My Husband

Ephesians 5:25-28 says: “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.”

I thought I'd share a little about my husband Joe. Yesterday was his birthday-we had a lovely weekend with family visiting, and yesterday he and I had another little celebration, just the two of us. It's hard to know where to start in describing Joe. Yes, we've been married since Lassie was a pup, but he's like a complex,richly flavored soup.

As a husband, Joe strives to love me like Jesus loves the church, and that is not always an easy thing to do. With grace and humility, he has my best interest at heart. He has a steadiness that is needed to counter my whimsical nature.

A man of faith, he leads our family, he protects and provides for us-never shirking his duty. He's worked hard for his family, paying off our house in 9 years, and he's paid for both of our son's college educations. Not an easy thing these days!. He stands up for the truth, he really can't be swayed from his convictions. He feeds himself from God's Holy Word, he's involved in the body of Christ, and he ministers to our neighbors, coworkers-anyone.
Like many intelligent people, he's really funny. If I had to choose just one attribute to define our marriage of almost 32 years, it would be humor. That man has kept me (and our family and friends) laughing for a long time now! Appreciating the absurd comes in handy during the hard times, and there will always be hard times.
His strength and stamina are legendary, and I'm not exaggerating. Yes, he has slowed down (somewhat) with age, but I think I'm the only one who can see that. His energy is unflagging, he "outworks" men half his age. It's sort of the family joke-out for some fun with Pa-hiking? fishing? canoeing? He will drive you into the ground! He just doesn't understand the rest of us are just mere mortals.

Let's see, what else? Dutiful son, mechanical wizard, voracious reader, faithful friend, willing sous chef- I could go on and on. Is he perfect? Nah, and good thing, because then he would not have been the one for me.

This photo is Joe and his mom.