Still the One!

May 25, 1994...

...FIFTEEN years ago today...

I became the husband of Lisa Renee. It seems like just yesterday I was standing on a folding chair hanging strands of white lights in a tent and eating a JR's cream-filled powered donut.

I really didn't comprehend what was about to happen to me. The shared joy and sorrow, the shared comfort and pain, the shared life. It is definitely the best part of my life having shared it with Lisa. We have wept at the gravesides of a niece and dear friends, wept with frustration and resignation during the infertility years (especially Mother's and Father's days), wept with fear and pride 9-11-01, wept with joy at the miracle birth of Eli and Jillian, wept at the bottom of emotional talks in the van in a parking lot.

We have held each other in passion's fire, the cold of disappointment and when we didn't know what else to do.

She is my joy, my love, my soul-mate, my life partner. Her beauty, wisdom and imagination endear her to me. I cherish our talks, walking and holding her hand and her smile.

She asked me recently, "Where will we be in 15 years?" I don't know what the world will be like, but if I'm alive I will be with her.

She's still the one!

A Biblical Worldview

Wow! What an awesome Day of Learning at Vinton Wesleyan Church!

We feasted on the simple, yet profound, truth that a Biblical worldview gives the only satisfactory answer to the question of meaning: who am I ? why am I here? It all centered around the imago dei. Being human only has meaning in the context of this image.

Dr. Ury beautifully and passionately declared needed holiness/Wesleyan message of restoring the imago dei through the life and work of Jesus Christ. He rightly pointed to the beginning of theology as Genesis 1 & 2 , not Genesis 3. To start at 3 is to only offer forgiveness and covering for sin, whereas a Gospel that begins in 1 & 2 offers restoration of the imago dei as discussed in Colossians and others.

He skillfully delt with the practical issues of human sexuality and the redefinition of marriage by stating it is the essence of human existance to be male and female. Even homosexual relationships fall into the male/female roles. Reality cannot be denied. Genesis 1 & 2 are reality.

It was a wonderfully challenging day! I'm certain more blogging and preaching will follow.

The Derby

It was a Kentucky Derby weekend. I was driving toward the center of the state where the bluegrass grows. I was driving a borrowed, two-tone Ford station wagon. I was thrilled!

It was the first time I went to date my Lisa. I showed up in a shirt and tie for the Friday Formal dinner at Kentucky Mountain Bible College. Looking at the pictures now, I looked like such a geeky little boy. She looked as beautiful as anyone ever could.

So every Derby weekend I get a little spark of romance warming my heart. And I look at my Lisa, who still eats Friday dinner with me and smile with contentment. Life is full and so is my heart.