THE COVENANT

After college, I met Susanna Bell in Jacksonville, Florida where she and I were engaged in internships with the Jacksonville Baptist Association. We both were facilitating new works, she in the inner-city setting and I on local college campuses. Our friendship was instant but romance did not bloom during our time in Jacksonville. It wasn't until she moved on to graduate school half a continent away that God led each of us, independently, to a shared revelation that we should marry.

Susanna and I unexpectedly bumped into each other six months later and shared a hollywood-type scene with one of the most awkward dinners in the history of humankind. Dining at our favorite restaurant, not a bite was consumed as we both looked for a way to share with the other that we had received a vision from God to marry, even though we hadn't spoken in six months. 11 months later, in November of 1999, Susanna and I made a covenant with God and each other to love the other one through the entirety of this life.

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That act of spiritual obedience and faith has resulted in eight children (with another two born into heaven) and 20 very fulfilling years of friendship, love, joy, and pain. Our relationship stands as a testament to God's grace and mercy, for the joys we have experienced were not of our own making, and the trials we have overcome have been much greater than our strength could endure. 

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Every day I humbly reflect on the covenant with our God and give thanks for His love endures forever.

"I commit myself to your happiness and your self-fulfillment as a person, and to your usefulness in the Kingdom of God. I promise to love, honor, trust, and serve you in sickness and in health, in adversity and prosperity, and to be true and loyal to you so long as we both shall live."