Happy Anniversary!

Just a few months shy of 43 years ago on a Friday evening in mid-September of 1970, I was standing on the crowded floor of our high school cafeteria.  The occasion was the first dance of the new school year and I had arranged to meet a young lady there named Piper Canevari, whom I had just begun to spend time with in-between classes at school.  She was actually a little late and I made up the time by dancing with a mutual friend of ours.  After the song had played we stood together and were talking when another friend came up and mentioned that Piper had just arrived.  So I excused myself and told my partner that I’d best go find her and turned to walk away.

When I looked up it was suddenly like everything went into slow motion!  The crowd seemed to miraculously separate and through the middle of them she slowly approached me dressed in her cute plaid shorts/skirt outfit with a long sleeve white sweater, long brown hair, a splash of freckles and a mischievous smile that could melt my heart in an instant!  At that moment everyone else in the room faded away… and it has been that way ever since!

Five years later on July 12, 1975 we were married and today we celebrate our 38th anniversary!  It would be hard for me to even know where to start in sharing all the wonderful things that have occurred over the years of our relationship together.  Four great kids, 2 grandkids, 35 years of active Christian ministry, the starting of two churches in our home town, and an entire life of adventure together!

I remember sharing with my brother in law at a dinner honoring our 25^th anniversary, when he asked for the secret of our long relationship.  Without too much thought, I stated that we always put God first and that we have always been a team.  Ephesians 3:17 talks about sinking our roots into the good ground of God’s agape love as the strong foundation for life.  This probably best describes how we decided to live our life together from the very beginning.  Not only has it been the foundation for our marriage but it is the message we lived before and taught to our kids as well as to those we ministered to in the various churches we served in through the years.

I think the greatest gift that my wife gave me was showing me what it meant to have Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, Lord and best friend.  I can remember us spending literal hours on the phone talking about the things of God, but even more importantly, it was the way she lived her daily life that gave me an overwhelming hunger to have what she had!

From the early days as seniors in high school we seemed to be a natural fit together!  It was like we were a team just waiting to be organized as a force to live life in the years ahead.  You know… in all the years I can only remember one time where I made a derogatory comment about my wife to someone at work.  But it bothered me so much that I couldn’t wait until I got home so that I could apologize to her!

Through the years we have always sought to seek and follow God’s counsel and direction first before the natural wisdom and direction of man.  And while it hasn’t always been popular with other family members or according to conventional wisdom, it has almost always ended in a favorable manner.  Over and over again during the last 43 years, God has shown Himself faithful as we have followed and trusted Him.

There have been some bumps in the road along the way, even now as we face my wife’s battle with Alzheimer’s Disease.  But we haven’t come this far to change our minds and move away from the solid foundation of God’s loving Word.  Psalm 119:160 declares that “All you say can be trusted.” (CEV)  Further on in that same Psalm, David wrote that “Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.” (KJV)  We also settled on that truth at the very beginning of our relationship and will continue to stand firm on His truth!

I am fully expecting to make at least 60 years with Piper as my loving, caring, exuberant and healthy bride.  And as they keep saying at my daughter and her husband’s church in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, “The best is yet to come!”  Remember too, that God is no respecter of persons, and what He is doing for us, He will do the same for you!  Don’t give up.  Become settled with His Word that has been settled in heaven since before the beginning of time!  Have a great weekend.  Stay in tune to His Word, and keep asking yourself… “What GOOD THINGS am I expecting today?”