A Great Man...

Sometimes you meet someone in your lifetime who you know is a treasure from that first moment. That's how I felt when I was introduced to Tommy Van Zandt in 2004. I was to be the Account Executive assigned to his commercial real estate business at the agency I was with at the time. Tommy and I hit it off QUICKLY! You see, I'm a daddy's girl somethin' fierce, and I learned quickly that Tommy's great love was being a husband (to one of the most beautiful women I know) and, a father. My heart tends to seek out those types...the "Dad" away from my Dad, if you will. Although no one will EVER, EVER, EVER top my daddy in my heart, a girl can never have too many "dad-figures" to admire when she doesn't get to see hers every day. I found that in my friendship with Tommy Van Zandt. Over the next few years, my career path took me in a few different directions. No matter the direction, Tommy would always check in...like a "dad" would. When I would see him at the gym, at the coffee shop, or out on the town, I always got a "dad" style hug, and that big TVZ smile. One day I saw him in Panera Bread, and he introduced me to one of my future bosses, David Roth, President of WorkMatters, an incredible faith in the workplace ministry, that I later worked for for a little over a year before moving to Oklahoma City. Whoever was a friend of Tommy's was a friend of mine!

About a year and a half ago, I did a rebranding project for Sage Partners, Tommy's commercial real estate company in Fayetteville. Our friendship really, really blossomed during that time when I would office with them about 15 hours a week. We would laugh (he thinks I'm crazy), I would share about my relationship with Dan and how it was progressing, and he would share about his family and kids. He would ask advice on raising teenagers since Dan was a youth pastor and I was fully involved in his ministry. Sweet, sweet times. In fact, similar to what a young man would do with a girl's father, Dan went to Tommy before he proposed to me to let him know what he was planning to do, and ask permission to take me away for a few days. I still have the email Tommy wrote in response to Dan. It was the sweetest thing.

Last February, Tommy was injured cutting limbs in his backyard after the ice storm. He fell from a 10-foot ladder and immediately knew he had broken his neck and was paralyzed from the neck down. Our hearts were completely BROKEN for Tommy and his family. I remember laying in bed the night I found out and just bursting into tears of compassion and hurt for them. I called my husband just bawling. How could something like this happen to such a good, precious, LOVED man? A man who was so active! I used to see Tommy at the gym five mornings a week running before work...an avid outdoorsman...the father of two teenage boys? After a stay at the hospital in Fayetteville, Tommy was moved to Denver to a rehab hospital where he would stay for months. In the meantime, Dan and I moved to Oklahoma City. The last conversation I had on the phone with Tommy was telling him that we were thinking about taking the job in Oklahoma City.

Fast forward to this morning. I had the PRIVILEGE of going back to hear Tommy speak about his experience and his influence at the WorkMatters Eight-to-Five Unplugged event. I also got to see all of my old co-workers from WorkMatters! No one knew I was coming, which was really fun, including Tommy. I snuck in the back door because I was running a few minutes behind the 6:30am start time. Right when I walked in, Tommy and I locked eyes for the first time in over a year, and he winked at me to acknowledge he knew I was there. That was the beginning of the water works for me.

This is an amazing man. The room was PACKED...standing room only...with people who love and admire him for who he was before the accident, and who he has become after. He spoke about how he felt the Holy Spirit on him and in him while he was laying on the ground waiting for someone to find him that day. He spoke about how God is using this situation to influence others in his life on a day-to-day, minute-to-minute basis. He talked about how prayer really works. He talked about how life can truly change in the time it takes to fall from a 10-foot ladder in your own backyard. Then after, people got to stand up and tell how Tommy has influenced THEIR life.

I didn't say anything in front of the crowd, but wanted to. I would have told Tommy that he is a precious friend and has poured so much into my life. He has been such an example of how a husband should love a wife. I remember him telling me on more than one occasion that he "married WAY out of his league." We would laugh about that and assure him that he, in fact, HAD married out of his league! : ) However, what he doesn't know is that one of the moments I knew I was going to marry Dan was when he told someone I was "out of his league." And that was all because of Tommy. I admire and love him as a business man, a husband, a father, a friend, and most of all, as my brother in Christ. I would have told him that I don't understand why this is God's plan for his life, but I know he must be considered worthy to carry such a ministry position.

People's lives were changed today, and I have no doubt that they are changed every day because of Tommy. I have tears welling up in my eyes right now just thinking of him and how brave and humble and courageous he is. He has embraced this situation with such grace and beauty, and my heart needed to see that after a year. I got to speak with Tommy today and joke around with him like we always did. I "tried" to ask about Robyn (his wife) and the boys, but all he wanted to know about was me...my pregnancy, our house, my job, our church, etc. That's Tommy for ya...typical Tommy. I love that man. I absolutely adore him. And I treasured our time together today. Thanks for who you are, Tommy. You are a precious, precious man.