Eleven

Eleven years is the span of time for the suns polarity to switch. In that time the sun is mostly very calm and peaceful. There are times when sunspots occur that cause issues in the earths atmosphere. The sun is continuously changing.

The same is true for Joi and me. This day eleven years ago, we got married. That has been one of the happiest days in my life. Sure, we have had our sunspots. We've been ever changing. We've grown and continue to grow. The love I have for Joi is still a consuming fire unlike anything you've ever experienced. I plan to keep doing everything it takes to make that the case. When the poles begin to change and the spots begin flaring and turbulent, we resolve. We both forgive. We both embrace, and we both give everything we have to work out the clash of polarity.

The Lord gave me an analogy a long time ago that makes a lot of sense to me. When we start in marriage, we are the two lower corners of a triangle. Christ is the top corner of the triangle. As we both come to Christ, we grow closer together, and the line between us gets shorter and shorter.

I have no doubt that Joi and I are closer today then we were eleven years ago. I also know that we will be closer eleven years further down the corridor of life.

I have found a good thing

It was a long time ago through Gods providence, but I have found a good thing. Joi never ceases to amaze me with her abilities. Our friend by acquaintance, Jim Bob Howard, has posted a webinar regarding saving money by shopping with coupons. We've done this before. I'm sure we all have. It never seemed worthwhile though.

That has all changed. Saturday, Joi went to the grocery store and loaded up for our small family of seven. She had her list and her strategy. I honestly didn't know anything about it until she returned. She returned with a receipt the size of a football field. This is mostly because Kroger chooses to print the paragraphs that no one ever reads on all of their receipts. All in all, the receipt wasn't that long considering what all she got. When she handed it to me, I looked at the price to see what would be hitting our check registry. It was $65. I looked a little further down, and saw that she saved 48%. She saved $56 and spent $65. That means we got $111 worth of groceries for $65. This was the first time Joi has used this strategy, but I like it already. That is cheaper for the name brand stuff than we pay out our cheap store Aldi. I will let you know how it works out in the future. I suppose someday the grocery store may give us money to shop there.

Encouragement

Wow, what a blessing I received this day. I made a comment on a picture in Facebook. It was a band that had a huge influence in My Love and I meeting and later marrying. One of the former band members commented on my wall. It was truly a blessing.

wow shane, I HAD NO IDEA yall met that way. That is so awesome, and even more awesome how all these years later yall are loving God together more and more. Your marriage is an example many could follow. I have alot of respect for both of you :)

This is a great encouragement. I look forward to one day being an encouragement to others by having 75+ years of marriage, and a 200+ great grandchildren.

This is an acknowledgment that we are doing what we have set out to do. I have a strong desire for family. I want to see husbands leading their wives and children in the ways of our Lord. I want to see wives nurturing their husbands and children. I want to see young adults learning to be adults while blessing those mentors. I desire to see children never knowing a day they didn't know of God's love for them.

There have been a lot of things that have led us to where we are. At a very high level, here are a few things that had a major influence on us. Some of these resources got us through a short period and prepared us for the future. Some I no longer hold dear, but they had an influence none the less.

D. James Kennedy - Books and sermons
The Pearls - No Greater Joy (magazine), To Train Up A Child (book)
Dennis Rainey - Family Life Today (radio show), Various FLT conferences
RC Sproul Jr - Several Books, Basement Tapes
Vodie Baucham - Sermons, Conferences, books
Ken Carpenter - Franklin Springs Media DVDs

I am sure there are others, but I think this is a good start. I think most of these are very relevant. I hope you will invest a little energy to search them out. I will be investing some to write more details regarding each of these resources.