Maxime

“I waited patiently for the Lord, he turned to me and heard my cry.” Psalm 40

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” John 14:27

“Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.” Matthew 10:29

Join me, if you will, for a little story about a daily parking stamp, some scriptures and the 19th Wedding Anniversary that my wife and I share today.

First, about that daily parking stamp. It was red, with a white "City of Hermosa Beach" seal and it cost a $1.75. As manager of the parking lots in downtown Hermosa Beach in the early 90's, it was part of my job to monitor the sale of validation booklets and daily parking stamps to all the merchants for their customers and employees. I rarely ran the sales window, but on that June day in 1992 I was. That's when it happened.

She came across the parking lot in a navy blue dress, with white piping along the collar, and wearing blue heels. She was naturally tan, with dark eyes and long black hair that fell over her shoulders in thick layers. Her smile was bright, and when she spoke to me it was in a tiny, angelic voice. That was pretty much all it took. I was done for. In life, there are poems that you read and poems that you see, and in this girl I saw something that neither Shakespeare nor Blake, even at the top of their games, ever could. She told me she was a new teller at the nearby Bank of America, then asked me for a daily stamp and placed a single dollar bill with three quarters on the counter. I stuttered like a teenager as I complied. This routine would repeat itself each day for almost two full weeks, before I finally worked up the nerve to ask her out. 

Now, for those bits of scripture: the first guided me when I was looking for love, the second saved me when my father died, the third was there to comfort me when our son was born eleven weeks prematurely and the last one whispered to me softly during our daughter’s adoption. You may wonder what any of this has to do with my 19th Wedding Anniversary. In truth, it has a lot to do with it. For if a marriage is like a piece of art, it only stands to reason that there will be certain moments that frame it. And though all love stories need their sweet and simple moments, the hard and tough moments have their place in the process too. Like the times when one of you is without faith, or loses a parent, or worse.

You see, for whatever reason, Maxime and I had both of our children, and then almost lost them. In each instance, despite support from our friends and family, we would primarily get through each day with just each other. It's in moments of crisis, you see, that you really learn if you've married well, and who you’re married to. I think my wife would agree that on September 9th,1995 we both said our vows and made a promise to God, but that also something else happened: He made a promise to us. To be there, to watch over us, to carry us and deliver us, to lift us up and love us, and He has been so very faithful. The hard moments may have framed our marriage at times, but as Maxime and I have done our best all these years to sketch the picture of our lives together, it's been God who has brought all the color, all the depth and all the perspective.

I still smile at the memory of the first time I met her, so long ago. It’s funny to think that something as simple as a daily parking stamp could lead to a lifetime with someone, isn't it? Or that beneath the brilliant Hermosa Beach sunshine that day, there would arrive, at the window of my little parking booth, such an immense blessing. Happy Anniversary Babe!