Category: Religion/Church

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How to Ruin Your Life by Misunderstanding the Will of God / Anatomy of a Train Wreck

How to Ruin Your Life by Misunderstanding the Will of God: The Danger of Christian Mysticism
(This is an intentionally ironic title. You’ll see.)

“The Bible never tells us to seek the will of God. It tells us to do it.” (Dr. John Hannah)

Modern Christians, especially in conservative churches, tend to be obsessed with finding “the will of God” for their lives. We will examine what the Scripture actually teaches about the will of God, as well as refuting a number of very prevalent misconceptions about God’s will.

Lord willing, I’ll be presenting this topic at the adult Bible study at our church on Wednesday, February 7.

I will post a PowerPoint presentation, and other resources when they are complete. (PowerPoint has been posted here. Note the PowerPoint contains far more information than I actually covered. I used only about 40% of it.)

 

 

Anatomy of a Train Wreck


Photo of a train wreck in LaGrange, Illinois, from The Monkey Is Always Watching photoblog by Daniel Heath.

In some ways, the lesson was a disaster. I wanted to get people thinking about dangerous, unbiblical rhetoric we use, and instead wound up inflaming the congregation. At least 8 people walked out.

I touched on a number of foundational topics, including the KJV, with a slide entitled, “Why the KJV is Not the Word of God.”

However, my first two points on that subject were these:

Don’t excommunicate me: Almost everything I have studied leads me to believe the KJV is a highly accurate, trustworthy translation from excellent manuscripts. But it isn’t perfect.

And, we have a serious problem with the rhetoric we use.

But no one heard them.

I had to discontinue that topic after two slides, although people kept bringing the discussion back to them. But completely unheard were my points about translation errors, the danger of sounding like Ruckmanites, or even how the Jewish religious leaders Jesus debated with in the temple would not conduct theological discussions in any language other than Hebrew. Also prohibited was something that is very important to me:

Significant changes in the English language over the last 400 years are rendering the KJV less and less relevant to our spoken language.

Although most people can understand it, the meaning of many words and verses is completely unclear without a historical understanding of the English language.

This is a serious problem. We are in danger of insulating the common people from the Word of God, just as the Catholic Church did (most famously before the Reformation, but through the 1960s).

So, to reiterate:

  • I do believe the KJV is the Word of God (although I did state otherwise in attention-getting slide title—the text of my slides makes my ultimate meaning very clear)—although I do not believe it is the only English version of the Bible that can be called the Word of God. (However, I made no attempt, and, indeed, specifically avoided, recommending a different version to our congregation.)
  • We are making a big mistake when we don’t acknowledge that, like any translation, the KJV has errors and ambiguities.
  • The KJV is very difficult for modern English speakers to read; a number of word meanings have changed significantly in the past 400 years, some enough to cause erroneous interpretation.
  • The KJV absolutely should not be elevated (in rhetoric or otherwise) to the level of the original languages in which Scripture was written. There is a reason God chose Hebrew, Chaldee, Aramaic, and Greek, over another language like English. (This is especially clear when comparing the compexity and nuance of the Greek to English.)

What I wish I had done differently:

  • Not used hyperbole (or perhaps even irony, as defined literarily) with an Independent Baptist Church audience. Despite the fact that this is an oft-used literary device (ask my Sunday school students), even by our own pastor, the people were not familiar enough with my teaching style to stop to listen beyond the radical statement.
  • Asked questions instead of making statements about semantics—I still have no idea (for several reasons) what specifically those most offended disagreed with. Had I introduced the topics with questions about specifically what people meant by certain phrases, they probably would have been lest hostile. (Several people disagree with me on this, believing I was doomed no matter how gentle my presentation.)
  • Not tried to put quite so much material into the presentation.
  • Spent more time on the conclusion, which was a little weak. (I also goofed on illustrating one point, but in retrospect that seems less significant.)

You’ll want to read all the comments on this one.

(Edited significantly on Tuesday, February 27, 2007.)

Onward …

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Elementary School Children and Civil Liberty

Last week in the Junior Church class Nichelle and I teach, we began a lesson on the life of Josiah, who was the king of Judah. Josiah became king when he was eight years old, and was one of the better kings of that period.

To introduce the topic, I used two discussion topics, to get the kids thinking about the idea of the power and responsibility of running a kingdom.

The first question was, “What would you do if you were given a billion dollars?” The answers were interesting. Only about half were completely selfish. One of the younger girls said she would buy a new bicycle, so I went on to try to illustrate just how large a sum a billion dollars is.

The next question, meant to elaborate on the first, was, “What would you do if you were the absolute dictator of a country like the United States? What kind of laws might you enact?” The answers to this one were more interesting.

Top of the list for most of the kids was outlawing smoking and outlawing drinking alcohol. After that, most of the suggestions included personal security, such as “putting cameras everywhere,” allowing children to become police officers, creating anti-terrorist robots, or police robots that would be everywhere “to prevent people from stealing.”

To them there was no concept of civil liberty or Libertarianism, it was just, “If it’s wrong, we’ll get rid of it.”

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With a Thankful Heart ….

Around the table we took turns telling what we were thankful for. It came to David’s turn and he had a long list, starting with his salvation—what a blessing that was. (Doug prompted him by announcing, “Our kids are all ingrates; they have nothing for which they are thankful.”) Then, to top it all off, he broke into songs of praise and worship, and got us all singing.

…being thankful for what we have. Can we list all the blessings God gives to us, really? What a loving, gracious, forgiving, and merciful Lord we serve. One of my major praises is for the return of excellent health! It’s been since July, and so far there is no sign of the symptoms returning. Will they symptoms return? Not sure, but typically by this time of year, I’d be having many symptoms, and so far only a couple of minor ones had happened and then they were gone, and that was at least two months ago.

A trip to Cindy’s for Thanksgiving is always wonderful! Our plan was to head to Cindy’s house after church Wednesday night. It’s a two and a half hour trip, and after service we had hoped to arrive by 11 p.m. I got the suitcases packed, and Doug loaded up the van all before church. (Victory! We’ve never actually accomplished this.) Service typically lets out at 8:15, and we wanted to head back to the house for one final sweep of things and also pick up dinner on the way. Service let out at 9:05 due to the fact that each person has the opportunity to share something that they have been thankful for throughout the past year.

I was downstairs working with our King’s Kids program and Doug was in the service. Things took a little longer, giving hugs and quick praises of thanks for how God has been working once service was over. I believe we all made it in the car at about 9:20. So, you see what happened. So we got in the van, headed home, had the kids do potty runs, etc., and were back in about 5 minutes. (Another victory!)

The plan was to go to the McDonald’s just over the highway. So we took off, and the time was now 9:45. Unfortunately, the McDonald’s was closed! Grrrrrr… We headed back to the BK on Main Street, and ordered meals. We went through drive-thru and pull over once we get our food to pray and dish out the meal so we can get on our way. As the kids were handed their food, Isaac proclaimed in disgust that they got his order wrong—again. They also messed up David’s order. Back through the line we went. I should add, because our order was so long we had to pull to the side and wait for them to finish making it which took several minutes. Anyway, we got the order together and were on our way, finally. Quite a way to start off our mini-vacation!

Our drive was uneventful, except for the 18 wheeler that was having a bit of a problem staying in his lane. He nearly pushed a car off the road, thankfully we got past him (two lanes over), and it was smooth sailing from there. We arrived at Cindy’s just after midnight. The kids slept just about the whole way there and Doug did, too off and on.

Cindy did an awesome job with the meal and the many pies once again. My contribution was a side dish, assistance in the kitchen, and a couple of Hershey Pies.

Around the table we took turns telling what we were thankful for. It came to David’s turn and he had a long list, starting with his salvation—what a blessing that was. (Doug prompted him by announcing, “Our kids are all ingrates; they have nothing for which they are thankful.”) Then, to top it all off, he broke into songs of praise and worship, and got us all singing. Naomi was thankful for her friend Mikayla and her house. We were all thankful for the mutual support we have in the family, especially given the very difficult issues various of us have been through. We talked about why we love to get together, and concluded that our relationships with Christ made a big difference in our family dynamics—you won’t find us saying, “Ugh, holiday time again, we have to put up with the relatives!” Such a sweet time.

Typically after the meal, Cindy and I go for a nice and sometimes long walk, but due to the rain we didn’t go. We all did the next day and it was awesome! We went up to the Littleville Dam and hiked around that a ways about four miles. We also stopped at a large rock bluff to do some climbing. Naomi walked some, but was pretty much carried by Doug, Jenn and myself. Jenn, on our way back was still holding Naomi, who decided her being carried was too much and decided to take a nap.

We all had such a great time together and look forward to our next gathering at Christmas.

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When You Sing, I See Monsters

Here are a couple of recent anecdotes involving singing:

Naomi does seem to have a good ear for music. It may be a little too good. The other night I was tucking her into bed, after our quick bedtime prayer time together, and asked her if she wanted me to sing with her. She responded, “No, Daddy, when you sing, I see monsters.”

A week or so ago after church on the church playground, Naomi and Isaac were on the swings, Isaac on one set and Naomi on another. They were both singing a beautiful praise song, and my heart was full of joy. Then, after a few minutes, Naomi decided she wanted to sing all by herself: “Isaac!” she screamed, “Let me sing by myself!” It wasn’t quite as praiseworthy.

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Books vs. The Book

Editor’s introduction: Beth’sMomToo is one of the most energetic “amateur” students of the Bible we’ve ever met (including knowing enough Greek to shame most pastors). She is also supremely knowledgeable about ancient Egypt, so much so that I would now refuse to attend the MFA without her. The Wilcox Family is honored to have her as a guest author on our BLOG.

I recently read a book sent to me concerning “Women’s Ministries.” Now … I find myself appalled by most books written on this subject. They are usually saturated with the world’s ideas and have very little to say about God’s ideas. But this one caught my attention in the first line, “The subject of this book is not women; it is the Church of the Lord Jesus.” Good start! While the book was heavily steeped in the particular denominational beliefs of the authors, overall I found it to be quite encouraging.

But when I leafed through the Appendix, what did I find, but the same old, same old. Buy our material, read our book list. An article entitled, “How to Evaluate Bible Study Materials.” How about studying the Bible instead of “materials” about the Bible? And this line killed me, “You are not to teach a lesson. You are to facilitate a discussion based on an assigned chapter of the book” (i.e., the material you buy from them).

We just finished our Ladies’ Study on Philippians. We didn’t skip ahead and spend all of our time on the application. We didn’t read a verse here and there out of context. We didn’t read what other people thought the book said. We read the Bible, in context, the book as a whole, repetitively. We did analytical charts; we did word studies; we found the themes in the book; we divided up each chapter into subject groups and titled them; we outlined the entire epistle and paid attention to how Paul developed his ideas. We looked up cultural practices, enlightening a few areas for us. We read companion passages in Acts concerning Paul’s establishment of the church at Philippi and his subsequent relationship with them. We studied the history of the city of Philippi and the Roman Empire as it applied to what we were studying. We found out more about the people and places mentioned within the Epistle. We looked at the ruins of the city as they appear today, learning a little archaeology on the side. (You know I had to fit that in somehow!) 😉

We studied the Word! Why are Christians so eager to “study” the Bible any possible way, except … to study …the … Bible?! And what was the result of all this effort? Amazing! Week after week I saw “light bulbs” pop on as they really began to understand what the text was saying and what the implications were! I saw women convicted by God’s Word. I saw women who were excited about studying God’s Word. (One of my favorite moments was when one of the ladies ran up to me one week after the Sunday morning sermon, her Bible open, and asked, “Is this a Granville-Sharp construction?” and wanted to discuss the implications!) She was getting more understanding out of what was being preached because of her own practice studying God’s Word … from God’s Word! That is exciting stuff, people!

I tell you … there’s just no other way to go! Why are so many Bible teachers so intent on keeping people away from their Bibles? Why do we want to focus so exclusively on the “doing” that we completely miss the power behind the “doing”? The Word changes your heart and mind as you immerse yourself in it, and then … the “doing” becomes the fruit that emerges!

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Millions and Millions? (Answers in Genesis – MVBC Conference)

Yesterday evening the boys and I attended the Answers in Genesis conference hosted by Merrimack Valley Baptist Church, featuring Dr. Ken Ham. (See event details, including driving directions here.)

There are two more sessions this evening. I highly recommend attending. Dr. Ham is an excellent presenter, and teaches in ways that are both fascinating and amusing.

I’ve now attended three different Creation Science conferences: Dr. Ham’s presentations are on par with the excellent work of the Institue for Creation Research. (There is a third, very well-known Creation Science presenter I’ve seen whose seemed to go off-topic at times, and who left me feeling he was a bit loopy when he did so.)

There were a few things which were of particular interest to me, although everything was interesting:

  • Not a single point mutation ever studied has resulted in an increase of genetic information: They have all (all that we have studied so far, at least) removed information. It turns out that the things we dread, like bacterial resistance to antibiotics, are due to genetic information being lost from the strains. (In one specific example, mutation removed the ability to produce an enzyme that converted the antibiotic to poison within the bacterium, making a particular antibiotic ineffective.)
  • The explanations of how specific breeds of dogs show subsamples of a more genetically diverse gene pool were excellent. He referred to his wife’s expensive-to-care-for hypoallergenic poodle-type dog as, “my wife’s degenerate, mutant dog.” I have always been fascinated by genetics, and enjoyed this part of the presentations immensely.
  • During an explanation of 14C (Carbon 14) dating versus K-AR (Potassium-Argon) dating, Dr. Ham presented a find from a mine in Australia, where samples of fossil trees (not petrified) were found embedded in the bottom of a basalt layer. The layer was K-AR dated at 36 to 45 million years old, while the wood was radiocarbon dated to about 45,000 years old. They can’t both be correct, especially as 14C isn’t supposed to persist in measurable quantities for more then 100,000 years.

Dr. Ham has blogged about this conference himself here.

Enjoy.

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Naomi: Infantile Perspectives on Divinity

Our children are constantly exposed to the knowledge of the Lord, at home and at church. At times we find their understanding of God to be inspiring. At other times, their statements can be humbling. (See our post about David: Oh, That Lord!)

Last night at dinner, we were beaming with pride when, after Nichelle mentioned we might get snow this weekend, Naomi looked up to Heaven, and said, “Thank you, God!” for the snow she hopes will come. What spontaneous and wonderful praise, especially for someone not even 2.5 years old! How exciting to see her concept of God already forming.

Then she closed her prayer with up-pointed finger, and the demand, “Okay, Slacker-Weasel!?”

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Witness the Evidence, Ye Doubters

I wrote this in an earlier post:

We have been leaving our sleds out most of the winter as offerings to the snow gods. So far it has been working, although I had to correct the kids on making the proper offering. Scattering the toboggans about the yard is not the way to get the snow gods’ attention: One must place the sleds vertically, up against the deck or porch railing, as if ready for instant use. You don’t want to get rain all winter, do you?

I offer hear clear photographic evidence that such beliefs are indeed rational:

Above left: Our offering to the snow gods, carefully placed yesterday morning.

Above right: The same scene less than 24 hours later.

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Christmas Glimpses

It is Christmas morning in the Wilcox home. The children awoke early, of course, but not too early. Nichelle and I slept until 8:30. I could have used another hour, because I was too excited to sleep Christmas Eve, and stayed up until around 2:00 a.m.

We let the kids open their stockings before church, and one other gift (chosen by us) on the way to church (John missed out on that one because he left for church earlier to navigate for my sister Cindy). I was thrilled to see the church auditorium packed. Normally on Christmas Sunday we have a lot of people traveling, so I expected the attendance to be down. (Of course, there are people traveling to our area as well, but generally not as many.)

Above left: The portion of the Wilcox family spending Christmas in Nashua with us. Back row: My sister Joyce Thorne, my daughter Naomi, my niece Jennifer, my wife Nichelle, my nephew Andrew. Front row: My son David, my son Isaac, me, my sister Cindy (Jenn and Andrew’s mother), and my son John.

Above right: David, Isaac (mostly obscured), Andrew, Naomi, and Jenn opening Christmas stockings. Naomi is eating a chocolate chip muffin.

When I was growing up, I never slept past 6:00 on Christmas morning, even though I never could fall asleep before midnight. Thankfully, my own children are a bit more reasonable, although they have resorted to sending notes in attached to Isaac (2 years old at the time), and playing the trumpet outside our door. (Actually, that was my nephew Andrew.)

Did you know the cardboard box has been inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame?

Naomi singing, dancing and spinning around to Tish Hinojosa’s Spanish Christmas song, “Milagro”:

Milagro, milagro, es la Esperanza
Milagro nuestro es la Navidad

(A miracle, a miracle is the hope …
The Nativity is a miracle meant for us)

Above left: A new sombrero ranchero and the Lego AT-AT. Nichelle is good to me!

Above right: Naomi with her new Navajo Barbie. (Yes, I let her take it out of the box. Calm, calm. Deep breaths. Slowly now. That’s better.)

Above: Naomi “helps” construct my new Lego AT-AT.

My niece Jennifer driving the Xbox controller like a steering wheel (and moving her whole body as if driving) while playing Burnout 3: Takedown with David and Isaac.

David wearing the mask from his Darth Vader Voice Changer helmet, singing, “If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands …” while NaNi wore the cowl backwards, dancing to some inner music of her own.

Isaac’s shocked expression and dramatic dropping of the box when he opened his Carnivorous Creations terrarium.

Above left: Aren’t you a little short for a Sith lord?

Above center: Isaac dramatically reacts to opening a Carnivorous plants terrarium. (You should have seen his expression when he opened the RoboRaptor.)

Above right: NaNi models my new sombrero

Around Christmas, I always think about my favorite Christmas hymn: “God is Born” (“Bóg siÄ™ rodzi”). I’ve only got one recording of it, on an old cassette entitled “An English Christmas.” It is the National Christmas Hymn in Poland, where it originated. Here’s what I’ve been able to transcribe from the English version I have:

“God is Born”

God is born and night is shaken
He the Heaven’s King lies naked.
The living Word knows brightness darkened,
He the Limitless takes limit.
Born disdained yet worship given,
Mortal, yet the Lord eternal.
Now indeed the Word made flesh
Has come on earth to dwell among us.

What hast thou, O Heaven better,
God abandoned thy perfection?
Here to share the trial and sorrow
Of His poor, beloved people.
Suffered much and suffered dearly,
For we all were guilty sinners,
Now indeed the Word made flesh
Has come on earth to dwell among us.

Born into a common stable,
He is cradled in a manager.
How then tell me what surrounds you
Hay and peace and simple shepherds.
You were ones who had the honor
Him to greet, and kings came bowing.
Now indeed the Word made flesh
Has come on earth to dwell among us.

I love the old hymns that are filled with such great doctrine. (So much of our modern popular and sacred music is vacuous—or at best superficial—by comparison.) Here the subject is the Incarnation: God the Son lowering Himself to become one of us. Wow!

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Thanksgiving, 2005: For What Am I Most Thankful?

For which of God’s gifts are we most thankful? Such questions we typically ask ourselves every year, which is an important part of the celebration of our Thanksgiving national holiday.

For me, the answer was easy.

“Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD.” (Proverbs 18:22)

My wife, Nichelle, is the most important human in my life. (I described her as the most important person in my life, but David corrected me with, “Dad, Jesus is supposed to be the most important person in your life.”) She is, as one might guess, the one for whom I thank God more often than anything else.

11“The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil. 12She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.” (Proverbs 31:11–12)

How much she means to me was made even clearer about three weeks ago. Since last spring, Nichelle had been steadily improving after a long period of being nearly incapacitated by symptoms relating to fibromyalgia. See the posts entitled “What’s Wrong with Nichelle?” and “The Twins are Back,” for a more complete history. But three weeks ago, over the course of a couple of days, Nichelle went from virtually symptom-free to nearly completely debilitated. First, I was angry; then for days I was heartbroken at all that seemed about to be lost.

As Nichelle had regained her strength since last spring, she put into action the things she’d hoped to do. She learned to paint. She learned to sew. She prototyped an absolutely stunning tabletop fountain, hoping to market them and other crafts via ebay. She tackled computer projects for me (a field that had always scared her), rejoined the choir at church, and got back onto the special music schedule. Not bad for a single summer!

When her symptoms had become so severe last winter, I had to start planning and operating my life without her at my side. I never liked it. We might spend weeks looking forward to an activity, and do everything possible to rest up and prepare for it, only to determine on the day of the activity that Nichelle would not be physically able to attend. There were times when the exaustion hit that she would fall asleep in mid-sentence, even when she was doing the talking. A “brain fog” would reduce her normally sharp mind to one that couldn’t record a doctor’s appointment correctly.

17“She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms. 25Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.” (Proverbs 31:17, 25)

My wife has incredible strength. Few people know the challenges she has overcome in her life (and, unfortunately, I cannot disclose the most significant ones here; even I was not aware of the extent of a few of them until relatively recently—suffice it to say my wife has had significant trauma inflicted by a number of people in her life). Reading our posts on fibromyalgia will give you some clue to the challenges of everyday life, especially in the past year. Even when every day is a battle, she is almost never discouraged.

Other people use negative things that have happened to them or harm that has come to them as an excuse for failure or their own evil. Nichelle, without a trace of anger, uses them as an example on how not to live, and confidently pursues whatever God has planned for her.

Someone asked me recently what there was about Nichelle that attracted me to her. I distinctly remember the first time I saw her. She walked by in church, and I thought, “Wow!” She was beatiful, but there was much more. Even then her strength of character, devotion to the Lord, and compassion for others were evident. We spent a couple of years working in church ministries together, and the more I got to know her, the more I wished she would go out with me. (I tried for about a year and a half, but couldn’t get her to even notice me.) There were other things, too. She laughed at my jokes! She made every experience we shared more enjoyable. She made denim look classy.

When she moved out of her parents’ house to live with our close friends the Flints, they told her, “I hope you like Doug Wilcox, because he’s over here all the time.” Then I finally got her to notice me. Not many months later we were engaged, and married a [very long] year after that.

“Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land.” (Proverbs 31:23)

She holds our lives together and held me together ten years ago, during the six month period my as-yet-untreated anxiety disorder probably crossed the border to nervous breakdown. I cannot imagine how I might have fared without her undying support. Whatever good I may accomplish in my own life, she will share equally in the credit.

“She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy.” (Proverbs 31:20)

Compassion has driven her life. She is a perfect counterpoint to my empathetically-challenged soul, knowing the grace that God has bestowed upon our lives, the glorious change of His second birth, and always wanting to share that with others.

13“She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. 14She is like the merchants’ ships; she bringeth her food from afar. 15She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens. 16She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard. 27She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.” (Proverbs 31:13–16, 27)

Nichelle is an excellent parent, and manages a complex, frenetic household with surprising aplomb. (My experiences in just doing the grocery shopping for her convince me that I am best left in the world of computers.) She can tolerate playing “Candyland” or “Chutes and Ladders” with the kids without rolling her eyes, while devastating me when it comes to Scrabble. She teaches the children in dozens of ways throughout the day, and looks after their welfare using her super Mom powers and 360-degree vision.

“Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.” (Proverbs 31:31)

There are so many other things to list! I see the evidence of her help every day. She picks out my clothes, cuts my hair, provides my meals, manages my appointments, and sees to it that I don’t stay up all night playing Civ IV. She is a constant encouragment to me spiritually and emotionally. She continually demonstrates to me the power of prayer, and is a model of unwavering faith.

“She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.” (Proverbs 31:26)

Few would believe this, but we almost never argue. I’d like to claim that this is due to my own nurturing spirit, but it is more due to her spirit of cooperation. (Also, I have learned over the years, that if we do disagree about something, I am almost never the one who is correct.)

I love the shared jokes and common exchanges we have. Some are just so memorable. Years ago, I commented, “You know, I’m not saying you are, but if you wanted to be a nag, you’d be a good one.” She responded, “Well, I wouldn’t have to nag you if you’d do something the first ten times I ask you to.” We still laugh about that exchange. Others are just plain sappy, like how we often IM: LYMZ, our abbreviation for I love you moresey. (Hey, I warned you it was sappy.)

She’s made me a better, more complete, and well-rounded person. With her, I get to be the super hero little boys dream of becoming. Always, I bask in her love and affection.

Our children are gorgeous, too, thanks to her genetic input.

25“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 28So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies.” (Ephesians 5:25, 28a)

If only all God’s commands were this easy to follow!

28“Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. 29Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. 30Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.” (Proverbs 31:28–30)

“How beautiful and how delightful you are, My love, with all your charms!” (Song of Solomon 7:6, NASB)

(Mmmmmmmmmmm. I could go on about those charms, but I’ll keep this post appropriate for children.)

Nichelle, I love you.