Fifty-two Years!

Our Story in Music

In 1973 I was working in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma and I rode the city bus to work each day. One spring day this good looking young lady stepped on the bus, which was standing room only. I offered her my seat and that was the start of our relationship.

I don’t think either of us would admit it at the time, but it was love at first sight and all it took was Just One Look.

By October, she was My Girl and I was her guy.

I bought a ring and asked her to be my partner for life. She said yes!

On May 11, 1974 we got married in a small church in Diamond, Missouri among family and friends. Our wedding vows said that we would make this union last a lifetime. We promised to love each other forever and ever, amen!

Fifty-two years later they’re still playin’ our song and we’re still dancin’ in love!

I first posted the following words on our thirty-fourth anniversary. Thank the Lord, we have seen our 50th come and go. The truth is still the truth over twenty years after the original post. Have a blessed day.

So what’s the secret to being married for thirty-four years (now 52) and looking forward to celebrating number fifty (maybe 60) one day? All I can tell you is that our marriage is centered around our faith and the message from God’s Word is critical to the happiness that each of us enjoys.

First of all, God loves us and everything He does is for our benefit. He created the institution of marriage to be enjoyed by a man and a woman and to bring each of them happiness. The Bible tells us that God loved us so much that He gave His Son to die on a cross for us so that we might, through faith, have eternal live. Christ tells the husband that he is to love his wife with the same love that Christ loves the church and gave Himself for that church (Ephesians 5:25). If I love my wife with that kind of love, then everything I do, I do because I love her and I want her to be happy. I want her to be pleased with this relationship. I want my Lord to be pleased with me as a man who loves his wife and realizes that his wife is a gift from God created especially for me and for my happiness.

Secondly, marriage is a partnership. Like any relationship, it takes work to maintain the marriage relationship in peak condition. A happy marriage doesn’t “just happen”. Both of us are committed to the relationship and to each other because we love one another and it is our desire that our partner be happy in this relationship. No major decision in this relationship is made without prayer and conversation. God is not the author of confusion, therefore He will not give my wife a different answer to an issue than the one that He gives me. Again, God created the institution of marriage for our benefit, not for our demise.

Finally, I married a woman far better than I deserve. I thank my Lord and Savior for her every day. My wife is the most thoughtful, caring and giving person that I know. Proverbs 31:10-12 says, “An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life.” I have found that woman. Proverbs 31:25-30 further states, “Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she smiles at the future. She opens her mouth in wisdom, and teaching of kindness is on her toungue. She looks well to the ways of her houselold, and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and bless her; her husband also, and he praises her, saying: Many daughters have done nobly, but you excel them all. Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.” I married such a woman.

So, back to the original question, “What’s the Secret?” The answer is, you have to give yourself to the marriage. You have to give yourself to your spouse. Whatever you have within you, you have to “Give it Away.”