THE LINES
(the story)
I fell in love with Sarah from pretty much the moment we first met. Ours was one of those summer camp romances, with us being voted the couple most likely to have 13 kids. Well, we have three, and that is just perfect for our family 😃
Our dating relationship was rocky, with enough breakups and drama to merit a miniseries on the Hallmark channel. We loved each other deeply. And couldn’t stand each other at times. Couldn’t get along but couldn’t stand to be apart from one another. I guess you could say: we were young.
Our early marriage years weren’t easy either. How can 2 people who love Jesus have such a hard time getting along with each other? Well, kids, it’s called selfishness, and I had it in spades. We finally got some good Christian counseling that gave us hope, and our relationship started to mend.
We actually started to get along. We became friends. Learned how to disagree without killing each other. Learned that our ultimate goal in life was actually the same: know and love Jesus more and more and learn how to obey Him more fully. I believe that this realization has saved our marriage and given our kids a bedrock to stand on.
Human love is amazing and when it is right it feels so good. However, there is only one Love that lasts the test of time, and that Love is the love we pledged to build our marriage on from day one. In the hardest days of our relationship, when it feels like we have had nothing left, it’s then that the Love of God has held us and undergirded us.
“When human love had ended, Love had just begun…”
I hope you love “The Lines” - it is the reflection of 6 years of on and off dating, and 24 years of marriage.
And I love you, Sarah Emily. I could never have imagined we would be here, where we are now, but I am so glad you are here to share this journey.
(the lyrics)
The lines beneath us fly
On the interstate we're traveling called life
We pull off to the side and look behind
And, oh, the miles
It all looks straight now, but we know the twists and turns
A sigh, a knowing smile
A deeper joy for having held on in the trial
For in the rear view mirror we can see
Young you and me
Without a clue to lead us through this mystery
Only the lines that we recited to each other
That, forsaking every other for the rest of our days,
We would be true
To the lines we spoke, "I do"
My love, give me your hand
Don't you remember? That is how this all began
The risk, the thrill, the question posed, and then
Skin to skin
A headlong dive, a letting go, a giving in
And now, we've grown as friends
Better with time, a richer kind of love we're in
And when the shadows deepen, still we reach
Each to each
To feel the certainty of promises we keep
To have and hold
No matter how the lines have fallen
For it isn't love that alters when it alteration finds
Waters still or rough
Oh, they will not quench our love
These lines, these tracks of tears
A beauty weathered by our war of younger years
The aging and the breaking of our hearts
I trace the scars
Yet somehow Providence and faith led us this far
And now the drive is new
On the horizon up ahead comes into view
A love reborn of Higher Love than ours
Much deeper scars
That hold the past, and will at last prove who we are
I love the lines
For they remind me how we're mended
For when human love had ended
Love had just begun
Oh, I love these lines
For they've led us two to One