A toast to my brother and sister-in-law! The day they were married, I stood up with my brother wearing a black dress to match the other groomsmen. It was a special day with family and friends gathered! I surprised my brother by getting up to sing with my uncles (a “less than” replacement of our Uncle Randy) to sing a special song for the Bride and Groom, “I Give You Peace”.

I also surprised my dad during the “Best Man” speech, in which I shared his words to us. I don’t know the exact date when he wrote this but he gave both my brother and I a copy which was typed up as follows…

TO: Heather and Chad

FROM: Your Dad RE: Words to Live By

A long time ago I wrote 2 words on the underside of the bill of Chad’s baseball cap, “Confidence” and “Concentration.” At the time, this was to help him with is hitting but it can apply to any specific task. Applying these 2 words simply means, to have the Confidence that you CAN do it and to give the task your total Concentration so that you WILL do it well.

There are 3 more “C’s” I want you to think about ; “Care”, “Commitment” and “Competence”. These are what I consider the 3 “C’s” to live by - these should govern your thought process, form your mental attitudes and direct your actions.

CARE about yourselves, your friends, your family, the world around you and, especially, God. CARE for your friends, your family, your belongings and the environment - if you take care of these things, they will take care of you.

COMMIT yourselves to everything you do so that you do it well, COMPETENTLY. COMMIT yourselves to the CARING principle, so that you never forget it. COMMIT yourselves to YOU, so that you have pride enough to want to CARE.

As you go through life, do ALL that you do with the highest level of COMPETENCE. Be the BEST in whatever it is you’re doing at the time. You’ll find that the BEST are usually the most CARING, COMMITTED and COMPETENT people you’ll meet.