She's The One

On Saturday September 28, 1985 I was 18. I was a kid who thought I had the world figured out. I was so young, so naive, so ignorant. But despite all that, on that day I made one of the best decisions of my life. I married my best friend, my first true love, my high school sweetheart. I couldn't and still don't understand how someone so beautiful and so intelligent could love someone like me. I've been blessed abundantly.

I often hear people say how blessed they are to be married to the same person for so many years. I am amazed by that. In the 24 years of our marriage I've been married to AT LEAST 12 different women. Her social security number and her name hasn't changed in those 24 years but everything else has changed multiple times. I thank God for that! If she was still the same woman I married 24 years ago we would have some serious problems. But those problems wouldn't look like much if they were measured against the problems we would have if I was the same little boy. That would be ugly! Real ugly!! (Although not as ugly as the picture on my previous post)

Through all the different stages and changes in our lives together, there has always been enough to hold us together. Many times it was a thread. Maybe a finer thread and for more years than I ever knew. I was so wrapped up in addictions and pursuing the things of this world I was blind to things outside myself. But she still held on to that thread. But 24 years later here we are..together. Tried, tested, sifted, and refined through fires that would destroy many marriages. It is no longer held together by a thin thread. It is held together by a braided steel cable...a cable that is God at the core. We are braided together in Him. We are strong because He is strong.

New seasons are upon us. A new season in life, marriage and ministry. In 4 months a new journey begins. Lord willing we will welcome a new generation into our family. A grandchild! WOW! I can't wait. Sorry, but we are gonna be the coolest grandparents ever! Our marriage will continue to grow, evolve, and mature. Our ministry assignments also continue to change and grow. It is my prayer God gives us many more years together to do what He has created us to do. To love Him and to love others.

The rest of this post is directed to my lovely bride of 24 years. Obviously you can read on because I am posting it. This is kinda like a baptism. It is an outward expression of a love and passion that I have on the inside.

Kim-

I love you by God's design. God could not have blessed me with a more perfect partner for life and ministry. Thank you for your prayers, your faithfulness, your forgiveness, your grace, your encouragement, your affirmation, your selflessness, your love. Thank you for your obedience to God, and your belief in a broken man who has fallen short of being the man, husband, and father that he is called to be. Thank you for your friendship, your support and for being a mother that our children need, love, and cherish. Thanks for being my mother at times, thanks for running a home that is always warm, clean, and full of yummy things. Thank you for being the secretary, the accountant, the nurse, the shuttle service, the chef, the maid, the mom, the wife and doing it all for no financial gain and little to no expressed appreciation. Then working full time on top of all that. I couldn't do what you do and without you our home would far apart. (Wow, what do I do?)
Thank you, I love you, I need you, I want you, and I am thankful for you even though I don't express it well. You are everything to me. You give me inspiration to keep pursuing this walk of faith. You alone are God's greatest earthly gift to me. Through you God has blessed me abundantly, beginning with our children and continuing through 24 years of marriage. God shines through you to so many and I'm the lucky one who get's to stand , sit, and lie by your side for this lifetime. I adore you, I treasure you, I love you. I'm so proud to call you my wife. My love continues to grow for you. I look forward to growing old with you. Thank you for sharing your life with me.

I love you.