Happy Father's Day!

He stands alone in the middle of the street, eyeing his target. His weapons are slung across each shoulder, resting firmly at his hips. Anxious for action, he flexes his hands near his sides, waiting for the right moment. Suddenly, a challenging voice shouts out, "Paul, would you get out of the street before you get hit by a car?" He quickly shoots the picture and hurries back onto the sidewalk, smiling apologetically to my mom.

I love my dad.

I remember the vacations when he had a video camera hung over one shoulder and the big Kodak with the telephoto lense over the other. He wore a baseball cap, pen in his shirt pocket, and had more maps on him than a newsstand. Now he's replaced the two cameras for a much smaller digital with photo and video capability, but his enthusiasm for taking pictures hasn't lessened one bit-- especially since he now has grandchildren! And he still wears a hat and carries a lot maps.

Sure, I love to give my dad a hard time about looking like a tourist, being an overly verbose tour guide, for remembering our trips by which restaurants we ate at, and making silly jokes, but I really look up to him. And, after all, I ended up with some of those same traits. Just ask my in-laws or anyone that comes to visit us. A couple of years ago, Daron, Esther, and I took a short trip around Virginia with Daron's parents right before law school graduation and I found myself doing many of the same things my dad used to do. Years ago, that would have made me cringe, but now it pleases me to no end.

My dad has always been a wonderful example to me of how to live the gospel. He is truly one of the most humble men I know. I love to listen to him sing as his bass voice rumbles the back of the pew. I love how he teases my Mom. I love how he gets so emotional about his girls. He's an engineer (but we won't hold that against him); he is smart, patient, and mostly funny. He is definitely one of a kind!

I love my dad. Happy Father's Day!