Happy Birthday Dad!

April 1…a day of ridiculous pranks and jokes, one where you always have to be on your toes, but one in which everyone ultimately has fun.  Quite the appropriate day for Dad to be born.

The April Fool’s Day of 1957 brought Dad into the world, and it’s a better place because of that.  Dad has always been a source of a good joke or an encouraging word at the most opportune time.  But more than that, he has been a man you can trust.  Someone you can count on.  Someone who taught me to always be where you say you’ll be, when you say you’ll be there, and do what you say you’ll do.  And he didn’t just teach me all this by saying it…he has always lived it out.

Dad has taught me what it looks like to be a real man as a husband and a father, something that will be very important to me in the coming years.  He showed me what it means to discipline and love at the same time, and how really, the two are inseparable.  He’s given me an appreciation for sports and the values they teach.  He’s shown me the value of hard work and determination.  I’ve learned that you can do whatever you set your mind to.  Dad’s passed on his sense of humor too…something that makes life so much more fun.

But most importantly, Dad has helped teach me what it means to love Jesus and live out that love.  He always has a great sense of perspective and has taught me to figure out what’s really important in life…the rest is just small stuff.

I can’t thank you enough, Dad, for the things that you’ve passed on to the next generation.  I can only hope and pray that I am able to do the same.  Enjoy your day, I love you, and keep looking up!