Celebrating Love and Friendship

Today is the 26th wedding anniversary of two of the best people in the world. Lance and Linda Richey (Linda is on the outside left, and Lance is on the outside right) were married on April 8th, 1983 in Aviano, Italy. The friendship Sue and I have with these two goes way back to a time when we were all in Europe together; Lance, Sue, and I were stationed at an Air Force base there in Aviano, and Linda was a missionary in a nearby city. Lance was my mentor, friend, and even though he was only two years older than me, he was my "Paul." He spent time with me, prayed with me, talked about the Lord with me, took me on ministry visits, and generally laid the spiritual foundation for much of what God has made of me today. It is no exaggeration to say that his influence in my life was huge. I thank God for him and his continued faithful friendship.

Lance and Linda got engaged, and when he asked me to be his best-man I was honored more than anyone would have believed. Linda, who was close friends with Sue, asked her to be her maid of honor, and there we all were on that April afternoon at the Aviano AB Chapel, witnessing the beginning of something beautiful. A little over a year later, in June of 1984, Lance and Linda were our attendants when we got married in North Dakota.

Over 27 years of friendship have gone by. We have been separated by thousands of miles, but have never been out of touch. Even though we lived on opposite sides of the nation, we have gone through job changes, the highs and lows of raising kids, moves, and good times and bad times together. The phone calls were often way too long, and the rare times we were together were way too short. Now that we live in KY and they live in NC, we can see each other more often but the visits still don't seem to be long enough. When I graduated from seminary, they came out to celebrate with us - what a precious gift! When we are together we laugh, cry, pray, drink coffee, talk about Jesus, eat, and laugh and cry some more. It is beautiful, and in my mind, the definition of what true fellowship and friendship is.

So, congrats to you, Lance and Linda! We pray that we will celebrate many, many, more anniversaries, and that we will enjoy many, many more years of our love and friendship. Ciao!