37 Hours

37 hours is all it took. A little over a day and a half. A common ordinary day and a half for most folks filled with familiar routines. An extraordinary day for one family.

What did you do over the past 37 hours? A more important question would be what did you do that will matter in eternity during that time?

I got a phone call this past week from a lady I did not know. Her story compelled me. She and her family needed a preacher to preach a funeral. Not just any funeral. A funeral for their parents. That is not a typo. I meant to write parents in the plural sense. The funeral would be for both. They did not die in a horrific accident. The real story is more incredulous.

Virgil met Joann when she worked at the picture show selling tickets. She was 14 and he older. Family members said she was a sassy red head, spirited, feisty and loving. Virgil was soft spoken. A man of few words. A man given to pondering and working with his hands. They started dating.

One day they went on a date, an unusual date, for they had something else in mind. They eloped to be married. By this time Joann was only 15. They kept their marriage secret for two weeks before Joann's mother began suspecting something. Finally the truth came out.

They remained deeply in love enjoying 69 1/2 years of marriage. Joann came down with Alzheimers a few years ago. Virgil got sick a few weeks ago and had to be admitted to the hospital. Joann stayed in a care center. When Virgil finally came home his kids wanted to know if he wanted his wife to be brought home too, which of course he did.

When they brought her home Virgil said, "Hi, sweetheart," and began to weep. After 69 years it was evident he was still madly in love with his wife.

Just days later Virgil died peacefully sitting in his favorite chair one morning. He always wanted to go first because he did not think he could carry on without her. 37 hours later Joann also died and joined Virgil in eternity. Just yesterday we celebrated their love and lives in a small old country chapel with both of them together, each on their own casket , next to each other.

What a love story. What a testimony of a loving enduring marriage. May Virgil and Joann inspire all of us to cherish our spouses and make the most of the time we still have with them.

Matthew 19:4-6 (NASB)
4  And He answered and said, "Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE,
5  and said, 'FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH'?
6  "So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate."

A New Beginning

2018 has faded into the pages of history. A brand new year is dawning. This is a time when many people reset their priorities and make resolutions. Most do not keep them. Soon gym memberships will increase with the new comers. The gym veterans know that for a couple of months it will be crowded but the resolve usually fades away in time and things go back to normal.

Every year people look forward to the new year. They are optimistic. Traditionally people eat black eyed peas for good luck. I do not. I hated those peas as a child and I will not give into silly superstitions invented by man in vain.

As 2019 unfolds my trust is the LORD. My hope is the LORD. It doesn't matter what is ahead.  If I seek Him and abide in Him I can endure. 2018, 2017, 2016 and several years previous were tough years for us. Financially lean years. Sorrowful years. Years of very little fruit. Yet we made it. I did not stay up to ring in the new year. I went to bed that night by 7:30. I am glad to wave goodbye to 2018 and hope 2019 is better. I have lived long enough to know there are not trouble free years. Trials will surely come. I bring many from last year that have not been resolved as of yet and new wills will surface.

So this year is a new beginning. What verse do I want to pray over my family this year?What verse do I want to claim over my family for 2019.  I no more than typed out those questions than a passage came to mind.

Psalm 27:13 (NASB)
13  I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living.

This is not vain hope. This is not silly superstition. This is taking the word of God and clinging to it as I start a new year. This is dismissing doubts, desires to give up, or despair. Instead, I believe. I believe God is good. I believe He is sovereign. I believe He has plans. I believe God loves me. I believe I will see His goodness in this year. I don't know what it will look like. I do not how or when His blessings will come. I choose to believe that He will show Himself faithful in every situation. I am not necessarily trusting for an easy year. Easy years do not grow faith. It is in the forge of fires that faith is built. It is in the tough times we lean on God the most and see Him work mightily on our behalves.

I don't know what 2019 holds. I am comforted that I know who holds 2019. A new beginning. May we take up our Bibles and the shield of faith and start our journey. Who knows where God will bring us at this time next year.