ANNIVERSARY GIFT

                Previously I mentioned a gift for our fifty-fifth anniversary. Liz hates to fly over the ocean. But she has conceded that she would cross one more time for a trip to the British Isles. We had been to London once but London was all we saw. As I began thinking about this milestone fifty-fifth anniversary it occurred to me that such a trip would be just the thing for our celebration. Several months ago I began plotting and getting reservations for the trip. So I surprised her with an eleven day tour of Britain; i.e. England, Scotland, North Ireland, Ireland and Wales. The trip is scheduled for August 7-17.

                I predicted to our children her first question would be, “How are you paying for this?” So I explained to her that I started the process months ago by selling my little truck. I hadn’t been using it much since we moved into the Oaks on Parkwood.  I sold my guns, neither of which had been fired in over three decades. Then I began to squirrel away from our budget a little here and a little there until I had the expense covered.

                Neither of us has a “bucket list,” but I suspect, considering our ages and the cost of travel, this will be the last major trip we will undertake. I am grateful to the Lord for our current health and the resources to accomplish it. I am grateful to the Lord that together we have been able to see much of His beautiful world. We have traveled together to Mexico, Canada, Switzerland, Germany, Greece, Italy, London, Israel twice, Hawaii, Alaska now the whole of the British Isles. We have also been in all fifty states of our country.

                With the seraphim in the temple vision of Isaiah I can declare, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!” (Isaiah 6:3)

 

Grace and peace.

"SAKES ALIVE"

An earlier version of this blog somehow disappeared.

              Last week Liz and I celebrated our Fifty-Fifth wedding anniversary. We recognize in doing so we are greatly blessed. Many of our friends and contemporaries are not so blessed because one or the other of these couples has died. Also, a few have experienced the trauma of divorce. God has blessed us with life and love. It’s awesome to realize we have been together so long. (We dated five years before we married, so we’ve actually “been together” sixty years.)

                I wrote a short verse for the occasion to accompany a gift. It goes as follows:

 

                “Sakes alive! Sakes alive!"

Here we are at fifty-five!

Fifty five? Yes fifty-five!

What causes a marriage so long to survive?

First, enough health for US to last so long.

Second, a love that is unusually strong.

A love that sees in each the best

And then ignores all the rest.

We rejoice today in what we’ve been given,

And trust it will last ‘til we get to heaven.”

                (i.e. ‘til death do us part.)

 More about the gift later. Liz certainly didn’t expect I t.

                So rejoice with us and pray for us. Pray that God will continue to give us good health and that we will remain in the center of God’s will. Kit and Julie received many good wishes for us on their posts for our anniversary, and we received many cards and phone calls. Thank you all who communicated.

And remember; love endures, is kind, never fails, does not envy, is not proud, behaves, doesn’t claim its rights, isn’t easily provoked, assumes the best, rejoices in the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, “love never fails.”

 (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)

 

Grace and peace.

A RARE HAPPENING

            Fifty-four years ago I had the privilege of presiding at the wedding of my brother, Bill, and his bride, Evelyn Connell. Then twenty-four years later I was given the privilege of presiding at the wedding of their daughter, Peggy, and her fiancé, Donnie Helms. And now, two generations later I was invited by Bill’s granddaughter, Katie Helms, to officiate at her marriage to Andrew Gilliam (May31^st). I have officiated at the marriages of couples and their child, two generations. This is the first time I have conducted weddings for three generations. Words cannot express how pleased I am to be a part of each of these weddings. I rejoice in the strong Christian families each has produced.

            Bill was present to give away his daughter at her wedding, and I regret he will not be present for the wedding of his granddaughter. He died an early death in the summer of 1999. But wait a minute…he will be present. Having written last week about John MacArthur’s book “The Glory of Heaven,” I reflect that no one really knows what heaven is really like. Many ideas have been suggested by a multitude of people. But one thing of which I am sure is that those people who are there are aware of what is happening on earth. Having described the faith of the Old Testament believers now in heaven, the writer of Hebrews declares “we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.” Heaven is full of witnesses. One of these is my brother Bill who will certainly witness the wedding of his granddaughter. And I am also convinced that another “Bill” Deason will be a witness, Katie’s great grandfather whom she never knew.

Being surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, “let us run with endurance the race which is set before us, looking unto Jesus…” (Hebrews 12:1-2)