A Man of Honor
Dear Jaime “Jimmy” Del Valle,
First of all, I want to thank you for being a good man by honoring the responsibility of taking care of your wife and raising up your children. I want to dedicate this time to honor you and point out eight amazing qualities that I totally admire in you. Sure, you aren’t perfect. Sure, you don’t have it ALL together. Sure, you don’t have all the answers to ALL the questions, but you have let God more into your life and you never let your imperfections be an excuse to limit you. Rather, you always find a way to improve and be a better man of God. Jimmy, you are indeed a man of God. Jimmy, you are a man of God. Jimmy, you are a man of God. I want you to always remember that. Don’t ever let the past hinder that. Don’t let anyone make you think that God would love you less because of mistakes made along the way. Romans 8:38-39, ” For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Jimmy, I want to point out eight amazing man qualities you have that I admire and have inspired me to be the man I am and that I want to continue to grow in.
You have shown me to be hard worker and, more importantly, a provider. There’s not been a time when we lacked a roof above our heads. There’s not been a time when we lacked food on our plates. You did whatever you had to do to provide in a honoring way, even if that meant waking up really early to put in extra hours to get projects done before dinner so that you could be at home with the family.
You have shown me to never totally judge someone and to give people a chance for redemption, like the way that you never closed the door on young men who were involved in the wrong life if they wanted to work for you. As long they truly had the desire to work and never brought their bad habits to work, you were willing to hire them. You showed them work ethics, you showed them love, you show them respect, and you showed them that there’s a better way to live.
You have shown me how to be perseverant and not let falls dictate the outcome of the rest of my life. In your life you have made mistakes and will continue to make some, but you find a way to correct them and take out a lesson away from them to apply to your life. As a great quote in a novel by Haruki Murakami says: “Pain is inevitable but suffering is optional.”
You have shown me to be an exemplary leader. To never be afraid of challenges and to be a leader by example and not so much by words. When you became a Cub Master and Scout Master you showed how to be a good leader and mentor not to just to the kids, but also to the parents that entrusted you with their kids. You became a role model to many people in your life, even to some people in our schools.
You have shown me how to sacrifice myself for the good of others. You have had desires and dreams, but put some on hold just to honor other people’s desire and duties. To move to the United States is something you wanted for a while but because you loved and respected your wife’s father so much, you knew she had a duty to take care of him and be there for him as a good daughter. When the opportunity to move presented itself, you had to sacrifice once more by letting your family move ahead of you for an entire year just so we could start a new life while you stood behind taking care of stuff that had to be take care of.
You have shown me how to be a follower and a lover of Jesus Christ. I remember when you barely attended church, whatever your reasons were. You have grown your faith and your love for God before my own eyes. I have seen how much you have changed since you have let God more into your life and have the hearty desire to pursue Him. Now every day, before you start your day, you take the time to read Scriptures and pray. What’s even more beautiful is that you don’t do your walk alone. You also share your walk with Jesus with your wife.
Dad, you weren’t in the military, therefore you don’t have a uniform to show all your badges, all your accomplishments, all your honors. What you have is your whitening hair and your wrinkles, and you deserve every single one of them for they represent all your hard work and stress you been through in life. They are not signs of age, but rather signs of wisdom and signs of a well- fought life.
Thank you for the magnificent job you have done as a husband, as a father, and now as a grandfather. Once again, you are a man of God.
Love always,
Jan Carlo Del Valle
