God's Perfect Plan

2007

"The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man" (v. 22) "For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall be come one flesh" (vs. 24)

Hey Gang:  We are blessed to be surrounded by, and be a member of the "Golden Anniversary Club.   And who qualifies for the Golden Anniversary Club, only those who have celebrated fifty or more years of being equally yoked together.

We find in the creation story that" God created man in His own image and in the image of God He created him, male and female" (Gen 1.27).  Then down four verses we read, "God saw all that He had made, and behold it was very good".  And shortly thereafter God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him."  (Gen. 2:18). 

I believe God began to form this message in my mind several months ago but I rebelled against putting it together and sending it out.  If you had two rabbis in discussion, they would warn you to stay away from politics, religion and marriage.  The last being added in this age, when it seems everything is acceptable when it comes to marital relationships.  It is not my purpose to discuss this issue, but rather to share the tremendous news that God's way is the only perfect way.

A I mentioned we are blessed to have many friends who are members of the Gold Anniversary Club and listing them all would take a page or two but I want to share one very special couple that we were blessed to call "friends".  The Floyd and Roberta Bontrager relationship was a very special relationship.  When you found one of them you knew the other was in close proximity.  They were truly yoked into oneness. Floyd once jokingly said, "They fully expected to be called home at the same time". 

Those words were more than jest. Shortly after they retired and moved to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, they were traveling home when they met a gasoline truck head on and were instantly killed. 

Tragic, yes, but what followed was a beautiful story that involved their children.  The children, some still home but other married and in other parts of the country, assembled at the homestead and together built a coffin and buried their mom and dad in that same coffin.  It was their strong feeling that they lived their lives together, they died together, and they should be buried together.

In Ecclesiastes  4:9-12 Solomon wrote these words "Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor.  For,  if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion.  But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up.  Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone?  And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him.  A cord of three strands cannot not be broken".

As I think of all those who are members of the Golden Anniversary Club, all are also bonded together with that third strand which is the Holy Spirit.  I don't believe it is possible to become truly one without God completing that strand of three.  

Soooo, does that mean that the Golden Club-ers had no serious problems to deal with?  Not so.  As I think of the many deep valleys we walked,  often crawled through,  how blessed I have been to have the pearl of great price God gave to me more than 55 years ago to walk through those valleys hand- in-hand- oneness of Christ.   The writer of Proverbs summed this up when he wrote, "An excellent wife, who can find?  For her worth is far above jewels.  The heart of her husband trusts in her, And he will have no lack of gain.  She does him good and not evil all the days of her life." (Pro. 31:`10-12).

Blessings,

Gramps