This has been an absolutely amazing journey. We have now traveled almost 6000 miles, have now seen so many sights that I honestly cannot remember all that we have seen and done without visual or written reminders, and have experienced so much more than we could have ever dreamed. This country (and we have only seen a fraction of all there is to see) is a beautiful place, with so much diversity. Even inside Yellowstone NP there are mountains and valleys, canyons and cauldrons, hot springs and snowcapped peaks. All that, and more, within the confines of one national park.

Teresa and I have dreamed of taking a trip of this nature for years, and now that we are well over halfway through this trip of a lifetime we are truly astounded by what we have seen, the people we have met, and the truly majestic beauty of the parts of our nation we have been blessed to travel. As I write this post we are in West Glacier, MT, where we are visiting Glacier National Park.

But an even more amazing journey is the journey of life over these past 50 years. Teresa and I have been blessed beyond measure as we have traveled the road of life together. There have been times of great joy, and seasons of deep sorrow. There have been moments of sheer delight, and moments of overwhelming distress. We have shared times of exuberant happiness, while chapters of our lives have been filled with days of darkness and despair.

We have been blessed with three children – Bryan, Joshua, and Charity. They have now blessed us with six grandchildren – Gaige, Trinity, Jayden, Luke, Levi, and Luna.

We have known so many who have not made it as far as we have in this journey. Some of our acquaintances from our high school days have seen their marriages end by some means. Many have been divorced, others have lost a spouse through death. Then, there are others who have traveled this path of life for much longer periods of time than we have. We have met several couples on our anniversary trip who have been married for well over 50 years, and we celebrate with them just as they celebrated with us.

Fifty years seems like such a long time, and I guess in many ways it is just that. But, as we now celebrate that milestone, looking back over those many years of marriage, it seems like a blink of the eye. Where did all that time go? And as we look ahead, wondering what the future holds for us in this journey of life, we know that the time we have left is much less than the time we have already experienced in this journey of life. And we want to make the most out of the time we have left.

So, that brings me to the main emphasis of this blog. As amazing as this 50-day journey has been, and as amazing as our 50 years of marriage have been, the most amazing journey began on September 13, 1977: the day Teresa and I were gloriously saved by the grace of God.

At that point of our marriage, we had decided to part ways. Divorce seemed to be the only way out of our misery, as I had made the decision that I simply wanted to play the drums in a rock band. Nothing else mattered to me. Being married did not seem to fit very well with my personal dreams and desires. So, we were discussing how we would part ways.

It was at that point of our lives that God graciously broke through the mess I had made of our marriage, drew us unto Himself by the working of the Holy Spirit, made us realize that our only true hope in this life was a relationship with Jesus Christ, and saved us by His amazing grace. And since that day, almost 46 years ago, we have been traveling the most amazing journey of all. We have served in ministry together for the majority of those years since being born into the family of God.

As we now draw closer to the end of this 50-day journey, we also realize that we are drawing closer to the end of our journey on this side of eternity. As much as I hate to think about it, there will come the day when one of us will stand beside a freshly dug grave, saying good-bye to the mate we have shared life with and now leave behind. But, since becoming children of God we know that this journey will not end with physical death. This journey will continue on, forever!

May I end with a word of encouragement? If you are not already a born-again child of God, then this life is really all you have to look forward to. Eternity, for you, will not be a place of fellowship with a loving Savior, Jesus Christ, but will be a place of eternal torture, separated from God in hell. However, if you do as Teresa and I did those many years ago, on September 13, 1977, then you, too, will enjoy the most amazing journey of all.

Blessings!