After All These Years

I met her on a blind-date; she should never have allowed me a second date; she used her feminine wiles to maneuver me into an unplanned proposal five months later, just hours after trusting Christ.  Less than ten months after the blind-date at the tender and naïve age of nineteen years … I stood with Linda before a preacher in Grand Rapids, MI and we stepped aboard the ship of marriage together.  That was forty-eight years ago on this date.

Looking back on it, after three children and many years of ministry together, my mind is flooded with memories that elicit a broad variety of emotions.  While our ship has enjoyed its share of calm and peaceful harbors and fair winds, it has also passed through some terrible storms with high seas.  We’ve charted some long and difficult courses together and we show some of the wear and tear, and bear some of the scars in our hearts.

There are many things I don’t know about the future as we begin our forty-ninth year together.  However, off the top of my head and without a lot of thought beforehand, here are a few things I am certain of.

• Jesus, the Savior, has been the Captain of our ship. There were times when we did not fully follow his orders, but He never left the bridge and we love Him still.
• It IS possible to love someone more and more, with each passing day, although I am sure that this is more difficult for her than it is for me.
• While I may have given her reason to doubt my love for her, I have NEVER, EVER, not even for a moment, doubted her love for me.
• I still enjoy holding Linda’s hand and referring to her as my “girlfriend”.
• I will never be really comfortable when apart from her for more than several hours.
• I like the fact that when I am away over-night, she sleeps on my side of the bed with her hand gun (a 9mm Walther CCP) on the bedside table.
• I will always worry if she is more than an hour late.
• She has been and always will be a valued asset in my ministry
• She has more wisdom than I have at times and is much better at handling weird people.
• She has a better sense of direction than I do.
• She is capable of far more than she gives herself credit for.
• She is skilled at the role of being a Grammy
• She will probably never get me to be as neat around the house as she would like me to be.
• She will always be my “Schmoo”

After all these years
All of the smiles and tears
It’s still a thrill to be
With you when you’re with me

After all this time
I haven’t changed my mind
Girl you’re still my sunshine
After all these years

Through the good and bad
The Happy times and sad
My heart still feels the same
I wouldn’t change a thing

And I know it’s true
You feel this same way too
Our love is good as new
After all these years

Through the good and bad
The Happy times and sad
My heart still feels the same
I wouldn’t change a thing

And I know it’s true
You feel this same way too
Our love is good as new
After all these years

Happy Anniversary my love!