A Wealthy Man ...

Isn't this a great picture? This was taken several years ago on one of our family adventure days. Nothing fancy, just being together and having fun.

So as I head out to celebrate Father's Day with the girls and their wonderful "Daddy", I was thinking about my childhood and when I used to celebrate the day with my "Daddy". I never did stop calling him "Daddy", even when he passed away almost 14 years ago, I still called him that. I think there's a difference ... Dad vs Daddy. I'll post about that some other time.

So I was thinking about my good fortune of having a father that spent time with me, who taught me to love God and the simple things in life and I'm grateful for that. And right now as I'm heading out to celebrate the day with Jon, who's an amazing father to my three girls, I wanted to let him know that I'm thankful beyond words for being a great "daddy" to the girls. And the truth is I'm bad with words, (even though it's my love language) and I struggle to put my thoughts on paper or in this case electronic characters to grace the world wide web for centuries to come.

So instead I wanted to share with you a gift that Jon gave me, something that he wrote for me almost 14 years ago. My tradition is to read this every Father's Day so that I remember the value of not only having a great father, but also of being one.

Thanks Jon for being a man I can look up to and a father that Emily, Natalie and Stefani love so deeply ... Happy Father's Day 09!

The Wealthiest Man I Ever Knew - by Jon Hall, Christmas 1995

The wealthiest man I ever knew wasn’t a man of many possessions. He didn’t have a fleet of cars, a big house, or attend expensive therapy sessions.

He was a man of simplicity, of gentleness … of servant hood and of thoughtfulness – with a fair share of caring, He had a character like no other … strong, but not overbearing. Of worldly things, he had quite few … that which he had tended to be recycled, used, and not very new.

But of earthly things, this man was beyond rich. The love of his family, and of his God, carried him through life without a hitch. Oh, he had problems, setbacks, and failing health like the rest of us. But the love of one daughter, she is the essence of love – represented in its simplest.

This daughters’ love, showed more than caring. It showed more than admiration, something far more daring. Her love was the essence of unconditional love. Something more than from herself, something more like from above.

This man showed his daughter this love, every chance he would … He showed it through the lessons, he showed it when they were fishing, he showed it whenever he could.

And from his example, she learned something quite valuable. She learned to love in a way that was gentle, but unstoppable. It showed in those hours, many a long hour, that she sat at his bedside, frustrated, but not sour.

For she knew that this man, tired, in pain, and near the end, was going to a place unlike any other … he was going to a place where his body would more than mend.

What made this man so wealthy, was more than money could buy. It’s worth more than anything … more than the world, bigger than the sky. It’s worth more than all the possessions of the world, more than all this earth could offer. His wealth was so staggering, greater than the world coffer.

For this man’s wealth was based on a love. The love of his God, the love of his daughter. An unconditional love, more than this world could ever offer.

And in the day, that she see’s her father again, she’ll give him a hug, she’ll share a tear, but she’ll know where he’s been. In the place he is now, in a place we can only imagine, this wealthy man’s there now, in a place called heaven.