Tuesday, July 11, 2006


62 Years of life, love and happiness together. That is the rare feat my grandparents have achieved. Congratulations, Grandmurna and Granddaddy on your 62nd wedding anniversary. What a remarkable achievement!

My grandparents have made an impression on my life in a multitude of ways. Just as the imprint of Lois's faith was evident in the faith of her grandson, Timothy (2 Timothy 1.5), so the imprint of my grandparents' faith is deeply impressed within me.

In fact, they play a crucial role in my birth as a disciple of Jesus.

I was baptized on August 1, 1984 in Lake Greeson at Camp Barton. I had gone to camp that summer as a 13-year-old kid with a burgeoning understanding of what Jesus had truly done for me on the cross. But it was on a stormy afternoon and an especially moving class session that propelled me to be saved.

The teacher of that class that moved me to commit my life to Jesus? My grandfather. And the head cook in the mess hall for that week of camp? My grandmother.

You know, there were a whole host of things my grandparents could have been doing as July turned into August in the summer of 1984. After all, they were retired. Recreation could have been on their agenda. Traveling could have been on their agenda. But no, my grandparents were at church camp, serving the Lord by serving his children.

As a result, one of the sweetest memories of my life, my own baptism into Jesus, was performed by my grandfather with my grandmother looking on from the shore.

The example of my grandparents teaches me, among other things, that the golden years provide a golden opportunity to be a vital link in the chain of faith from generation to generation; to provide more than just toys and temporal joys for your grandchildren but to invest and reinforce in them, through the blessing of your time, the most treasured gift of all: the gift of faith expressing itself in love.

Happy Anniversary, Grandmurna and Granddaddy! I Love You Both!