By that time, I'll be 90 years old...

Tomorrow, my grandparents celebrate their 65th wedding anniversary. They've lived through a world war, a cold war, and a war on terrorism. They survived raising five children, watching 21 grandchildren grow up and get married, and welcoming 21 great-grandchildren into their ever-expanding family.

Their children planned a celebration for them yesterday which involved the presence of 60 people; only seven were absent. We have a huge family.

As grandma pointed out, it's quite a feat that we're all here. Grandpa was one order away from the invasion of Japan which could have cost him his life. Thus preventing the establishment of this family. We're all respectful and respectable people. Friendly and kind, thoughtful and loving. Even more amazing is that we gather for reunions and parties about fives times a year.

In thinking about us en masse and individually last night, I realized how uncommon it is to have a group of 67 people who love each other and who are committed to Christ and living according to his example. Many of us have traveled the U.S. extensively, and some of us have been overseas several times. While we can never know the true impact that each of us has had in the various places we've traveled, we can know that from the love of two young people in the 1940s, people who didn't even know each other very well, the world has been touched, perhaps has been changed. By two people who shared values and made the choice to be vulnerable, to take a risk (as every relationship is), and to love.

Their commitment to each other and to raising an educated, Godly family is inspiring. I calculated, and if I were to get married this year (giving me 22 days to seal the deal), I'd be 90 before reaching my 65th anniversary. They are 87, healthy, and clear-minded. They are supportive and interested in each child, grandchild, and great-grandchild.

Despite the fact that I prefer small gatherings to large ones, yesterday was a special time of hearing stories about the beginnings of a relationship that impacted (and created) us all, about a war which changed a young man forever, and about the hardships of raising a family in the Depression and educating them (debt-free) in an era where many did not get that opportunity. It blessed me to be there, to watch the varied personalities interacting, the children playing, the cousins trading stories.

I love this family; as much as I don't show it, I truly do.
Thanks, Prent and Doris, for making us each feel special, for having the capacity to love a gigantic family with Christ's love, for being an example of what commitment truly is: sacrifice and prayer.