The man who finds a wife finds a treasure, and he
receives favor from the LORD.
19 years ago this evening I
sat across the table from the most beautiful girl in the world. We met only a few months prior, but the 5
weeks prior to that night were ones that go in the memory books for Julie and
me.
It was February 12, 1993
that I asked Julie to marry me. At a
special restaurant in Vidalia, Georgia I got up from my chair and knelt on one
knee while handing her a ring. It was
carefully placed in the top of a red rose and had a small note attached. I asked her to be my wife, and she said
yes. As the old saying goes, that is the
rest of the story.
In these years we have had a
journey that I would travel with no one else.
We’ve had our difficult times, our struggles and even some fights. Yet we are blessed to have each other, and we
have been honored to become parents to 3 wonderful children.
God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from
all sexual sin.
Tonight is a special
night. 19 years ago I presented my girl
with a ring that symbolized my love for her.
But tonight I sat across the table from two more beautiful girls and presented
a ring to each of our teenage girls.
With this ring came a promise of purity.
For Julie and me, we are to pray for their future mates, and they are to
keep themselves pure until their wedding night.
This is not a commitment
that I asked them to make lightly. We’ve
talked about this decision for sometime.
Back in the fall we purchased the rings from The Silver Ring Thing event that came
to our community. I love my girls, and I
am terrified that I will not be a good parent.
Yet we have made a choice. We
will not hold back. We will have
conversations about tough things. We
will hold each other accountable. We
will pray for God’s help, God’s protection and for godly lives and wisdom to
hold us strong.
My desire is for my kids to
be the best they can be. I pray that
their lives will be marked by their love for God. The pleading of our prayer to God is often
“don’t let our kids be those ‘preacher kids’ we’ve all heard of that get wild
or go off the deep in.” That means we
have to make some choices. Our kids need
parents who will be godly and proactive.
To the faithful you show yourself faithful; to those
with integrity you show integrity.
That day 19 years ago began
a journey that we continue on. This night
and 2 more rings continue a journey that our children are on, and I can’t wait
to see the blessings that God will bring into Rebecca and Ruth’s lives as they
keep their eyes, their bodies and their futures pointed toward God.
I challenge you to not
wait. Don’t let the world get hold of
your kids. Do something now to let your
kids see Jesus and know how important they are to you. We are not perfect parents, and our kids are
not perfect. But we’ve made some choices
that we are grateful for and excited about.
Making a commitment isn’t easy, but our lives will be sweeter and more
blessed because we made it.
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