I shared this on father's day but it's a thought worthy of any day. It is something I think about every day and a measure of how good a dad I was or might be remembered as by my own children.

I must reflect on an incident that happened many years ago and bears sharing now. I attended a meeting of Promise Keepers the first year it was held in the Georgia Dome with 57,000 in attendance. One of the exercises was to circle up with ten men you didn't know (easy for me as I went last minute with a group of men from Orange Baptist church). The men in the circle was assigned this task: to act as if their Dad were going to introduce them to the group. The guy to the left of me started as we stood in the circle, all men with arms over each others shoulders, interlocked in friendship. Little did I know the configuration would serve more as a means of actually holding each man up in just a few short minutes. 

One by one, each man told their tale as if their father were introducing them to the world. 

"My father told me I was a loser"...

"My Dad told me I'd never amount to anything" ...

"My dad said he hated me"...

"My dad disappeared when I was five and left us, I never saw him again" 

"My dad was an abusive drunk and beat my mother"...

and on and on until it got to me. 

Every man was weeping from sadness, and I was inconsolable. The men in that circle were reminding me that I was where I could share my thoughts about how my dad would introduce me to the men standing in that circle.

I began: "My Dad has always told me I was a good son. He always told me I'd be something great. He told me he was proud of me, even when I didn't deserve it. He loved me unconditionally and has affirmed me as a man and a father, I just didn't know how rare that is/was till just now." 

I thought everyone had a father like mine.I was changed forever about my Dad and being a dad.

I thought I might be able to throw something funny in here to soften the blow. I'll give that a shot Monday.