In a few days, Husband’s parents will celebrate their 70^th wedding anniversary.  It all started like this:  a seven-year-old boy encounters a six-year-old girl at a fishing hole.  He had met her briefly once before when her brother visited his brother.  But now, suddenly, here she was right in front of him with a snagged hook.  He could see that she didn’t know what to do.  The boy comes to the rescue, but in the process of trying to release the hook, he broke her borrowed fishing pole.  Feeling terrible about the damage, he gave the girl his catch of fish.  When he went home, he told his mother that he had met the girl he was going to marry!  But it wasn’t all smooth sailing from then on.  Of course, he took every opportunity to see his new found love.   At age 13, he left home to live with an older sister in the neighboring state.  He was gone for five years except for summers when he worked harvesting in the local fields where the two would sometimes see one another. 

At 18, he returned home and began seeing his love regularly.  A couple of years later, he spent the winter cutting wood with a cross-cut saw in order to earn money for a wedding ring set.  They were married when he was 20 and she was 19.  He managed to build them a house from reclaimed lumber.  (Later there were improvements and an addition, and it was their home for 35 years.)  Husband was born the following year, closely followed by his sister, and later his brother.    When Husband was 5 years old, his parents started attending a little church in the neighborhood.  Shortly thereafter, they put their faith in Jesus.  This decision changed their lives.  His dad quit swearing and losing his temper. His outlook and attitude changed.  His priorities changed.  Their financial situation improved altho they were now giving 10% of their income back to God.  (Or because they were now giving!)   And so it was that Husband and his siblings grew up in a stable family characterized by love and respect.

In contrast, my parents met and married quickly later in life. They met at work, dated a short time, and had a small justice-of-the-peace wedding.  My mother’s parents were opposed to the union apparently having a hint of what was to come.  I was born the following year and soon after, my parents purchased a small farm.  With both of them working full time, the farm didn’t get the care necessary to thrive.  Then my father took a transfer to another state and my mother and I were left alone on the remote, run-down farm.  Soon news came through the grapevine that my father was having an affair in his new location.  My mother went to live with a distant relative of my father’s, and eventually moved us to her newly widowed mother’s home where she found employment to support us and to rent an apartment.  My father moved in, and just as often, out of our lives during my growing up years as he pursued his career and his affairs.  My mother was my rock.  She was hard working, pleasant, and had a strong faith.  Her unhappy marriage hadn’t made her bitter.  When she wasn’t working, she served in her church, and she and I took care of her elderly mother.  But when I was 16, my mother died, followed shortly after by my grandmother.  I moved from household to household finally landing at an aunt and uncle’s home in another city for my senior year.  The following year college in another state afforded another new start.  

From outward appearances, my father should have been a good bet for a husband.  He had the right credentials; he came from an influential, well-educated family. His father was a respected leader in his church and in the college he helped found.  My father was successful in his career, had a high IQ, and musical talent.  He was handsome, well spoken, and clever.  Yet he was missing the one trait that was necessary.  He had no faith.  He had rejected the faith of his parents and insisted on a life on his own selfish terms.

From outward appearances, Husband’s father should have been a bad bet for a husband.  He came from a poor, backward, rough and ready family whose father couldn’t read or write.  He was young, and lacking training had had several low paying jobs.  He had a bad temper, owned almost nothing, and had questionable friends.  Yet early in their marriage, he acquired that one thing that changed everything.  He willingly put his life in God’s hands, trusting Jesus to lead him.  He learned the commands and followed them, leaving his old ways behind.  

Maybe you can identify with one or the other of us or our parents.  If you grew up in a stable, loving household, be grateful and give that to your children and grandchildren.  (You can provide a loving household even if you are a single parent.)  If you grew up in a household of faith, I hope you have made that faith your own.  I hope you live every day wholeheartedly doing the right thing.  (We need God’s constant help to do that.)  If you made the choice to marry someone who doesn’t care about God, I hope you throw yourself into Jesus’ loving arms and walk closely with him as my mother did.  If you were blessed enough to marry a person who decided to follow Jesus with all their heart, I hope you join the happy walk with everything you have, just as Husband’s mother did.  

“But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.”  Numbers 14:24 the Lord speaking of Caleb’s reward for following him wholeheartedly

“Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.”  John 8:12

“Anyone who wants to serve me must follow me, because my servants must be where I am. And the Father will honor anyone who serves me.”  John 12:26. Jesus