Gordon Yeager, 94, and his wife Norma, 90, left their small town of State Center, Iowa, on Wednesday to go into town, but never made it. A car accident sent the couple to the emergency room and intensive care unit with broken bones and other injuries. But, even in the hospital, their concerns were each other. Reports say they died holding hands exactly one hour apart. They were engaged and married within 12 hours in 1939, the day Norma Yeager graduated from high school. In their 72 years of marriage they did everything together, they were inseparable. It’s a beautiful story but sadly one that’s become the exception rather than the rule for marriages. Too many couples today approach marriage with not only wrong but unbiblical views of what God expects from a marriage. The idea of if this marriage doesn’t work we’ll get a divorce is unbiblical. Yet, the sad fact is that while the divorce rate is soaring across the country it’s alarmingly high in the church. Marriage does take work, hard work, as most couples will attest who’ve been married any length of time. Marriage isn’t a 50/50 proposition, if that’s true, where does your 50 begin and my 50 end? Marriage is both parties giving all that they have if it h as any chance or working. The vows are simple yet profound, to have and to hold from this day forward for better for worse for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health to love and to cherish until death parts us. I wonder how many couples just say those words on their wedding day? Gordon and Norma Yeager showed us how to live that commitment for 72 years. What if we took seriously our marriage vows that we’ve made before God? I believe the divorce rate would begin to dwindle and our homes would be stronger which in turn makes this nation stronger. Thank you Gordon and Norma for giving us a life lesson on what it means to take marriage seriously.
Who’s on the Stool?
October 6, 2011
It’s a great question, isn’t it? Who really sits on the stool of our life? Does Jesus occupy all of the stool, all of the time? Or are we often prone to take Him off when His plan goes against what we really want to do? The follow up question is simply this, who is the center of your life, I mean the absolute center? Where is Jesus Christ in your life? Have you given Him some small part of your life? Does He reside on the far corners of your life, just close enough to be there when you need Him but far enough away that nothing really changes in your life? Most of us don’t really want Jesus to have too much of our life because that means our lives and our priorities must change. One day Jesus met a man who had a burning question: “Jesus, what good thing must I do to inherit eternal life. This Sunday morning in worship (October 08) we’re going to continue our Jesus Makeover series by looking at what Jesus said to this man (and to us). I hope you’ll join us on Sunday as we worship and study God’s Word.
