For Once in My Life

A Covenant of Commitment

A Covenant of Commitment

While sitting on the floor in a Hallmark store, an unusual awareness dawned on me: for once in my life, I had the privilege to purchase a 50th Golden Wedding anniversary card. For Once in My Life.

How did Larry and I get from a dreamy wedding ceremony on June 8, 1973, to this 50th Golden Anniversary on June 8, 2023? After 18,250 days, how?!

By the grace of God, the answer rests on one word: Commitment

Commitment built its foundation on the Cornerstone of Christ, our Savior.

Commitment took root in the Word of God, was guarded by the Holy Spirit and fueled with prayer, sometimes gut-wrenching prayer.

Commitment blossomed with date nights, marriage retreats, long walks, shared sports, common hobbies, audiobooks, simple kindnesses, and ongoing conversations over endless cups of rich, dark coffee.

Commitment bloomed in the atmosphere of children, grandchildren, family, and friends as relationships added layers to our lives and laughter filled the rooms of our homes.

Commitment flourished in life-giving habits — keeping short accounts, building, and maintaining trust, extending grace, refusing to go to bed at night with unresolved conflict between us.

Commitment thrived through well-worn sentences of I love you, I am sorry, I was wrong, Will you forgive me?

Commitment pulled us toward one another when pain and heartache threatened to drive us apart.

Commitment found nourishment in Ancient Words like:

“Apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

“Love suffers long and is kind” (1 Corinthians 13:4).

“Walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love” (Ephesians 4:1-2).

“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another even as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32).

“Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility consider one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others” (Philippians 2:3).

“May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God” (Romans 15:5-7).

This Christ-centered, Holy Spirit-driven Covenant of Commitment didn’t take a break, demand a leave of absence, or turn in a resignation. And I believe heaven smiles and celebrates this milestone with us in our epic love story. To God be all the glory!

Easy? No way.

Worth it? A thousand times over and then some more!

How do I know? I bought the card. For Once in My Life.

June 8, 1973

50 Golden, Blessed Years later

Same location

Living With Eternal Intentionality®

“Not to us, oh Lord, not to us; but to You be all the glory, because of Your love and Your faithfulness” (Psalm 115:1).

“Your name and renown are the desire of our hearts” (Isaiah 26:8b).

Please Just Show Me

Needs Further Evaluation, Part 2

My recent medical journey highlighted yet another lesson. Needs Further Evaluation started on January 13th with an email alert that pushed the boundaries of my walk with God and took me to parts previously unknown.

As we waited and wondered, as He schooled us in the Doctrine of Mystery, I found myself pushing the boundaries of prayer to pray: “God, will You please just go ahead and speak to me and show me how this is going to end? Will You simply tell me the outcome?”

In my human frailty, I wanted a mental and emotional head start on any mandatory adjustments destined to define my future. My mind went to commitments for the upcoming year, birthday parties, family gatherings, conferences, etc. If only I could just know.

So, I urged God to tell me where this was headed and how it would end; “Please just show me.”

He did show me, but not in a manner that I expected. By His Spirit, He led me to His Word and a specific conversation Jesus had with the Pharisees when they asked for a sign.

Matthew 12:38-39 reads, “Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it, but the sign of Jonah the prophet.”

This took my breath. I did not feel rebuked or reprimanded for asking. Rather, in a gentle way, My Savior reminded me: “Do not seek a sign; just seek Me. Find your peace in Me, not in a prediction, not in an indication, not in an outcome, but in Me. ”

So, with Him by my side, I settled in and settled down to honor His timing — without a sign, without knowing. My prayer became, "I trust You. I don't know, but You do know, and that is all I need to know until the time arrives that You want me to know.”

Following this encounter with The Lord, lab tests, biopsies, and genetic consultations filled our calendar, and we waited. When the news finally came, as I shared previously, the outcome brought relief (though a five-year treatment is mandatory).

Looking back, I realize, these tenets are not new, yet they took on new meaning in the context of this pilgrim’s journey. Don’t seek a sign, just seek Me.

No wonder. After all, “He is our peace” (Ephesians 2:14a).

Living With Eternal Intentionality®

“He has also planted eternity [a sense of divine purpose] in the human heart.”

(Ecclesiastes 3:11 Amp)

When have you asked God to give you a preview of the outcome of a difficult situation?

Did He allow you to know, or did He lead you to wait in trust until His timing was right for you to know His will?

What Scripture did He use to encourage you?

Tim Keller Leaves Legacy of Wisdom

On Friday, May 19th, earth lost a warrior and heaven gained a saint. Tim Keller, 1950-2023, founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian in New York City, died of pancreatic cancer at the age of seventy-two. “The Christian leader was an intellectual, but he possessed a pastor’s heart,” states Peter Wehner in The Atlantic.

And, in NPR Obituaries, we read:

Keller helped his congregation and the nation mourn in the days following the September 11th terrorist attacks – a time when so many were asking why God would allow this to happen.

"The Bible indicates," he said to his church in a sermon on September 16th, 2001 "that the love and hope of God and the love and hope that comes from one another has to be rubbed into our grief. And that's what we're here to do."

This collection of quotes reminds us that his legacy lives on.

“Suffering can refine us rather than destroy us because God himself walks with us in the fire.”

“When pain and suffering come upon us, we finally see not only that we are not in control of our lives but that we never were.”

“One of the main ways we move from abstract knowledge about God to a personal encounter with him as a living reality is through the furnace of affliction.”

“If our identity is in our work, rather than Christ, success will go to our heads, and failure will go to our hearts.”

“What is an idol? It is anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give.”

“If God is not at the center of your life, something else is.”

“Fear-based repentance makes us hate ourselves. Joy-based repentance makes us hate the sin.”

“Humility is so shy. If you begin talking about it, it leaves.”

“When anything in life is an absolute requirement for your happiness and self-worth, it is essentially an ‘idol,’ something you are actually worshiping. When such a thing is threatened, your anger is absolute. Your anger is actually the way the idol keeps you in its service, in its chains. Therefore if you find that, despite all the efforts to forgive, your anger and bitterness cannot subside, you may need to look deeper and ask, ‘What am I defending? What is so important that I cannot live without?’ It may be that, until some inordinate desire is identified and confronted, you will not be able to master your anger.”

“If you wait until your motives are pure and unselfish before you do something, you will wait forever.”

Thank you, Tim Keller. You will be sorely missed.

Living With Eternal Intentionality®

“He has also set eternity in their heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

Which Tim Keller quote resonates with you? Why?

Do you have a favorite book authored by Tim Keller to recommend to us? Why was it meaningful to you?

Will you please take a moment to pray for the family and the congregation Tim Keller left behind?

Note: These Tim Keller Quotes and others may be read here.