Jesus’ public ministry, because Jesus changes everything, changed everything. It’s hard to believe such a short time, three years of public ministry, could render such potent change. It was not long after He ascended to the right hand of the Father that His disciples were called, “They who have upset the world.” (Acts 17:6)
Eight years ago today my precious wife walked down the aisle of Saint Andrews Chapel and changed everything. My father led us through the marriage ceremony and then we walked that same aisle together. I wish I could look back over the last eight years and see an impact coming from me like that that Jesus had in just three. Instead I look back over the past eight years and am reminded not how much I have done for Jesus, but how much He has done for me.
Over the course of the past eight years almost all that He has done for me He has done through my wife, His daughter, Lisa. When I have failed, she has responded in love. When I have been attacked, she has come to my defense. When I have been discouraged, she has lifted my countenance. When I have felt alone, she has walked beside me. When I have clung to old habits she has set me free. When I have lost hope she has set my eyes on Jesus. She has been my counselor, my partner, my friend, my lover, my comfort and my joy.
And that is just me. She has mothered our children, loved and risked and sacrificed for them. She serves them, teaches them, trains them, hugs them, blesses them. She has led them out of the broken-down home I had had them in and given them health and life and direction.
The grace that He pours through her extends beyond me and our children. For eight years I’ve been blessed to watch her encourage young mothers, meet the needs of those in need, open her home and heart to strangers, perhaps even angels unaware. I’ve watched her respond with grace to gracelessness from others, returning good for evil. I’ve watched her continue to live a life of faith in the One who sustains us both.
Just a few weeks after our wedding I, in my sin, brought my own platform crashing down around me. No longer did I have a public venue from which to introduce her, to encourage her, to praise her. She, however, doesn’t live to be known for her faithful service. She lives for faithful service itself. She never lost a step, never walked away, never beat me with the big stick of my big sin.
For eight years instead she has loved and been loved. For eight years she has walked beside me as we have sought to follow the Teacher. Not once has she lost faith that He is leading us, and leading us to an eternity that is beyond our ken. When we reach those shores we will remember these eight years with thanksgiving as we look forward with hope in the eternity He won for us. And the sower leads us…