Nobody Had To Tell Me About ...

the importance of a supportive, loving wife when it comes to ministry. On this Valentine's Day, 2009, Dallise and I have been married just about 36 1/2 years. I cannot think of any way in the world that I would or could have have faced all these years in the ministry without her.

We were married on Sunday, August 6, 1972. At the end of that week, the end of our Honeymoon trip to St Augustine, FL, we moved into our little 12' x 52' mobile home that still had not been leveled and properly set up. About two weeks later, I began Bible College classes at Liberty Bible College. Dallise was there when I dreamed at night about the big exam on I & II Samuel, walking in my sleep trying to find the answers in the staple on the wall. She calmly led me back to bed and assured me I would do well, and I did. She sat on the low tree limb in the back yard asking me questions from different Books of the Bible and made me feel invincible for the ministry days ahead.

When we chose to spend a summer interning with her Dad in his new church plant, she was willing and excited to sell our little mobile home and leave for a 3-month adventure. At the end of the summer, when it was time to go back to college, she helped me load our rented U-Haul and head back to Pensacola even though we had not secured a place to live once we arrived. Friends housed us overnight, and the next morning we found a house to rent. Her faith was unwavering even in such uncertainty. Two years after that we headed back to DeLand, FL to spend the next 12 years of minstry in the little town we called "DeLand of Promise". Her faith was unshaken as we watched a 10-hour torrential downpour practically destroy the little bit of furniture we were transporting in an open trailer.

Twelve years later, when we resigned and had no where to go, she is the one who sat up in the middle of the night and had a vision of going to Birmingham, AL where we found a place of ministry that lasted another 8 years.

When we were debating the move to Fairhope, AL and I was feeling overwhelmed with the enormity of the moment, she said, "Let's go!" Eight years after that, we were considering a church plant in Chicago. We knew there was risk of failure, but she agreed that if that venture was not successful, we would figure out together what to do next. That is exactly what has happened and she has encouraged me all the way. Now while I am working at Chase Bank and sometimes feel I am missing my Calling, she reminds me that I am still being used by God to minister to people I would never see in "Official Church Leadership".

My point is that I have never had to make a major, life-altering decision apart from her. She has been with me all the way. I cannot imagine this journey without her. That makes her far more valuable than simply a Valentine on this February 14. She is life to me! Happy Valentine's Day, my indispensable Partner in Life!!