The Miracle of Love

Thirteen years ago today a very lovely and precious lady named Debbie accepted a ring from me, accepted my name, and became my wonderful bride! That was a wonderful day, exceeded only by each day that we have been together since then. And today is the best of them all, though I have to admit that it's already starting to feel a bit like tomorrow!

David was there, serving as my Best Man! (He was my Best Man then and still is!). Travis was there, escorting his Mother to the altar. Kendra was there, spreading flowers on the aisle as her Mom followed.

Sometime the year before I had taken Debbie, Travis and Kendra to Memphis to meet Bruce and Becky and their family. While there, we watched one of their animated videos on TV called "The Miracles of Love". Debbie fell in love with the theme song of the video -- and a few months later, Becky found and purchased for us a copy of the sound track. Debbie learned that song, "The Miracle of Love", and sang it to me at our wedding. I don't remember all the words, but I do recall a few:
"I've never seen a miracle, I thought I'd never see one; I didn't know when I saw you that you would be one."
Maybe this evening we will watch the video of our wedding and be refreshed on the words of the song. Thank you again, Becky, for finding that sound track for us.

Debbie was living proof of God's Amazing Grace to me! I will forever thank God for His healing power, for His restoration, for His grace that He showed to me. The Bible tells us in the Letter to the Romans, "Where sin abounds, grace does much more abound." If grace was deserved, it wouldn't be grace.

We met by telephone when Debbie tried to call a writer for Guidepost Magazine -- and I was house-sitting for that lady, Marion Bond West, and her husband, Gene Acuff, Head of the Department of Philosophy at Oklahoma State University. Marion's first husband had died following a serious illness and Gene's wife had too. She had written a story in Guidepost of the way God brought her and Gene together. A friend of Debbie's gave her a copy of that story and over a period of time she decided she wanted to call Marion to see if she could get some help on possibly writing of all God had done for her, too. Her first husband had died a few years earlier.

While attending Hillcrest Baptist Church, I met Dr. Gene Acuff, who asked if I would consider house-sitting for him. He and his new wife were preparing to move to the Atlanta area and he needed someone to house-sit, to keep his house and farm showable until it sold. That was the dream of this city boy, to drive a tractor, pulling a brush hog over the 20 acres -- what a blessing. I didn't know that the best blessing was yet to come.

It was on May 7, 1989 when Debbie called the first time. In July I drove to Antlers OK to meet her for the first time, and a little over 3 1/2 years later I brought her home with me.

Thank you, Debbie, for saying YES, for being my wonderful bride for these 13 years! And just think -- as wonderful as it has been to date, the best is yet to come! I really am a beneficiary of God's grace!