Today is an extremely special day. Today is Jamie and my 5 year anniversary! She has been such a gift to me. A truly, tremendous example of grace and love. I remember standing in front of her that day, at the altar, saying:
I Eric, take you Jamie, to be my lawfully wedded wife,…
I was so (and am still) excited to think about spending a lifetime together with this woman. I couldn’t believe that this loving, gracious, beautiful creature of God would, a few moments later, be saying these same words back to me. That she saw me and all my faults and still decided to marry a man like me.
Flash back to an InterVarsity dance in college I saw this beautiful girl and nervously spoke to her thinking that I may never see her again but hoping I would…
… to have and to hold from this day forward,…
I remember having lunch with her, telling her that I didn’t want to play games with her heart and that I was open to God’s leading into marriage if that was what He wanted…
… for better or for worse,…
This woman would go on to stand beside me in some of our most difficult and emotional-wrecking circumstances. And I have experienced the best of times with her and the birth of our two little girls…
…for richer or poorer,…
I think back to a friend’s wedding and introducing her for the first time as, “This is my girlfriend, Jamie…”
…in sickness and in health,…
Asking for her father’s blessing was terrifying. I had just hung up the phone with a friend for a pep talk and extra courage. I spoke to her father about the weather then professed my love for his only daughter expressing that it was my desire to ask this daughter, that he had been raising and responsible for, to marry me… [silence. Long, terrifying, heart-pounding, silence] …He expressed about how if anyone ever hurt his daughter he would hunt them down and destroy them… [I just say “yes sir”] ...Then it came. “…but, if you want my blessing then you have it.” I would spend the next few days jumping and yelling with excitement…
…to love and to cherish;…
I was the most blessed man in the world to be standing there at that altar in a moment that was changing my life forever. God was in the process of taking these two individuals and making them one. I was making a commitment to love and cherish [hold dear, encourage, nurture, protect] her before God…
I remember getting down on one knee, in the December snow, in Central Park, and asking this amazing woman to be my wife. I remember the tears in her eyes. I remember her saying yes. I remember telling our friends…
…from this day forward until death do us part.
I remember thinking, “God, thank You. Your promises are true. Thank You that I ‘waited’ [significant] for this one who is committing her life to me. Thank You that You never fail. Thank You, that You not only bring us together, but You keep us together.” My pledge to my wife was and is from this day forward until death do us part. And to be honest, she makes it easy. I have been blessed to have such a faithful, supportive, loving wife.
I remember our honeymoon in the Riviera Maya. I remember moving into our home together. I remember the hard times, and the great times. I remember bringing our girls home from the hospital. I remember thinking we might financially lose it all. And I remember thinking I can’t believe how much God has blessed us with. I remember it all and it’s just the beginning of a great story that The Author and Perfector is writing. …And for me, well I’m glad He’s written me into it.
Jamie, five years isn’t really that long. But, I love you this day. I look forward to growing old with you; and will love you until that day that death do us part.
A humble husband,
Eric
Friday, May 15, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
An Incredible Mother
An Incredible Mother
My Wife, Jamie, is really an incredible and remarkable woman. She amazes me with all that she’s able to do and the kind of person that she is. She spends her days caring for, teaching, and loving on our two beautiful girls. Her nights are spent in class pursuing God’s calling on her to be a teacher and in her free time (I guess an oxymoron) doing projects and homework. Did I mention that she also watches a 3rd girl during the weekdays? Her days are packed changing diapers, cleaning up after children, reading stories, teaching numbers and the alphabet, singing songs, taking the girls outside for nature expeditions, putting them down (sometimes with a struggle) for nap, feeding them lunch, wiping their noses, keeping me notified of their discoveries, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Somehow, this beautiful woman still has love for me. She makes my coffee and sometimes breakfast before I can even get to the kitchen. Besides salvation, she has been God’s greatest gift of grace in my life. How I am blessed to have her as a wife. How blessed our children are to have her as a mother. Proverbs 18:22 says, “He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.” What favor the Lord has bestowed on me.
A humbled husband,
eric
My Wife, Jamie, is really an incredible and remarkable woman. She amazes me with all that she’s able to do and the kind of person that she is. She spends her days caring for, teaching, and loving on our two beautiful girls. Her nights are spent in class pursuing God’s calling on her to be a teacher and in her free time (I guess an oxymoron) doing projects and homework. Did I mention that she also watches a 3rd girl during the weekdays? Her days are packed changing diapers, cleaning up after children, reading stories, teaching numbers and the alphabet, singing songs, taking the girls outside for nature expeditions, putting them down (sometimes with a struggle) for nap, feeding them lunch, wiping their noses, keeping me notified of their discoveries, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Somehow, this beautiful woman still has love for me. She makes my coffee and sometimes breakfast before I can even get to the kitchen. Besides salvation, she has been God’s greatest gift of grace in my life. How I am blessed to have her as a wife. How blessed our children are to have her as a mother. Proverbs 18:22 says, “He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.” What favor the Lord has bestowed on me.
A humbled husband,
eric
A Christian Cliche
The trouble with some profound Christian sayings is that over time they run the risk of sounding cliché. When truth becomes cliché, it loses its effectiveness and the hearer tends to flippantly agree before the statement is finished and having no appreciation. People have asked me why I enjoy reading the Early Church Fathers. I believe that much of it has been because of their proximity to the apostles and their passion for Christ. That in the face of persecution Tertullian writes, “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” While desiring God to move, they realized a cliché that we tend to agree with before the statement is finished: If God never did another thing for us, then His love for us through the cross would be more than enough reason to worship Him.
If He never answered another prayer… if He never let us feel or sense His presence again… if He didn’t fix the economy… if He chose to remain silent… He is still worthy of Worship. You’ve probably heard it a thousand-plus times, but I would be willing to say that it has not truly sunk in. I know for me personally, I can get too used to this American brand of Have It Your Way Christianity. I can all too often feel that Jesus wishes to give me the things I desire instead of the very desires He wants. American brand of Christianity can leave me all too often feeling that the music wasn’t good enough or the sermon wasn’t on point. And most terrifying of all, the American brand can leave me assuming that God still owes me something. I would venture to say that according to the ideals that many American Churches put on the market today, the apostles would have been considered utter failures. Eleven out of 12, martyred. In their present day, it must have seemed like there were no “open doors” and no red carpets. But, there was (and is) Good News: Jesus has paid it all. There is power in that revelation. It goes beyond the great praise music. It goes beyond the house, car, and stuff. To the Christian: He took all your ugly, offensive, grotesque, perverted, self-obsessed, greedy, sin; and suffered the cross to pay it all. And that, that is enough. The statement could seem tough… or the revelation could lead you into the greatest rest you’ve ever known. When the worship music moves you, it’s a blessing. When His voice reveals something new to you, what a wonderful grace has been shown to you. When you lay down to sleep at night in a warm bed, get up in the morning to go to a paying job in your car that takes you there, wearing clothes that cost more than most of the world’s housing, please let us not think for a second it was owed to you. It’s all extra. And if it so happens that the “extras” are removed, then you know what? His love for us through the cross is more than enough reason to worship Him.
A work in progress,
eric
If He never answered another prayer… if He never let us feel or sense His presence again… if He didn’t fix the economy… if He chose to remain silent… He is still worthy of Worship. You’ve probably heard it a thousand-plus times, but I would be willing to say that it has not truly sunk in. I know for me personally, I can get too used to this American brand of Have It Your Way Christianity. I can all too often feel that Jesus wishes to give me the things I desire instead of the very desires He wants. American brand of Christianity can leave me all too often feeling that the music wasn’t good enough or the sermon wasn’t on point. And most terrifying of all, the American brand can leave me assuming that God still owes me something. I would venture to say that according to the ideals that many American Churches put on the market today, the apostles would have been considered utter failures. Eleven out of 12, martyred. In their present day, it must have seemed like there were no “open doors” and no red carpets. But, there was (and is) Good News: Jesus has paid it all. There is power in that revelation. It goes beyond the great praise music. It goes beyond the house, car, and stuff. To the Christian: He took all your ugly, offensive, grotesque, perverted, self-obsessed, greedy, sin; and suffered the cross to pay it all. And that, that is enough. The statement could seem tough… or the revelation could lead you into the greatest rest you’ve ever known. When the worship music moves you, it’s a blessing. When His voice reveals something new to you, what a wonderful grace has been shown to you. When you lay down to sleep at night in a warm bed, get up in the morning to go to a paying job in your car that takes you there, wearing clothes that cost more than most of the world’s housing, please let us not think for a second it was owed to you. It’s all extra. And if it so happens that the “extras” are removed, then you know what? His love for us through the cross is more than enough reason to worship Him.
A work in progress,
eric
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