Funny Guy Friday... A Good Man goes to heaven!

    My father passed away on March 12th. He took his last breath with me, my mother, a sister and a brother at his side. The rest of my brothers and sisters arrived shortly thereafter.
    After almost twenty years of marriage, my wife has picked up on the fact that when I think highly of someone, I will say that he is a "Good Man." I tell her it is the highest compliment that I can give.
    A Good Man is someone who is faithful to his religion, his wife and to his family. He is someone who can be brutally honest, but focuses on the honesty part and disposes of the brutality. Someone that you can rely upon and trust. When he says he will be there, you know he will show up. In fact, he will probably show up in your time of need, even if he is not asked.
    A Good Man lives a life based on principles and will not compromise those principles for convenience's sake. A Good Man will treat everyone with respect and will engage in both parts of a conversation, the talking part and also the listening part. He is fair and he is forgiving.
    I make the declaration that I believe that someone is a Good Man based on what I observe and whatever limited contact that I may have had the pleasure of having with them.
    I have had almost daily contact with my dad over the past forty seven years and I can say without hesitation that he was a Good Man!
   So this past week, my six-year-old posed the question, "Do good men go right to heaven?"
   Wow, good question Noah. My immediate response was to just say "yes," but I thought that it would be a good question for my brother Paul. Paul is a Lutheran minister, and is great with kids. In fact, one of my favorite photos is of my brother in his vestments surrounded by a group of young kids. I thought I would take advantage of having him there.
    Oftentimes, clients of mine ask me if they really need a lawyer. I ask them what they do for a living, and if they happen to be an electrician, I will tell them that although I can change a lightbulb, that does not make me an electrician. They can talk, but that does not make them lawyers.
    Noah's question was right in my brother's wheelhouse, and although I go to Mass every weekend and had a strong opinion on the answer, I am not an expert, so I deferred.
    So off Noah went in search of Uncle Paul and an enlightened answer. He returned after about ten minutes and I was anxious to get the response. I asked Noah to tell me everything that he heard. His response was priceless. Noah told me that Uncle Paul told him, "Yes!"
    That's it---Yes! Turns out that I am an expert after all.
    I told Noah he had been gone for ten minutes... Uncle Paul had to have told him more than that... more than just, "Yes!"
    Apparently, Uncle Paul had been on the phone for nine minutes and fifty five seconds of the ten minutes, and with his remaining five seconds, he was able to tell Noah, "Yes." I wish I had thought of that.
    At this point I had two thoughts. First, I hope that my brother did not spend a bunch of money on classes dealing with life after death issues while a student at Divinity School. And second, I suppose it really is that simple---if you live a faithful life devoted to Christ, your wife and your family... if you are honest, responsible and stay true to your principles... if you treat others with respect and are fair with people and forgiving of others... YES... YOU DO GO TO HEAVEN!
    It is comforting to know that my dad was a Good Man and is walking in heaven.

    Anyway, after my dad passed, we all sat with him. We waited for my brother to arrive so we were there all day. After two hours, Noah came into the room and said that Uncle Paul must have been wrong. "What are you talking about?" Cheryl asked.
    Noah replied, "Well, it's been a lot of minutes, and PapPap is still here."
    PapPap was still in the room, he hadn't gone anywhere. As it turns out, Pastor Paul could have offered a few extra minutes of instruction to young Noah.
    Noah's work was not done for the night. After my dad's body was removed from the house, he wanted to draw a picture. He asked my sister what to draw and she told him to draw whatever was in his heart. Noah went to work as only he can do---very focused. After about ten minutes, he left the room to finish coloring his masterpiece. He came back with a picture of Jesus on the Cross. It was a great picture that he decided to give to my mother. Very sweet.

    Again, thank you all for your thoughts and your prayers. My family will miss my dad, but he was a Good Man, and I will assure you that he is a Good Man in the Kingdom of Heaven.