A WIFE OF NOBLE CHARACTER

Monday, July 11, 2011

 "Who can find a virtuous and capable wife?

She is worth more than precious rubies.

Her husband can trust her, and she will 

greatly enrich his life. She will not hinder

him but help him all her life." 

Proverbs 31:10

 Fifty-three years ago in Norwalk, California, Charlotte and I said our wedding vows and promised to be faithful to each other until death should part us. Fifty-three years is a long time but for us it has gone by fast.

Charlotte and I were in full time ministry with the church for almost fifty years. In those years I performed many, many wedding ceremonies. Most of them that I know about have lasted. Some have not. Couples break up and fail to be faithful to their vows for many different reasons. Others stay together and are faithful for various reasons.

How about the two of us? Why have we stayed together?

Well of course there are the vows we took before God. That always looms large for us. That's first and foremost. But putting that aside for a moment. What, on a practical level, has kept us together?

The answer is: CHARLOTTE!

Charlotte is a good woman. She is. She always has been. I met her when she was just a young girl. She was good then and now in her seventies--she is still good. Charlotte always wants to do what is right--what is good.

You can't live as long as we have without having many trying days. We have been up on the mountain and we have been down in the valley. In all of this, God's grace has been amazing.

"Thru many dangers, toils and snares, (we) have already come; 'Tis grace hath brought (us) safe thus far, And grace will lead (us) home."