38 Years!! Ta Da!!!

"......and a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two are united into one."------Matthew 2:24

Seems like forever.....
Seems like only yesterday, we were standing in the courtyard of Twelfth Street Baptist Church.
The occasion?
Vicki and I were married.
Now a days, the things we did for our marriage are pretty tame and normal but back in '72 it wasn't.
I had a good friend of mine play and sing for our wedding. Since he was using his guitar, my wife's grandmother said that we were having a "hippie" wedding.

We even used two pastors for our ceremony. Bro. Herman Cobb, who was Vicki's pastor all of her "growing up" years, and Bro. Harold Chandler, her pastor at the church she was attending before we married.

Lot has happened over the past 38 years.
2 sons...
2 daughters-in-law.
2 grand kids.
I had about a brazillion jobs.
Vicki had 2 jobs.
I was ordained and began full time ministry.
We have had our shares of ups and downs. Fights and arguments. But covering it all was the hand of Almighty God.
He has kept us together.
He has poured out His love over us and in us.
When we consciously decided to put our marriage in the proper place, me occupying the the role as husband (the way God defines it) and she as wife. We began to see the blessings of God poured out.
Truly in the midst of all the turmoil and strife, God made us one. We began greater through the marriage than we ever could have as individuals. Greater not in the sense of accomplishments but in the Spiritual sense that we had surrendered the need to be individuals and had come together as husband and wife to seek God and His kingdom.God truly saw us as one. What affected one, affected the other.

Now, as the years have rolled by, we find ourselves in the next phase of our life together.
I am very comfortable with who I am as a person and with who we are as husband and wife.
Oh we haven't quit working on our marriage. We learned through the lessons of others that you do not have the luxury of simply thinking, "We have arrived in the Marriage Boat so we can cruise now."
Funny part in all of this is that I love my wife more today than ever before.
I thought I knew and understood the concept of love. I didn't.
My love for her is so much richer and fuller today than 38 years ago.
I know that God is the reason for this.
Tonight we will go out for supper (dinner if you're up North). We will laugh and hold hands.
We will share memories and enjoy each others company.
Oh we're older now, no doubt about it.
Our bodies show the evidence of this (some would call it wear and tear).
Ahh, but the hearts. The hearts are still young and still skip a beat when we look into each others eyes.
The hearts still ache when we are apart.
Some might even call us co-dependent. That's o.k use whatever label you want to.
I just know that I love my wife, and tomorrow I will discover that there is another level, a new level of love that has been waiting to be discovered.
God, thank you for marriage.
Thank you for my wife....
Amen.

God on you...
mb