38 years and counting, Claire and I commemorate our marriage anniversary today.And as we celebrate we remember:
* Being married in the county courthouse with a few friends standing by.
* Home Bible studies throughout the 70s with dear friends like Jim and Jeannie Lawson, Linda Scheffler, Pat Osborne and others.
* Tough economic times. Living in cheap apartments with cheap furniture...but precious friends, a vibrant faith and each other.
* Working as a commercial silk screen printer, Claire as a nurse aide and then a high school English teacher.* University then graduate school.
* Trips together to Colorado, California, England, Canada, Poland, Austria, Switzerland, Germany. My travels, alas, without her to Belarus, Russia, India, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, and Poland.
* Our pro-life ministries over the last three decades. Bad times (heartbreak, jail, discouragement, difficulties) and good times (honoring God's call, investing in eternity, lives saved, the honor of serving alongside heroes).
* Loving our house and yard. (Claire only had to wait 33 years for her own place.)
* And so many other things -- those terrific Christmases...years of radio programs...special times of teaching ministry in George, Iowa and now at Faith Bible Church here on the near south side of Omaha...picnics...times with family in Lincoln and Denver (some terribly sad moments there too)...sidewalk counseling in all types of weather...prayer meetings...day trips to Kansas City...rallies...listening to music...reading books...our fabulous Notting Hill Napoleon Literary Society...watching old movies...the Chesterton conferences...going to high school football games...Claire running and me playing softball, racquetball, tennis, and pickup basketball games with the Mexican kids in the neighborhood...watching fireworks over Rosenblatt Stadium...letter-writing...cooking...ever so much entertaining...and always love and gratitude and hope.
I could go on. But we're going to go celebrate now. And remember these things together.Thank you Lord for our marriage. May it be sweeter and more effective in preparing us for heaven in the years to come.
