35 YEARS AND COUNTING!!!

Today marks 35 years of being married to my bride Mary Lou.  It was on a hot August night at the Eastmoor UMC in Marion Kansas where my grandpa, Wes Just, asked us to repeat our vows before God, our families, and our friends.  We'd memorized our vows and without hesitation we exchanged them between ourselves, promising to be true to one another til "death do us part".  Thus the journey began.

As I reflect back on these past 35 years I cannot imagine being with anyone else.  ML is my best friend, my confidant, my partner, the person who has been the epitome of being a Godly wife and mother to our children.  She has been very gracious, extremely merciful, beyond patient, and very loving to me.  I love being with her and would definitely be lost without her.

As one who officiates many weddings, I find that couples these days spend so much time preparing for the wedding day, especially the reception, that they've given little thought to the marriage.  The wedding day comes and goes, but the marriage is to last forever.  Unfortunately, we are seeing marriages fall apart because of some pie in the sky understanding that the warm fuzzy feeling of "love" will last forever with no thought that marriage is hard work, is grunt and groan, is choosing to love, even on days when one or both seem less than lovable.

ML and I have experienced many many days of wedded bliss.  And yes, we have had "our moments".  But never have we thought of throwing in the towel because we faced an obstacle in the road.  In fact, those obstacles strengthened our marriage, our love for each other.  I feel sorry for those who give up so quickly because they miss out on celebrating the victories over the difficulties and struggles as husband and wife.  Like I said, we've faced some big mountains in our marriage, but we kept climbing. As a result, we can look back and proclaim how we ascended to the top, as difficult as the climb was.

Of course, the glue that holds us together is our love for God which includes our faith in Jesus as our Lord and Savior of our lives and of our marriage.  He has never disappointed.  Now I confess that I've not always understood his plan for us, but he has never left us alone, never forsaken us.  As our love for God has grown, so has our love for each other.  And as the difficult times have come and gone, the fact that our marriage is grounded in our faith, we have endured.  I am so grateful.

It has been an incredible ride this far.  When we got married we were young and just happy to be together.  We did what we could do to make a living.  God blessed us with a couple boys while still living in Kansas.  For some reason, God called us into ministry.  We sold everything and headed to Chicago.  Another boy was born while in school.  Moved back to Kansas.  We've served 4 churches so far. And grandchildren, ah yes, grandchildren.  On and on!

So here we are, 35 years into our marriage.  So very blessed by God.  Mary Lou, you are the love of my life.   Here's to the next 35 years!!