May 6, 2021 – Click here to listen
I’m heading my boat to the national park the Dry Tortugas this morning. Fishing on these islands 70 miles west of Key West is renowned. I have several buddies going and it should prove to be fun.
My wife is going to see her sister to celebrate her final radiation treatment for her breast cancer. It is the first time we will have been apart in quite some time. I will miss her even though I will be fishing and having fun but she will be back on Monday and we will be together again.
I used to travel almost every week for business. I would leave for the airport on Monday and return on Friday night. It was very difficult to be apart from my family during those years, but I had to support us and earn a living. I’m so happy those days are over.
I love to have coffee with my wife and talk about things every morning. I feel for those who are not married and have no one to share life with aside from friends. We’ve been married over 50 years she is my best friend. After that long we virtually know what the other is thinking. Arguing is simply not on our agenda. We know what aggravates the other and we stay clear of it out of respect for each other. We eat together, pray together, and laugh together each and every day.
Some have said I can’t go fishing this weekend because its Mother’s Day. Well she is my beloved wife, mother of my children, and I love her dearly but she is not my mother. Our kids will call their mother and wish her well and no doubt her sister and my brother in law will take her out to eat, so I don’t feel bad at all. She would not want me to feel that way anyway.
So what is the secret to a long happy marriage. I believe it is understanding that God wants us to be together until death does us part and being content as we grow older. If we truly love God (as we do,) we respect His desire for us to be as one and understand it is the best thing for us. To be sure Satan will tempt us to look over the fence for someone younger, sleeker, and fresher, but he’s just a jerk and my heart belongs to my faithful wife who is always there for me and really cares for me.
I was kicked out of the military because I was diagnosed as a sociopath and was told I was without remorse, conscience, and incapable of love and the condition was incurable. That happened just a few short years prior to meeting my wife in Atlanta. Little did those shrinks know the power of God to transform someone into a new creature and miraculously give them the gift of love. There is no question I was a certified sociopath and there is no question that I was healed by the love and grace of God and made whole whereby I became capable of love.
Today I love my wife, children, grandchildren, and my many friends, brothers and sisters in Christ all over the world. I love those who are struggling to find Jesus and try my utmost to help them find their way.
I believe the gift of love is the greatest blessing that God ever showered upon me or anyone for that matter. I wouldn’t take all the money in the world for it. It is needless to say but I’ll say it anyway I love God most of all.
If you feel similarly why not tell those whom you love that you love them today. Start by telling Jesus.
1 Cor. 13:1
Now we see but a dim reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.