Love each other like the members of your family. Be the best at showing honor to each other. Don’t hesitate to be enthusiastic—be on fire in the Spirit as you serve the Lord! Be happy in your hope, stand your ground when you’re in trouble, and devote yourselves to prayer. Contribute to the needs of God’s people, practice hospitality. – Romans 12:10-13

Today, August 18, is wedding anniversary number 46. That’s 16,802 days, a little over 2,400 weeks, or 552 months. No matter how you add, divide or multiply the numbers (403,224 hours or even 24,193,440 minutes), it’s a beautiful thing.

One measurement I particularly like is the fact that, because we were both 23 on August 18, 1979, we have now been married two-thirds of our lives! Or, twice as long as we were not.

Today, we celebrate simply by being together. Of course we do have dinner reservations for this evening, but we are just so very grateful to be living our best lives in this amazing home, in this lovely town, with so many good friends around us. And – looking at the deeper and generational reverberations of our long term investment in commitment – our children, Andrew and Naomi, along with their beautiful families in Orlando and Krakow.

It doesn’t get any better…

Sunday was a great example of how life is just so good. First, we walked about fifty yards down the street for church. Then, after worship we hosted the visiting preacher, his wife and four other friends for an impromptu lunch that lasted well into the afternoon.

Later we attended a church social event graciously hosted by our friends Jerome and Lindy.

So Sunday was marked by exactly what we have always wanted our marriage and our life together to demonstrate: and that is faith, love, a home where people feel welcomed and encouraged, and gracious hospitality.

Today we celebrate 46 years of an ongoing and beautiful love story; but we are also grateful that we have built – and still are building – a marriage that stands for something, and that our life together tells an even bigger story, the story we are all invited into, the story of a “love that will not let us go….”

In love, and because of love – DEREK