Letter to my son

Today is my son, Caleb's, birthday. I wrote him a "birthday" letter and Kelli thought I should share it here with all of you. He's a special kid and I'm truly a blessed Dad.

Dear Caleb Andrew,

Today, December 30th, 2010 is your fourteenth birthday. Last year, at this time, you and I got to go to Florida and hang out together. I sorta wish I could go back in time, because that was truly awesome for me. It was a memory I’ll never forget. Now you are one year older. You’re not just “becoming a teenager”, you ARE a teenager! It seems so strange to me to see you getting older.

Of course, like all parents, I wish I could freeze time and make you stay small forever. I miss you being a little guy that I carried on my back and wrestled with and threw 15 feet in the air to watch you belly-flop into the pool. Now you could carry me on your back, kick my butt in wrestling, and push me into the pool whenever you wanted! Well,… almost. =)

Anyway… I want you to know how proud I am of you. I think you are a great person and you’ve grown into an awesome young man. You probably don’t know this… but I watch you… a lot. I see you talking with your friends. I see you playing with children that are way smaller than you. I watched you be an awesome brother to Maria, even though she was hard to relate to at times. I watch you with your brothers and Michaela and Merci.

I watch you Caleb… and I’m really proud of you.

When Mom and I were thinking of a name for you, we chose Caleb Andrew for a reason. Not necessarily because those two names mean something cool, but because of those two characters in the Bible.

Caleb was a spy. Actually, there were 12 spies that were chosen, out of all of God’s people, to sneak into the “Promised Land”. They did and they saw some killer stuff, including lots of food and water… and scary giants. Caleb and Joshua were the only ones, out of the 12, that told the leadership that they should definitely go into the Promised Land. But the other 10 spies all said, “No way! The giants are way too big! We’ll all be killed if we try and go in there!” Because of these 10 guys’ report, God’s people chickened out and didn’t do what He wanted them to do. However, Caleb and Joshua will always be considered studs for being brave enough to do whatever it takes to obey God. We chose Caleb, because he was a stud… a radical for God.

Andrew was one of Jesus’ disciples. He is one of the guys that doesn’t get mentioned very often in the Bible, however, when he is mentioned… he’s bringing people to Jesus! For example, he brought his brother to Jesus, and the kid with the lunch of fish and bread too. We think this is something that God is going to do with you.

When you put these two names together: Caleb Andrew – I get the picture of a radical guy, who doesn’t care what anyone else may think, all he cares about is what God thinks. A guy who is brave and doesn’t mind being quietly in the background, as long as he can be a part of helping someone else see Jesus. This is Mom’s and my prayer for you Caleb. That you would always be different than the rest of the crowd (all the other wimpy spies who call themselves God-followers, but are too wimpy to ever really take a stand for Him). You are definitely becoming that kind of person. I see it in you and the way that you are. This is why I am so proud of you.

I love you more than anything, son. I hope you know that.

As always, you must remember that I am always here for you. If you are going through something, or if you ever need to talk, I hope you’ll come to me. I love you 5, buddy… and I ALWAYS will.

Happy Birthday,
love Dad