TRIBUTE to MARRIAGE

I have a very singular purpose in this message, very simply to pay tribute to marriage. Tribute. The compact Oxford English Dictionary defines tribute. It says, An act, statement, or gift that is intended to show gratitude, respect, or admiration. First words, gratitude, respect, admiration, honor. Honoring marriage, paying tribute to marriage. To do that, I will use scripture and personal experience. This forms my personal tribute to marriage. This is my personal tribute to the most wonderful of all human relationships. My personal identity with the most wonderful of institutions.

If you want a title, simply those three words, tribute to marriage. Angela asked me this morning, she said, What are you speaking on? I said, I'm not going to tell you. I didn't want her reading my notes. This is my personal tribute to marriage.

And our official marriage ceremony is this statement. I've done a couple of marriages this year, and I've read this. Marriage is a natural union, but a divine institution ordained of God. It was established by the Creator God at creation. So let's look briefly at the account at creation and the establishing of marriage. So let's go to Genesis 2, verses 7 and 8. Genesis 2, verses 7 and 8. And the Lord God, verse 7, the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul, or a living being. Notice verse 8. And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man.

The man wasn't created in the garden. He put the man whom he had formed, Adam created, and then placed in the garden of Eden. Genesis 2, verses 18 through 20. And the Lord God said, it is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a help-meet for him. And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air, and He brought them into Adam to see what He would call them.

And whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle and to the fowl of the air and to every beast of the field. But for Adam, there was not found a help-meet for him. At what point with the animals passing by two by two did it occur to Adam? At what point? That he does not have a mate. He does not have a companion. That he is alone.

See, God lets it sink in. God makes the point obvious. God paves the way for a wife, for Adam, for Eve's creation, and for Adam's reception. You know, there comes a time when mom and dad, brothers and sisters, friends aren't enough. The hunger grows. The vacuum is felt. I was feeling that strongly before I was out of my teens. And as a young man growing up, I wanted, I looked forward to having a life companion, a soulmate to go through life with, to share this time of living and learning, this time of mortality with.

There was a hope, there was a faith, there was an expectation of a life companion, a quote, go through life together with companion. Go through life with companion. And it was a conviction that God had someone for me, somewhere. I just didn't know where or when. And again, this is my personal tribute to marriage. Having a wife who would also be a good mother was very important to me because I am a builder by nature. I have a builder approach to life.

Proverbs 18 verse 22 says, Who so finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor of the Lord? I don't have any trouble testifying to that. Chapter 19 and verse 14. Chapter 19 and verse 14, it starts off saying, House and riches are the inheritance of fathers and a prudent wife is from the Lord.

A prudent wife is from the Lord. A good wife, a godly wife, a wife given by God should never be taken for granted. There's probably very few husbands, myself included, who have not made the mistake of taking our wives for granted. A good wife is one of the greatest blessings a man can possibly have in this life. I realize to the young, J. Paul Getty doesn't mean anything, but for some of us who are older, we remember that J. Paul Getty was one of the world's rich men. And he made this statement long ago.

I'm sure he's dead for quite some time now, but he made the statement, I would give all of my millions for one happy marriage. How priceless is the love of a good woman. Ecclesiastes 9-9. Words of wisdom from Solomon. Inspired words of God. Ecclesiastes 9-9. It says in the King James, live joyfully. Live joyfully. And the Hebrew could also be translated, enjoy life. Enjoy life with the wife whom you love.

All the days of the life of your vanity, and the word vanity there, simply has to talk about means your temporary time of being mortal. Your temporary time of matter. Hopefully 70 to 80 years, maybe more, maybe to 90, maybe even longer in some cases. But the point being, during this time of this life, enjoy life with the wife whom you love. All the days of the life of this time, we could say, which he has given you under the sign. A prudent wife is from the Lord.

Enjoy your life with her. You know, the origin of woman is a rib. Guys, that's why they like to rib us. Think about it. God could have chosen anybody part. And you've heard this before. But from a rib, next to his heart, to be loved and cherished and protected, not from the head to be over, or from the foot to be stepped on.

Sometimes God gives a specific woman as a wife, just as much as he did with Eve for Adam.

Now, we know how God orchestrated the first marriage. We can read it in Scripture. It's right there. We can read it very clearly. But does he ever orchestrate any others?

I think we know the answer to that. And I can tell you, he certainly orchestrated mine.

I went to A.C., Ambassador College, at age 17, and I graduated from there at age 21 in 1972.

I dated widely in college. There was probably...I feel safe to say that there was probably no guy that dated any more widely than I did. I was a freshman. One of my first dates was with a senior. But I dated widely. You know, school-wise, I didn't have a lot of social life, school-wise, growing up because so many of the things I could not participate in. I got to Ambassador. I thought, okay, I'm going to be involved in the social life, you know, as fully as I can.

I do tend to be a bit of a social creature. So I dated widely, but nothing ever worked out. There was a couple of interests, but something was always missing. I couldn't really put my finger on it, but something was just always missing. And what was missing was that the one that God had for me was not there. Not yet.

Upon graduation, I was sent as a ministerial trainee to Corpus Christi, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley. I served there for one and a half years as a trainee. And then I was transferred back near the college to serve in the Longview-Lufkin Church Circuit, sent back to serve there and to get married to find a wife.

Gerald Ost was the pastor that always pastored Lufkin and Longview separately out of the college. And they decided to put him together as a circuit. They sent Gerald Ost in there to be the first pastor of that circuit. And about six months later, they sent me because he needed an assistant, and I needed a wife. Angela came to Ambassador College in the fall of 1973. So in the fall of 1973, when she came, I was transferred back to be near the college. I was transferred to Longview and was near it. I was sent back around Thanksgiving of 1973. So she had been there three months, two months, three, whatever it was. Then I was sent there. And the very first time I laid eyes on Angela was the Sabbath of December 29th, 1973, and my first thought was, that's not the woman I'm going to marry. And God said, oh yes, it is. You just don't know it. And I didn't. But let me give a bit more detail. It was my first speaking assignment in Lufkin. I was giving the sermon. I remember what the sermon was on. It was on faith. One of the seniors who was on the speaking schedule from the college was there to give the sermonette. And his date was Angela. And after services, we stopped in Nacogdoches at a little steakhouse, western sizzling, ponderosa, whatever it was, to have lunch. And then they were going back to the college, and I was going on to Longview for services. And the senior, I knew him well. We were friends. I knew him. And we're sitting there at the table talking. And you know how you can be talking with somebody and still be thinking something in your mind at the same time. So I'm talking to Dennis. And as I'm talking to him, I just glance across the table at Angela. And I can tell you what my exact thought was. As I'm talking to Dennis, I look at Angela. And I say in my mind, my thought is, cute freshmen. But I've got to date juniors and seniors. Now, I didn't know that she'd had some previous college. I didn't know she was a little bit older.

Well, one year and one day later on, on December 30th, 1974, we were united as husband and wife. So much for my initial thought. But how long before that did it really start? How long before that did God notice a little girl in Georgia?

And little boy up in northeast Mississippi. And how early did He design us for each other? As kids, there was a period of time in the early-mid-60s when we both attended Birmingham, Alabama simultaneously. It didn't overlap very long, very much. But to our knowledge, we never met until we met on that Sabbath in 1973. God knows the right timing. In the spring of 1974, that next spring, Angela flew home to Atlanta to attend the funeral of a nephew who died of cystic fibrosis, her sister's only boy.

Shortly after her return, she talked with me about it. I was a trainee, and we sat down one day at a bench area, and she just talked with me about the situation. And that was basically it. And then that summer, I gave her and another student a ride to Shreveport to catch a plane to fly home for the summer to Atlanta.

And in parting there, I said, you know, if you need a ride back to the campus when you fly back into the summer, just call me. Let me know. I'll be glad to come pick you up. And that was basically the size of it. At that time, I was dating somebody else, and my interest lay with this other lady. At one point that summer, my best guy friend said to me, he said, you need to date Angela Ray. I think you'd really hit it off. And I just kind of like, yeah, oh, sure. And that's about all the attention that I gave to it.

But God has a way of getting our attention, and He knows the most effective timing, and He can, and He does, use human instrumentality. So when the young lady I was currently interested in and dating one day when we were together said to me, I know who you should date. I stood up and paid attention.

I said, of course, obviously this is after my guy friend had said what he did. I said, does she have curly brown hair? Yep. Is she blue-eyed and from Georgia? Yep. You mean Angela Ray? Yep. She said, I think you would really get along. Well, God certainly had my attention. And very shortly after that, I got a call from Angela asking if I could pick her up at the airport in Shreveport when she flew back to the college.

And at this point, how could I say no? I had promised her and my best guy friend, and the gal I was currently interested in had an interest in telling me I should date her. So, okay, God, I'm paying attention. Anyhow, from the time that I picked her up at the airport in August, we were together from that point on a continual and regular basis.

At first, I used my first cousin, Debbie, as an excuse to see Angela. They were roommates and real good friends. But shortly, I dropped the pretense. I don't think Angela minded, and for that matter, she wasn't fooled anyway. I mean, you know, she knew what was going on by that time. And Mary Ann Aust gave it away anyhow, because Mr. Aust's wife, Mary Ann, she gave it away because the first time I introduced her to Angela and Angela to her, she said, So, this is Angela! So I knew that Angela knew that I had her on my mind and had been talking about her.

Well, there came a time as I got to know her that I said to my guy friend, I said, If Angela's not the one for me, I may as well quit looking. What had always been missing wasn't missing anymore. For the feast that year, we drove to my folks in northeast Mississippi and then to her dad's in the Atlanta area. And then we drove on down to St. Pete for the Feast of Tabernacles. My folks were going to be there. She had her folks were going to be there.

And I was going to be rooming with my folks, and she'd be over there, but we would have all that time together to date. Well, her dad asked her about me, and she told him, Oh, he's just a good friend. This is what happens with friendship a lot of times. He's just a good friend. Well, on the trip from Atlanta to St. Pete, we stopped. Oh, we're getting down there pretty close to Tampa, but we stopped at a rest area just to stretch our legs and all, walk around a little bit.

And she asked me, she said, What are your intentions? I just simply replied, I want to get to know you better. Well, obviously, it wasn't very long. It wasn't very long after the feast before she called her dad about us getting married. It was kind of like these aren't her exact words, but it was kind of like, Dad, remember that good friend? One day that fall of 74, one day that fall, we drove over to Shreveport to look at rings. We picked a set and arranged to have them mailed to me.

There was a tax saving. I forget the details, but it didn't cost as much if you had them shipped out of Louisiana to Texas, some deal. But anyway, we picked a set and arranged to have them shipped to me. And when we walked out onto the street, she looked at me and she said, Do you realize what we have done? We have bought rings and I have not even said yes.

What if I say no? And I replied, If you say no, the rings will be the least of my worries. Well, the rings came. I picked her up at the campus, took her out to dinner, proposed, and the rest is history. Almost 46 years of married history. Proverbs 19.14, not going back there, but Proverbs 19.14, a prudent wife is from the Lord. Now think of how God created Adam, then he placed him in the garden in Eden and giving him his wife there as a resident of Eden.

I can't help but smile when I remember how I was living at 203 Eden when we were married. I kid you not. I didn't even think about it at the time. It was years later before I stopped to think about that. I was a resident on Eden at the time I got married.

Our marriage began with the Eden address. Just an interesting note.

And I can't help but smile when I think of what her name means. Her name means angel. That's what her name means.

And, of course, obviously, which means angel, you automatically have that word if you simply drop the A off at the end of it.

That, too, is an interesting note because the main meaning of the word angel is messenger. That's the main meaning, messenger.

And a messenger carries a message. In the compact Oxford English dictionary defining angel, it gives two definitions. It says, a spiritual being acting as an attendant or messenger of God.

And then the second meaning that's more in the vernacular is a very beautiful kind or good person.

Now, it says, a spiritual being. It doesn't say a spirit being there. Of course, they mean spirit being, but a spiritual being is not necessarily a spiritual being. You're supposed to be spiritual. I'm supposed to be spiritual. We're supposed to be spiritual in our thinking and operation and our realizations. Spiritual being. She's not a spirit being, obviously. In her case, this is not a spirit being, but she is definitely a spiritual being.

She is a spiritual woman of study and prayer, of closeness to God. She's a woman of spiritual thinking. With deep understanding of spiritual principles, she is a godly woman of insight and discernment, discreet and circumspect. You know, God works through human instruments, human instrumentality. I've seen that over and over and over in the Bibles full of accounts like that.

Angela, in that sense, is his messenger to me. She's been the major human instrument. Not the only, but she has been the major human instrument of God's support system for me.

God has given me support and strengthening over the years through loved ones. I could list quite a list of those being used and have been used and are being used as support and strengthening to me.

But Angela has been and is prime. Away from God, an instrument of God's grace is a conduit of his comfort and peace, a source of joy. Angela is God's messenger to bring a special warmth and comfort and joy into my life. She is a heart strengthener. That's the effect she has on me.

She is an enhancer and magnifier of life. The greens are greener, the blues are bluer, and the sunshine is brighter.

When she came into my life, there was a certain completeness that was no longer missing. I understand what God means when he says, it is not good that men should be alone. And I was no longer alone.

As the years have gone by, I have realized more and more that Angela's value to me lies not so much in terms of what she can do for me, but in simply being there with me. God blessed me with the right woman for me. Angela has the temperament I needed.

Again, I go back to, we have sermons on marriage. We have sermons on this most wonderful of institutions.

We can flesh it out from Scripture very thoroughly.

But I want to put it in living, colored, colorful terms through one husband's perspective, and in so doing, testify to the honor of that and the blessing of that. God gave me the woman that I needed. When I said, God blessed me with the right woman for me, Angela has the temperament that I needed.

With my makeup, my temperament, and my needs, God could not have given me a more fitting companion than Angela. Because her temperament, her makeup, the total composition and combination that is her, is what I needed, and God knew that. God gave me the woman I needed by my side as I traveled through life. And that's the comfort of companionship.

One to walk through life with, and the best one to walk through life with, is one who also walks with God. When you ask for a wife, when you seek a wife, you're asking for, you're seeking a life companion. This is the original design, and that's what I wanted, and that's what God gave me. My life path has a trail mate.

She wasn't taken from my side, but she was put at my side. My life has been a shared experience. In 1974, God gave me my wife. I was 24 years old. I'm now 69, almost 70, be 70 in December, and the overwhelming bulk of my life has been shared with Angela. Her impact and her influence has flowed throughout. Marriage is a life changer. It changed my life. It changed it for the better. I have been and am the recipient, the beneficiary of God's gift of a wonderful wife, a prudent wife.

Again, I can dogmatically testify to the fact of Proverbs 19.14 that this prudent wife that I have is from God. God through her granted me the wonderful opportunity of fatherhood. She's the companion that three precious new lives were created with. She and I shared together that God granted creative powers of life. She's the life that God granted my progeny to continue through. I can look at my three children. I can look at my two daughters-in-law. I can look at my grandchild. I know I would not have them without her. Because to get daughters-in-law, you've got to have sons.

To get a son-in-law, you've got to have a daughter. To get a grandchild, you've got to have a child and his or her mate. So I look at my three children, and I look at my daughters-in-law, and I look at my grandchild, and I know that I would not have them without her. I could not have had a family without her. I could not have raised the kids by myself.

She made the difference. She was the difference. You know, I always had. I've had to be gone a lot. The early years were overwhelming. The work never stopped. It never ended. It was a cycle, a spinning cycle, that never slowed down. And I had to be gone a lot. But I had the comforting assurance of knowing our children were in good hands.

Angela is a wife with a mother's nature.

It's the love, the joy, the peace of a wife and mother that makes a house a home. That makes it a cozy place of comfort and warmth. I remember something that Richard Kenevac said in his message. He said, wherever my wife is, that's home. That's where home is.

And angel. Go back to that definition. Angel. The second definition, which is more in the vernacular, a very beautiful, kind, or good person. You know, we have a saying, you can't judge a book by its cover. Angela's cover was beautiful.

But I didn't know at the time the depth of her beauty. There's another saying. And that is that beauty is only skin deep. That's not true with her beauty. It goes all the way through. Because the beautiful woman that I married stayed beautiful. And she became more beautiful. And that's the beauty of God's grace and character. Completed what she had been physically given. Here in Proverbs at the very end, in chapter 31 of Proverbs, verse 30. Proverbs 31, verse 30, goes to the core of the true and lasting beauty. Favor is deceitful. And is it? And beauty is vain. It's temporary. We fade. We age. We bag. We sag. We lag. There's no avoiding it. But the beauty of God, a woman that fears the Lord, she shall be praised. That's where in lies the true beauty.

And see, I live alongside a spiritual sister who contains a portion of the Father and the Son in her makeup as part of her being. She is patient. She is gentle. She is generous-hearted. She's kind. She's sweet. She's giving. And she's forgiving.

She's warm. She's soft. She's down to earth. She's genuine. And you know her. And the others that know her knows that she's real. That she doesn't put on any airs. Carla Hammons. Carla died on the 18th of the Gaston congregation after a long, long battle with cancer. I did Carla's funeral the other day. Carla made it to one final feast. She made it to Panama City Beach. And there was at least one service that she got to attend. And when Angela had never had the opportunity, because of Angela's health situation, she had not had the opportunity to meet Carla. But when she found out, we were sitting about halfway up, when she found out that Carla was there and sitting on the back wall, when services were over, she went back and sat down with Carla and talked with her an appreciable amount of time. And Carla told her her exact words. She said, I feel like I've known you all of my life. She has a very positive mindset. Our youngest son, Lauren, who lives in Australia, said this to his mom one time. He said, Mom, you have an uncanny ability to find every bit of the positive. And she does. And she is truly of a meek and quiet spirit, as Peter spoke of in 1 Peter 3-4. God gave me a lady. Now, I find it interesting, back at that time when I was sent to Longview, I knew God had somebody for me. So I started dating at the college. And, you know, I was very open-minded. Now, the thing I ran into, and I kind of chuckled to myself, if I asked a young lady for a date, she might say no. Because it's almost like if I say yes to the date, you're going to tag me as your wife you're seeking. And I was just stating, because I knew God had somebody for me. And I didn't know who it was. But at that time, Tom Jones, remember Tom Jones, the singer? Remember She's the Lady? Remember the song, the real big hit that he had? He had more than that one. But he was very popular at the time, and She's the Lady. And that kind of became a theme song for me in a sense. And when Angela and I traveled together, back in those days, I played that a lot. Let's put it that way. She's tender, but she's also very tough. Most people see the tender exterior and just don't know how much toughness is there. A number of years ago, back during a very important period of time in our national history and in world history, where God set up a number of secular instruments to move prophecy forward. One of them was Ronald Reagan. The other one was John Paul. The other one was Lech Valenza. The other one was Gorbachev. It all worked together in a way to move prophecies forward, break up the Soviet Union, USSR, bring down the Berlin Wall, all of that. He also set up in England what was needed. A lady who became known as the Iron Lady. You remember Margaret Thatcher? Very feminine lady, but a very tough lady. And she became known as the Iron Lady. Well, God gave me a lady who is very soft and tender, who is also very tough. I have my own personal Iron Lady. On a phone call with Emory Hospital some time ago now, I heard her say, and I noticed because they were saying things that maybe could be a little bit off-putting or disconcerting, and she just said, I'm not worried. I'm tough. And she is. I think back... Look, I've never gone through childbirth labor.

I don't think ever will. That's not one of the things we men ever have to worry about. But, ladies, as you know, it's tough. And it's tougher for some than others. And I think if God had left it up to men to have kids, there would be no kids. The population would die out.

When she was in the midst of the labor giving birth to our second child, Jonathan, she looked up at me and said, I can't go through this again. I can't go through this again. And all I said was, you don't have to. There have probably been some murders in birthing rooms where husbands have said, this is wonderful. Let's have another kid after this.

I said, you don't have to. But it was her at a later time, obviously a later time, but it was her at a later time who brought up the subject of having another child. Angela's absorption ability, capacity for pain and suffering and enduring is amazing.

Like the Timex said, she takes the licking and keeps on ticking.

In Spokesman's Club, there was an assignment that was called Heart to Heart.

This may not be exactly a Heart to Heart, but I'm speaking from the heart, and I'm speaking in terms of tribute to the wonderful institution of marriage.

In honor to the God who gave it, and in honor to the wife who shared it and is sharing it and shall share it with me.

She's always cheerful. No matter how much sleep, deprivation, no matter how much pain, she's never... Angela's never in a bad mood in the mornings. Now, I wouldn't say I'm in a bad mood. I just don't know what mood I want to be in. No, I'm kidding about that. I want to be in a coffee mood. When I get up in the mornings, my brain cells don't recognize each other until they've been caffeinated. Then the synapses can happen with the brain cells.

But it doesn't matter what kind of night she's had or anything, she's never in a bad mood in the mornings.

And, of course, some of you have already found out that a lot of times if you ask her how she's doing, she'll say something like, Well, ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies. She just won't talk about her aches and pains and stuff. She's a very strong, very resilient, positive person, and she's had to be, because alongside me, through all these years, has not been an easy ride at all.

The years of our life together have required great sacrifice of her, and she has handled hardship and heartache and faithfully carried on. She has never failed to be there for me, and I've had her enduring and unending support.

There was an older lady in the Tupelo, Mississippi congregation. She has since deceased due to age.

But Mrs. Lee, Josephine Lee, when I was the young man of 17 being sent out to ambassador, she told me, you're going to go out there and make a minister. I just smiled at her because I knew that's not why I'm going to ambassador. I did not go out there to make a minister. I went out there as yielded putty in God's hands, but I just smiled at her and just kind of chuckled it, laughed it off a little bit.

When I married Angela, she said, now you can really get on with your ministry. You have a wife. You're not alone anymore. You can really get on with it.

When Angela married me, I saw it as her joining me in my mission and my calling my life work, and that was true.

She was a true help-meet, a fitting companion. She was wise. She was discreet. She was spiritual.

God called Angela. We talk about the minister being called. Well, it's no less true that God called Angela to be my wife with me in his calling.

He set me on a mission, a lifetime mission, and it is a lifetime mission, and I will be doing it as long as I possibly can, and as long as he gives me the health and the strength to be able to do it.

He set me on a lifetime mission, and he set Angela in that mission with me.

You know, in the ministry, we have spoken of our wives being half of our ministry, and I don't think that's overstating it one bit.

If God had not given me the woman that he did, I would not, and I could not have been as successful in the calling he called me to.

God gave me a roof. That's what he gave me. He gave me a roof.

In 1986, in Tallahassee, Florida, 1986, we were finishing up eight years there.

We figured we were probably going to be transferred.

Back in those years, seven years was the rule of thumb. Some got moved after four or five. Some got to stay eight, nine, ten.

But basically, the rule of thumb was you get moved every seven years.

So we were finishing eight years, and we knew that we probably would be moved.

We got a call on a Monday.

On that Monday, we were informed that a church was being established in northwest Atlanta, and it was going to be connected with Rome, Georgia.

It was going to be a circuit, Rome and northwest. Maybe it was Marietta, but it was going to be a circuit, and they were sending us to northwest Atlanta and Rome to pastor. That was 1986.

Well, she had quite a bit of family in the church. She had family in the church in Atlanta, and she almost hyperventilated.

She was going home. She was going to be able to see her family on a regular basis. She was going home.

Well, that was Monday. Of course, she couldn't contain the news to her folks, and of course, my folks knew, and we had got the news around everybody.

Then on Friday, we got another call. Sorry, something has occurred that's not going to work out.

And of course, when you start moving ministers, you get a domino effect.

They said, we're going to have to change it. We're sending you someplace else.

It's like, we're sending you to Amarillo, Texas. Where is Amarillo, Texas?

A long way away, 1,200 miles from Atlanta, 900 from my folks, and my dad was crippled up at the time with a stroke.

But, you know, it's just sometimes, as I say, the way the dominoes fall.

And on an intellectual level, you know, I understood it.

But it didn't take away the extreme devastating disappointment for Angela.

I was disappointed, too, and I hurt the most because she was so hurt.

Now, just to say this about Amarillo, as far as an assignment, it was a wonderful assignment.

It was a great assignment. It was a tremendous blessing, as far as an assignment. But all of a sudden, instead of going to Atlanta and Rome, we're going 1,200 miles away.

Well, it's devastating. I walked out in the backyard and gave her some time alone.

And I remember I was walking back there by the back fence. We backed up to a strip of woods.

And I was walking by the back fence.

And she came out and she just walked up to me and she just simply said, Where you go, I will go.

In that one simple statement, her attitude, her beauty, her support, her maturity, her spiritual, in the statement that you can take from the book of Ruth, it was all conveyed in that.

I know some might have said, well, she didn't have a choice.

And from a physical standpoint, maybe she didn't.

But she had a choice of attitude. She had a choice of support. And that was beautiful.

She has been my Ruth through all these years.

Totally supportive and submissive, not only to me, but most importantly to God.

You know, brethren, you will hear us read, and you will read sometimes 2 Corinthians 1.24.

And it's where Paul speaks in 2 Corinthians 1 and verse 24, where he's speaking of the ministry as helpers of our joy.

What about the ministry?

Now, are you also helpers of our joy in the ministry? I mean, the ministry is helpers of your joy.

And are you that to us too many times? Yes.

But I want you to think of it in this term. I think of it this way. The biggest helper of my joy is Angela.

The biggest helper of my joy is Angela.

And in more ways than one, I'm richer than Solomon.

My Bible is still open here, and I'm just going to flip to Ecclesiastes 7.28.

Ecclesiastes 7 and verse 28.

In more ways than one, I'm richer than Solomon.

He says...

In verse 28, Ecclesiastes 7, "...which yet my soul seeks, but I find not..." And notice, he says, "...one man among a thousand have I found." That's really thin.

But notice the zero with Solomon.

"...but a woman among all those have I not found." He had a thousand wives and concubines. And yet, he says, "...but a woman among all those..." Which obviously had to include them as well as others, "...have I not found." Again, J. Paul Getty, "...I give all my millions for one happy marriage." But over the years, I required too much of Angela.

I'd simply put too much on her.

We always were told it should be in this order.

And this is one of the things I have really stressed to Ryan.

Keep it in this order.

It should have been God, family, church.

But the reality too many times was, it was God, because you better keep God first.

You've got to keep God first.

You're going to crash and burn if you don't.

God, church, and family. That was the reality.

Family came at the end of the line.

Family got seconds.

Family got leftovers.

Whatever was left over of my time and energies and attention.

There were so many of those early years where your plate overflowed.

You get a bigger plate, it overflows.

You get a bigger one, it overflows.

It was never ending.

And it's kind of hard to convey in one sense without just really fleshing it out, detailing it out.

It was nonstop.

You do one thing, two more things have popped into place.

I remember one time, one of my longest sabbaths was, I gave the sermon in liberal Kansas that morning.

That afternoon I did a funeral in Oklahoma.

That evening I conducted the second Passover in New Mexico.

So that morning I was in, and of course those states all come together, yes.

But I was in Kansas in the morning, Oklahoma for a funeral in the afternoon, second Passover that evening, and then had a 110-mile drive late that night back home to Amarillo.

But that wasn't, that wasn't untypical.

Angela accepted all of that with calm grace.

She accepted coming in third.

She and the kids.

She bore it with a deep spirit of sacrifice.

She set herself in a serving, supportive sacrificial role as a wife, as a mother, as a helper in the ministry that God gave me.

She's a doer.

She gets things done.

She's fast. She's productive.

With the current situation with her health, I have had to really ingrain it in or move slow.

Don't do this. Don't do that. I've gotten real bossy.

And I'm probably going to stay bossy.

She did the lion's share of work with our children during their growing up.

She had to with the demands on my time and energies with the circuits and schedules, that.

My circuit in Amarillo, for instance, I had parts of five states.

My Sabbath circuit was 400 miles.

I got up every Saturday morning at 3.30 in the morning to kick off my duties, responsibilities for the day.

There was one particular period of time where, for 21 days, three weeks, I had practically no contact with my children.

Because I would get in at 2 or 3 in the morning, or whatever, and try to get a few hours of sleep so my health wouldn't break.

And they were already going in at school.

And time they got out of school, I was already going again.

And there was one stretch for three weeks.

But again, that was not untypical.

It wasn't wise, it wasn't the best, but it did require a lot of sacrifice.

She did a superb job with our children.

She did the lion's share.

And I owe her a debt of gratitude that I can never, ever fully repay.

She's a very capable, Proverbs 31, woman, and she's my equal.

The marriage ceremony.

This is contained in it.

The woman was made equal to the man in spiritual potential, the perfect compliment to her husband.

I remember something that Mr. Armstrong, Herbert W. Armstrong, said.

He said it more than once.

Listen carefully. He said, I wouldn't have a woman who had to wear the pants and I wouldn't have a woman who couldn't wear the pants if she had.

That's worth repeating.

I wouldn't have a woman who had to wear the pants and I wouldn't have a woman who couldn't wear the pants if she had to.

Angela is not one to run the show, but she could if she had to. I've always pushed forward, serving the congregations and by de facto effect, requiring sacrifice, from angling the kids. And again, she's been there. And the kids have been too, for that matter. She's been there, supportive of me, all along the way. I can't go back with a do-over. I can't rewrite history and produce a better one. I don't get that opportunity. No one does. But I do have deep realizations with deeper appreciations. God and life have now put Angela at the front of the human line. Let me tell you something. I plan to give this in Gadsden this afternoon. I plan to give this in Chattanooga next week. We have half a dozen young married couples in the Chattanooga congregation. I hope my sharing this from a personal viewpoint will benefit marriages, where there's a greater appreciation, a greater understanding, and a greater operation. That applies to here, too, for that matter. But I would like to see every marriage be as rich and fulfilling as it possibly can be. I can't go back and do a rewrite. Nobody gets that opportunity. But I've come to realize a lot more than part of my learning curve and growth. But at this point in life, God and life have put Angela at the front of the human line, next to God, and in service to God. I have to serve Angela first and foremost of his people. Number one, she is his daughter. Number two, she is a sister in Christ. She's a younger sister of Jesus Christ. And the Second Great Commandment says, to love your neighbor as yourself. Well, guess who my closest neighbor is? She's sitting right back there. She's been there for me through all these years. Now I have to make sure I'm there for her. Her needs, her limitations, impact how I go about things, especially the issues of flexibility and timing and scheduling. And, of course, that's one reason why if I know of needs, I'll find and work a way, I'll flex in a way to meet them. Ryan and I will meet the needs. And text messages are okay, emails are great, voice messages. But more than ever, I have to weigh all of my doings, all of my doings, in light of my responsibilities to her and to the Church. Brethren, I have always been a deliberate, methodical person. I'm not hasty in my dealings. Now more than ever, in order to meet all the needs and responsibilities I have to, I cannot afford to take any unnecessary risks. I owe it to Angela and I owe it to God. And I owe it to you. Let me tell you what happened two years ago on September 3, 2018.

That was a Monday. That was Labor Day. My son and daughter-in-law, they were here. And they thought, maybe Jonathan thought, maybe, Dad, you don't have any outlets. You need this, you need... You know, get you involved in something that could kind of get you away and let you relax and all. So he wanted to introduce me to mountain biking. So we went out to Berry College. He brought three bikes, because he and Bridget, they're very athletic. And my better judgment said, no, don't do it. But I thought, when he went to the trouble of bringing the bike, so, I'll be apart. I'll go out there. I'll be a good daddy. I'll be apart. And he picked a real mile trail. But if you know anything about mountain biking, even mile trails have rocks and roots. And I wasn't even going fast. I was breaking down to make just a turn. And the wheel hit a rock, and the bike stopped. It stopped, and I didn't. It flipped right over, almost broke my right shoulder. I mean, I damaged the labrum ligament, which is the main ligament in the socket. It got Paul Burns to anoint me. I couldn't even get out of bed. I couldn't even move hardly. I knew I almost broke it, but I knew there was nothing they could do about it if it was broken. So, no reason to get an x-ray, because I know enough about it to know that nothing they could do. So, I just bound it up myself and never told you, you didn't know. But I said, okay, God, I get the message. I won't get on a horse again. I won't get on a bike again. I won't do anything that's unnecessary because of Angela, because of God, because of you, because I have to take care of myself. Of course, when I did that, that's when she had the retina detachment that was for the cancer surgeries. I guess I felt like I could do a little bit more. I realized after that I've got to take care of myself so that I can take care of her and so I can continue to serve God's people. It's an issue of getting my priorities totally straight and totally squared away. Marriage is a let's go through life together covenant. It's two people journeying through life in a special relationship. It's a twosome journey, a journey of life companionship. It's a covenant for the good times and it's a covenant for the bad times, the hard, difficult times. It's a covenant of joy and endurance. It's a covenant of sacrifice and character. You have more opportunity to grow in character in your marriage than you do any place else. The marriage covenant vow, this is contained in the marriage covenant vow in sickness and in health, in good times and in difficult times, for as long as you both shall live. When you marry, you are choosing the one to build your life with. Angela and I have built something together. We built a family. We built a ministry. We have built a royal commitment. We have built a life together. Marriage is a covenant of sharing, of sharing life and sharing life with all the highs and lows. I can say our life has been like a roller coaster ride. With its ups, downs, twists, turns, inside loops, outside loops. Sitting in the seat beside me, through it all, has been and is my best friend. My best friend is God in Christ next to them. My best friend, Angela. A faithful, loyal, loving wife that God gave me. We've laughed together. We've cried together. We've spent and are spending a lifetime together. There's no person living who knows me and understands me like she does and still loves me.

As I mentioned, she's more than just my best friend. She's my prime, spiritual, sibling, sister in Christ. She's the daughter of God. God gave me one of His daughters for me to walk through life with. Angela belonged to God before she belonged to me. After marriage, she still belongs to God. Angela entered marriage as a life wife. She was in it for the long haul and so was I. We both had the long view in mind. Divorce was not an option.

We started out in Longview, Texas. That's where I was living on Eden Street.

Longview, I thought about that. Take the word, break it down. Longview, a long view, a long haul. We were committed. I remember looking at my shiny golden ring as a husband. After it had been put on my hand, after the wedding ceremony was over, when the reception was going, and the dancing, I remember looking at my shiny golden ring as a husband and thinking of the commitment that it represented. And I knew, I knew it was for a lifetime. That ring, this ring, is now worn smooth, totally smooth. But it represents more than ever the commitment that was made long ago. In the covenant of marriage, central to the love of Philia and Eros, you must be the covenant love of Agape. Your covenant with God is the strongest aspect of your covenant with your mate. In my case, with my wife. On our wedding night, we kneeled together and thanked God and asked His blessing on our marriage and life together. Again, Ecclesiastes 9-9, enjoy life, enjoy life with your wife all the days of your temporary time in this time. This is my personal tribute to marriage in honor to God for creating the institution of marriage. And in honor to my wife for sharing that institution of wonderment with me.