I have recieved many email responses to this site, and some comments to posts. The post below was submitted by a man who I respect greatly for one main reason. He has left it all on the table to follow Christ.

As I began to type my next post, his comment came to me in my email. I post it here as his testimony is more uplifting than any post I could write. This is what this site is for. READ IT, LEARN IT, LIVE IT.

Thank you brother for your willingness to share faith. You are truly an Off Brand Dad.

St. Joseph, pray for us.

(original comment)
*************************************************************************************

I can not pretend to know excactly how your friend feels, for each situation depends on the circumstances. I do however, have an idea what it’s like.

I was employed with a pool company as a salesman. My goal for 2007 was to earn $200,000 and this was a realistic goal. These pools were insanely expensive and it was not uncommon to reffer to our customers as victims.

About a year and a half ago I began to hear a gentle whisper from the Holy Spirit, asking if this is truly what I should be doing. My sales started declining at an alarming pace because I could no longer look my customers in the eyes. Eventually I just pretended to go to calls because I couldn’t take the guilt of it all.

This was a very scary time because I was unsure how my wife would react to me coming home and saying “I quit my job because it’s immoral and unethical”. The world paints a distorted picture of what is right and wrong and I assumed my wife would think I was crazy as well as my friends. We struggled through the transition from 4000 Sq ft. to 1500 Sq ft. The tension was palpable as the monthly maintenance my wife was used to (tanning sallon etc…) became casualties in the new budget. I found support in my pursuit of holiness in the Fishers of Men and they gave me the strength I needed to stick to my beliefs.

Long story short, I made one tenth of what I could at the pool company in 2007 yet my family is ten times happier than they were in 2006.

That my brother is proof to me that we have convinced ourselves of a false reality in society’s retail driven exsistence. Signs and commercials scream “Hey this will make you happy. You can’t put a price on happiness can you?”

Well, as a matter of fact you can. It’s free, your heart knows where to find it.

The response to this site has been overwhelming. I am overjoyed and affirmed that there are other dads out there seeking to put Christ at the center of their family. Thank you for your love and prayers.

I have changed the title of this page to “The Off Brand Dad Club”. We as Christians, Catholics, must break the mold. No longer can we simply show up at Mass in support of our wives. WE must drive the Spiritual bus of our family.

To that end, I have to share a story.

I have a close friend who is making a decision that he needs prayer for. My friend started a new career recently and became very excited by his employer’s culture, mission, vision, and overall company approach to business. He and I talked on the phone and I could hear the commitment and drive in his voice and tone. This was exciting for me as well to see my close friend happy in his job, able to provide, finding a way that he could enjoy and make a career.

Yesterday I found out that he may be leaving this company after only a few months. What he found was that while the upper management preached the vision and company values; his coworkers and direct reports were only about the sales goals. How quickly we can get lost in that world.

To his honor my friend is not choosing to make sales in an unethical way. He is choosing to advise people what is best for them. He would rather help someone move forward, than sell them something they don’t need.

I’m proud to be his friend. I’m proud to know him. I’m proud to say that he is a Catholic.

I ask you in reading this to question how aligned are you with God’s vision. God’s vision is spoken and documented in the Scripture and further explained in the Catechism and many other books. Are you like my friend? Or are you like his manager? God’s vision does not get lost in the trenches when we stay focused on Him who is our Savior.

As we know, a man cannot simply quit his job and not provide when he is the bread winner in the home. So, I ask that you pray for my friend. Pray for his strength to continue seeking God’s plan and to honor His word. Pray for his wife that she, as I know she will, love and support him through this transition. And pray that he find employment that allows him to provide for his family, spiritually and monetarily.

WE are the leaders of change in the world. And world change starts in our families.

My friend sets a loud example of how Real Men act.

Though he is not yet a father, I believe he already sets the example and character, of an Off Brand Dad.

St. Joseph, pray for us.