This is the beloved face of faces to me! It is my dear husband Jim, just a few days out from his birthday. Each year we exchange written exhortations to each other and I wanted to share part of mine to him here today.

Jim’s is the voice that Jesus knew I needed to hear to be able to break through my calcified walls to come to love Him; His is the face of belief in me after 34 years of marriage--the one who has believed in me intrepidly (even when I resisted mightily); He is gentleness, gallantry, wisdom, compassion, wild humor, and the deep mystery of wonder in my every day.

My written gifts to Jim usually take the form of an aphoristic reflection over the ways that I delight in him through the year, and I attach a Bible verse to anchor it in the real life-giving truth. Any way that you want to do it will bless, I assure you. Following are some of the Son Rays that he has warmed me with in this year:

*** Your face and the way it is aging--not like the sentimental things that people say about growing older--but your lovely face has a welcoming wisdom, an untouched by time or use vigor, a settled understanding, and a smile that disarms for Jesus. (Job 6:20)

*** The little trail of sticker notes that follow you throughout your day always detail the coordinates of a divine appointment--a place to lavish grace, reveal the map of His fervor, and to refresh one of His children. (Proverbs 27:9)

*** You are still a champion wrestler when it comes to your starting point in Jesus. You have trained all your life for this, and you will only be pinned (hammered and nailed) to the Cross of Christ. (Galatians 2:20)

*** As loved-ones have made note, like the preachers of olden times in the open fields, if you didn’t have a venue for teaching and preaching, you would be hailing people over to the side of the road to overflow with your touching love for the Father, His Son, and the Holy Spirit. (1 Thessalonians 1:4-5)

*** Your humor and your timing in it, is like a godly medicine providing laughter to your wife and friends. It is as though the Lord refreshed that fountain of Living Water that flows through you with a sweet touch of mint that is a lifter of our heads in a world where we are pilgrims and travelers. (Proverbs 15:30)

*** How you cherish me, publically and privately is a true ministry for the Bridegroom. (Hosea 2:19-20)

*** The beeping sounds that you make are praise throughout our home, which only I get to hear. Like finding a bird mate from its song, I know you, husband of my heart. (Matthew 6:26)

*** I really like your whistle. At certain octaves the birds grow jealous as you interpret the joy of the heavens. (Psalm 150:6)

*** How you say: “Good-Night!” to me with dawn’s breath makes even rest an adventure. (Genesis 8:22)

*** The way that your wedding ring looks upon your lovely and mighty hand leads me to know the glory of being a locked garden, for both my earthly and my Heavenly Husband. (Song of Solomon 4:16)

*** Your trademark “Cheshire grin” is like a horizon of hope turned upward in gratitude to the Lord—“..a gaze that goes intently into the heaven..” It is the expression of enduring kindness to me. (Acts 6:15)

*** Everything about renewal is for you in the Passive Voice, as it is in the original Greek of Scripture. It has to be done to you. Passive is no longer a pejorative term, it is an expectant waiting, a ready resting before the Lord as he lavishes His gifts. We cannot work it up. Our own renewal is hard work and impossible. God’s is effortless, if we will only receive Him. (Hebrews 12:3)

*** So often you hear from your loved-ones: “Well, he could deliver that sermon cold….but, he won’t!” You won’t be lukewarm, and you won’t be cold. I love you for your hot passion for the Lover of Our Souls. Don’t let us make inroads with our platitudes! (Revelation 3:16)

*** It is so true that the Lord has brought you to a very special place as a counselor. Even with your seven degrees, and your license as a psychotherapist, the only important one to you is heaven’s seal—The Holy Spirit coming down! You have a shepherd’s heart, a pastor’s feelings, and a counselor’s mind. With these you can tend His lambs with godly care with the Life that transforms broken heartedness. (John 21:15)

*** When you say: “Jesus is not into the fixing business, but into the Crucifixing business!”, I am so grateful for how you never try to fix me. (Isaiah 53:4-5)

*** No age, sex, color, philosophy, or wallet-size inhibits your sheer joy in knowing another person. (Matthew 25:45)

*** Your cha-cha is quite vibrant. (Exodus 15:20)

*** It enthralls me to see how tender and full of wonder you become before a hummingbird. (Matthew 8:20)

*** Your request for forgiveness is always first, before and to the Lord, and then to me. How big and bright you are to me in this humility. And how we have learned the active forgiveness of the Cross that banishes the offense in His sacrificial love.

(2 Chronicles 7:14)

*** Your smile towards me is like being known. (Luke 6:21)

*** When I see the coast out over Windansea, I am easily transported three decades back to a young couple armed with a bold faith to “Come and see!”, and an amazing love for each other. I am still blessedly coming to this home He has made for us, with so much more to see and do as we give Him the great glory. What a blessed wife you have made me! (John 1:39)

Heartiest joy on the day that He made you the gift that I get to receive each morning with the joy of a meadowlark greeting the new day! Great whistling and beeping Birthday crescendos to you!

Your fervent wife in Christ,

Debbie