professional, husband, father, two-time cancer survivor, author, and a guy who spent twenty years filling notebooks with “someday I’ll…” goals — and is finally doing something about it.

I live in Oklahoma with my wife (27 years and counting) and our son. By day, I’ve spent nearly twenty years in oil and gas data management and data governance — the unglamorous layer everything else depends on. By night, I write novels, blog about transformation, create daily Bible illustrations, and try to figure out how to help as many people as possible live with more purpose.

The Short Version

On January 1, 2026, I started the 7-40 Challenge — seven daily habits, forty days at a time — and started writing here every day. The challenge is still running. The writing turned into something wider: a daily record of faith, family, work, and learning to talk to AI like a person, from a regular guy showing his work instead of selling a blueprint.

I call myself the lab rat, not the expert. I’m not teaching from a place of completed success. I’m documenting the process in real time — the wins, the struggles, and everything in between.

The Longer Version

I’ve lived a few lives already.

I grew up in Oklahoma, married my best friend at 20, became a youth and music pastor at 20, got out of ministry at 24, sold art and sprayed yards and managed a Pizza Hut while in my wilderness year, and then got diagnosed with testicular cancer at 26. By the grace of God, beat it. Started reading everything I could get my hands on. Built a career in oil and gas data management that’s spanned nearly twenty years and counting.

At 33, I went back to school and earned a Master’s degree and got straight As — a far cry from the 2.7 I scraped together as an undergrad. Turns out it’s amazing what wanting to do a good job does to your performance.

At 39, cancer came back. A 13-centimeter tumor. Four rounds of chemotherapy. Surgery. Radiation. God healed me again.

At 44, I walked onto a stage for the first time in 24 years and rediscovered my love for performing. Summer of 2022, I was playing Maurice in Beauty and the Beast in front of a lot of smiling faces across 10 shows.

Somewhere in the middle of all that, I earned my Distinguished Toastmaster designation — over 200 speeches in twelve years across multiple clubs. I wrote 50+ songs. I started blogging. I filled those notebooks with ideas and dreams and plans.

And then, at 47, I finally asked myself the question that changed everything: Is it always gonna be this way?

What I’m Building

The 7-40 Challenge is where this year started — seven habits, forty days, repeated. It’s what got me writing every day, and the daily posts grew out of it. The challenge page is still here if you want the original framework; the blog has since become the wider record of what came from it.

Phase Defiant was my first published novel, written under my pen name DMT Willis. It’s a YA sci-fi story set in 1994 about a fourteen-year-old girl who discovers she can phase through solid objects — and the government program that finds her before she figures out what she can really do. It’s available on Amazon right now, and I’d love for you to read it.

The Light Bearer, my second, is a YA fantasy for anyone who grew up wishing the back of the wardrobe opened. Three Oklahoma teenagers cross into a world where the battle between light and darkness isn’t a metaphor. It’s on Amazon too.

BiblePictures365 is a daily devotional image project — one AI-generated illustration for every chapter of the Bible, paired with the verse that inspired it. I post them every day on TikTok and Instagram, and it’s become one of my favorite things I’ve ever created. And, it has brought me closer to God.

This blog is the daily record. The transformation documented in real time. Some days it’s a full essay. Some days it’s a few honest paragraphs. Every day it’s real.

What I Believe

I believe in Jesus. That’s the foundation everything else is built on.

I believe it’s never too late to start. I have over twenty years of notebooks to prove that the desire was always there — and more than 250 days of execution to prove that all it needed was a system.

I believe authenticity has staying power and fake doesn’t last. I believe in the long game over the quick fix. I believe that knowledge is cheap but understanding is valuable — and that the bridge between them is asking better questions.

I believe the world doesn’t need another guru selling a blueprint. It needs more people willing to show their work, admit their struggles, and prove that transformation is possible by actually doing it.

And I believe that if I can help 1,000 people love God more deeply, love their families better, do meaningful work, and pursue the life they were actually created for — then this whole thing was worth it.

Want to Follow Along?

Read the blog. I post every day. Start with the most recent post or check out some favorites:

Check out my books. Phase Defiant and The Light Bearer are on Amazon. If you read one, I’d love an honest review.

Follow @BiblePictures365. Daily Bible illustrations on TikTok and Instagram.

Join the community. Sign up for updates and be part of what’s being built here.

Find Me

Thanks for being here. Whether you’ve known me for thirty years or you just found this page five minutes ago — I’m glad you’re reading this. The journey is better with company.

— David

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