A Love Story for the Ages

Like most men, I don't have much time for chick flicks. I don't get particularly excited when the Notebook or Beaches is airing opposite Monday Night Football. There is however one love story that captures my imagination every time I it hear it. It is the love story between God and man.

You see men can relate to a love story when it is filled with the pursuit of a beautiful woman or the intrigue of fighting for the woman we love. You may have missed it in a casual reading of the Bible, but it is a love story for the ages. It is filled with pursuit and passion, unfaithfulness and restoration.

The story begins with the bridegroom preparing a home for the bride. The garden in Genesis has everything the bride could imagine. On quiet evenings they would even walk and talk together in the garden. It doesn't take long however for infidelity to mar this beautiful story and the remaining pages record the bridegrooms struggle to bring his bride home.

From time to time she returns home to the bridegroom, but most of the story is her wandering in the wilderness of Sin and her drifting from lover to lover. As the story unfolds, we see the heartbreak and sorrow experienced by the bridegroom, but one thing never changes throughout the story - he continues to pursue the woman he loves. He is with her in the wilderness, he longs for her while in captivity and he pleads for her return each and every day.

Finally, in an act of full and complete sacrifice the bridegroom surrenders his own life to rescue his bride. She has been decieved by the lies and treachery of a false lover. For six hours he hangs on a cross and as he looks out over the crowd he whispers a prayer of forgiveness on her behalf.

Like any great love story, this one too has a beautiful ending. In the closing pages we again see the bride, but this time she is adorned in white, pure and spotless. There is no uncleaness in her. After generations of battle and pursuit, the bridegroom takes her home to her mansion and yes, the live happily ever after.

The Golden Years

Ralph & Melba had been married for 53 years. One evening they were sitting on the porch when Melba leaned over and said, "Why don't you nibble on my ear like you used to?" Without a word Ralph got up and headed for the house. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings," Melba said. "You didn't hurt my feelings, I was just going to get my teeth."

I always liked that story. Somewhere in that netherland between our dreams and prayers there is the hope that we might be the ones sitting on that porch swing looking back over 53 years of marriage. We all know couples who are as much in love today as there were 30, 40 or 50 years ago. They move us and inspire us by their love, devotion and commitment.

For those who have suffered the loss of another through death or divorce it is easy to let that dream slip away. We become discouraged or lose hope that God is listening as we silently whisper in prayer, "Father, bless me with a mate who will still hold my hand in 30 years, sit on the porch and talk to me in 40, and pray at my beside when I am sickly and old 50 years from now."

Don't be discouraged! Trust God and lean on him. Remember the words of the Psalmist, "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart" (Psalms 37:4).