A Momentous Day

Today is the day our oldest child graduates from high school. We have loved and nurtured him, trained and disciplined, and tried our best to help shape him into the young man that God has created him to be. Now is the time for letting go. We will never stop being his parents, but our most significant work with him has been completed. The decisions that he makes from this point forward will primarily be his own.

He is ready to leave. And, in many ways, we are ready to let him go. Sure, there will be tears as we leave him at West Point at the end of this month. Some tears of sadness at seeing him go. But mostly tears of joy as he begins what we believe God has been preparing him to do for the past eighteen years.

Today is also our 21st wedding anniversary. We are celebrating 21 years of for richer, for poorer. 21 years of in sickness and in health. My wife has certainly kept her vows in these areas. In many ways, this past year has been our best year of marriage. In many ways, it has been our most difficult.

Since my diagnosis in December, my wife has taken on the added stress of being a caregiver to a sick husband, in addition to being a marriage partner and mother to three children. I may have the cancer, but she bears the burden of caring for me when I cannot care for myself. The burden of sorting through the medical bills and insurance forms, communicating with the doctors and insurance companies. The burden of driving me (four hours, round trip) to the hospital for treatments, checkups, and injections once or twice a week. And now, physical therapy two or three times a week.

My wife, through it all, has been my greatest encourager. In the seldom moments that I lose my focus, she reminds me that I cannot give up and helps me re-focus my attention on our great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Other than my new life in Christ, my wife is the greatest gift that God has ever given me. I do not deserve to have such a great friend and partner in life. But I sure do appreciate her.

June 6, 2008 is a momentous day in our home. A graduation. An anniversary. A celebration of the end of one leg of a journey and the beginning of another. A celebration of a marriage that has been sustained by God's grace and will continue to deepen and grow by His grace.