Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. Matthew 7:24-25 ESV
The Bible is written to give us examples for life, but some of them are not good ones, but rather warnings. Recently, my wife and I read about a King named Jehoram. He killed off all his brothers, brought back idol worship and even though it became obvious that he was on a collision course with disaster, he still insisted on his own way. At the end of his short and dismal reign, he died of a terrible disease. Then the scripture ends the account of his days with the statement, “And he died to no one’s regret.” That struck us as both darkly humorous and an awful kind legacy we definitely do not want to leave behind for our children. He lived the opposite of today’s verse. Instead of building his house on a rock, he threw away all the blessings his family had given him and built on the quicksand of his own desires.
Though we usually think Jesus is talking about our individual lives, the term house can also be used to describe an entire family. (as in household). What kind of foundation we have built for our families? The answer to that will not be shown by how we make it through sunny days, but by how we weather storms. Though we may have every privilege handed to us on a silver platter, what will describe our legacy is whether we put our trust in Jesus and His words or we have decided to do our own thing. If we will stand together for God, no matter what comes, rather than, ““They died to no one’s regret.” May our children be able to say, “We know they are with Jesus, because they lived for Him, and we can’t wait to see them in Heaven!”
The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom,
and humility comes before honor.
Proverbs 15:33 ESV
If Solomon had been married as long as we have, he might have added the footnote that, “Lots of humility along with ‘I’m sorry and please forgive me’ comes before making it to your 50th wedding anniversary.” Probably somewhere about wife number four hundred Solomon lost track of anniversaries so I won’t press him on why that was left out. So as you might have guessed this Friday will mark 50 years since my very special, forgiving and patient wife and I took our first steps down the aisle together.
Yeah, she still can’t believe I loved those ridiculous platform shoes, but she was smiling anyway! Rather than the traditional cruise, we decided on a cross-country road trip to visit family and a few friends, would be a lot more fun. I may or may not be posting now and then along the way, along with a few photos.
So what can I tell you that we have learned along the way?
A real marriage is real work through real problems – but with God’s help and grace we discovered that real love isn’t something we fall into, it is something to learn step by step.
“What can I do to help?” works better than sitting in the car, honking the horn while she is getting the kids ready for church!
You’ll never remember what the heck was in the news you were watching or reading ten years from now, but you’ll remember every shot that went through the net while playing basketball with your kids!
Baby sitting your grandchildren often show us some of the things we missed while rushing around trying to be a good mom and dad.
Praying together every night before we head to bed, helps two people to sleep better and be prepared for unexpected changes, challenges or disappointments that come in the morning.
Jesus really never leaves us and walking with Him makes walking with each other possible all these years!
PS I hope you like this practically ancient song that was popular back in our day by Paul Stookey of the Group Peter Paul and Mary.
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