A Silver Jubilee to My Sweet Wife

A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.
Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value. (Provers 31:10-11)

Dear Kim,

Thank you for spending the last quarter-century with me as my best friend and my wife.
By God’s grace, yesterday marked a great milestone for us as we celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary by renewing our vows with our four children by our side in Disney World, the place we got engaged and where we honeymooned.

We were married on March 6, 1993, at the Church by the Sea in Fort Lauderdale; the past 25 years have simply flown by! We truly have lived out the vows we spoke to each other that day, for our life experiences have brought us both good times and bad, plenty and want, sickness and health. And through it all, God has been so good, so merciful, and so faithful to us.

We married as unbelievers, but God was at work behind the scenes, laying the foundation for our conversion in September of 1995. Just more than a year later, on December 28, 1996, God gave us our first child, Brock. Jenna followed on September 12, 1998, then Katie on October 26, 2002, and the Tank on March 20, 2004. How beautifully and sacrificially you demonstrated the truth of what it means to divide your time and multiply your love as God grew our family; you continually put the Gospel on display, even when I did not. And today, because of God’s grace poured out onto our lives, we can say along with the apostle John, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth” (3 John 4).

Your love for me has been as unconditional as it has been forgiving. You have always been there for me with every dream, hope, and vision I had for our future together. From the Wellness Center to the great gift God gave us as a family in planting Cross Community Church six years ago, you were the one who connected the dots that brought every vision to life. I love you with all my heart, and I look back with awe and wonder at all that God has brought us through as husband and wife, father and mother. God has used all of it, even the broken threads, to weave a tapestry of what it means for two to become one flesh and leave a legacy under the lordship of Jesus Christ.

Looking ahead, whatever life God is pleased to give to us, may we spend it in such a way that demonstrates our gratitude to Him for bringing us together and keeping us together until He carries us across the finish line of this life. Inasmuch as we will not be given to each other in marriage in heaven because of our marriage to Jesus, I so look forward to spending eternity with you in the new heavens and new earth, where we will live in unbroken fellowship with Jesus and each other. Until that day, I pray that God will continue growing me into the godly husband He wants me to be and that you absolutely deserve.