Remembering and Renewing

In two weekends, Lord willing, Luz and I will renew our vows in a ceremony celebrating 25 years together as a married couple. As that day of celebration approaches,  I will be posting thoughts about our journey over those years. As we have shared our intention to celebrate, a few reactions have been stirred up in response. One friend's daughter asked, "Why are they doing that?  Did they forget the vows they made the first time?"  That's a good question.  As I considered that very appropriate inquiry, some directives from Psalm 103 came to mind:

"Bless the Lord, O my soul,    and all that is within me,    bless his holy name!
Bless the Lord, O my soul,    and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity,    who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit,    who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's."

This Psalm calls us to bless the Lord for all the good He has done and in particular, admonishes us to "forget not all His benefits..." 25 years ago, there was a great deal of uncertainty as to the soundness of our decision to come together.  Our relationship was cross cultural. It was long distance for a time.  Children were involved. We were both unknown to each other's closest and most trusted friends who feared for our well being.  At the time of my proposal, I had no money, was in school, had no job and was living by faith.  By many appearances, our decision seemed risky at best, crazy at the worst.  Of course, the greatest factor that convinced us to unite was an unshakeable conviction that God was at work uniting us. So great was our conviction, that Luz and I felt secure in taking a gargantuan leap of faith, looking past the reservations and skepticism to unite ourselves as one.  One of the decisions we made in light of our step of faith was to promise that if we found ourselves still together at the point of 25 years we would throw down a "mile marker," and celebrate what God had done by recommitting ourselvesto trust Him to keep our family together for more years to come(not that we anticipated divorce, but in humility, we reminded ourselves that no one can guarantee the number of years they will live).  

Keeping with our promise to each other, over the next two weeks, I will be recounting the blessings and lessons of 25 years of togetherness through triumphs, tragedies, sorrows and joys that Luz andI have seen in our union.  While celebrating with us, I also ask you to remember for yourselves, how the Lord has blessed you and call you to devote yourselves to "not forgettting" all He has done!

Celebrating the journey thus far.  Looking forward to what lies ahead!

With much love and thanksgiving,

Sam