Please tell me you have seen this clip and my wife’s
favorite clip! That’s
some funny stuff right there. In all
seriousness, today marks my 4th wedding anniversary to my wife,
Nicole. I know many of you may be
thinking, only 4 years of marriage and 3 kids 3 and under? Wow!
For those of you who may not know us too well, while we may only be married
for 4 years, we have been together and known each other for a dozen or so
now. So if I put my marriage time into
present known time, she is my old ball and chain!
I have been reading the book Love and War by John
& Stasi Eldredge, which I recommend as a must read for any couple getting
married, in marriage or falling out of marriage. The book takes you through their marriage and
points to some of the finer things in a marriage that is important to keep in
perspective between a man and a woman. The
opening though talks about marriage being a Love story and a War story. It truly puts it into perfect perspective
right at the beginning. In my first few
blog posts I talked about being a great father, a great man and now I want to share
my thoughts on being a great husband.
Let me start off by reiterating that I am still learning how
to be a great husband. In fact, at
times, I think I am awful at it. I am
not perfect and neither are any of you.
But if I can keep putting in the effort to be better and always willing
to learn, then I know I am on the right path.
A war story, you may ask? My
favorite book tells us: “Be
self-controlled and alert. Your enemy
the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, stand in firm in the faith,
because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the
same kind of sufferings.” I Peter 5:8
Isnt love grand?
Isn’t it wonderful? YES it is and
YES it can be. See when we were put here
God made man and woman to live in Eden.
But early on we learn that the arc angel is not far away in fact he is
in the garden and with that Eden falls out of Glory only for us to find it
again in perfect harmony when we get into Heaven. Now if you don’t know the story, I encourage
you all to read it as it truly is a remarkable book, filled with all the stuff
us guys like! But see on my anniversary
I am reflecting on this part of the story as a war story.
See we all like a good battle and I am in a battle every day
for my marriage. Don’t misunderstand
what I am trying to say, I love my wife, we will finish our life here on earth
together as I promised when I said I do.
This has nothing to do with my love for her in the war story. She knows that but see in this story the devil
is always around and even when we put down our guard for one single moment he
is ready to swoop in and take control of our lives.
On this anniversary I am reminded that it’s a war
story. All around me the devil is
devouring love and spitting out all the best things that God made with it into
adultery, divorce, hatred and fear.
That’s the battle I am fighting.
As a husband and a father I am constantly battling the evilness of our
word and defending the very promise I made my wife 4 years ago. I promise to protect you, be faithful to you
and always be there for you in front of God and witnesses. See all around me the world is filled with
wickedness that the evil one caused when it all began. The world tells me divorce happens, and that
it’s ok. But you see I don’t accept that
as normal in my life. I don’t accept that as the way it has to be. God doesn’t want it that way for me and my
marriage and surely he doesn’t want it for you.
This won’t be easy for any of us, but I know that it’s worth
fighting for. In fact it’s the most
important thing worth fighting for. On
this anniversary I give thanks to God for marrying me to the person He planned
out for me. For giving me a wife who
takes care of me, loves me for all my imperfections for showing me what it’s
like to be a man. See we all need our
Eve. The one who is put here on this
earth to be a constant companion.
Throughout time we have been battling for good. Today I fight for my marriage and resist the
devil. The scary thing is that tomorrow
starts all over and a new battle begins.
See this is a War story. One that
never ends just when we get comfortable and complacent I am reminded that the
devil is looking right over my shoulder.
But in my story, good will win over evil because I am fighting and I
won’t stop.
Nicole, thank you for listening to God’s words and saying I
do! Thank you for allowing me into your
heart and for giving me everything and more.
I am not putting my guard down.
You are too important. I am far
from perfect but having you and our kids has me living the perfect life. I don’t know what the future has in our story
but as long as I have you that I am fighting for, I am all in! I love you!
p.s. Nicole is usually
my editor for my blog and helps me put my ramblings and thoughts into a proper
format to read. While I do not apologize
for my content, I do apologize for any sentences that run on, don’t have proper
punctuation or too many words. I had to
edit this one on my own. It is just part
of my war story!
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