BY GREG MILLER
Although Geneva and her husband Gregory had been married for 40 years, they seemed to be just as much in love as they were on their wedding day.
Gregory and Geneva had become good friends with a local newspaper reporter, Gage, and Gage was a frequent lunch guest at the couple’s house following Sunday’s morning worship service. Gage studied people intensely, and he decided to write an article about the couple.
Gage explained his idea to Gregory and Geneva. “There are so many problems between husbands and wives these days,” he observed. “I’d like to write an article about you two to show that marriages don’t have to be filled with stress and distress. I want to show our newspaper’s readers that it’s possible for husbands and wives to have a happy and harmonious relationship even after decades of marriage.”
Gregory and Geneva weren’t people who liked the spotlight, but they realized the people who read the proposed article could benefit greatly from the published piece. “It’s a great idea,” Gregory smiled. “It will be another opportunity for everyone in the community to see a photo of my lovely wife.”
“Oh, stop joking with me,” Geneva blushed. “You know I’m very shy around cameras.”
“I know, sweetheart, but this is an opportunity for us to shout our love for each other to the world,” Gregory said. “More importantly, it’s an opportunity to remind the newspaper’s readers that the Lord Jesus Christ loves all of us so much that He came from heaven to earth to die on the Cross to save us from sin. I don’t like to have my picture taken very often either, but I think it’s a worthwhile sacrifice if we can help others to see the blessing we are to each other.”
“And we can help them to see that having a happy marriage is possible,” Geneva said.
“By the way,” said Gage, “because of the impact you’ve made on my life, I’d like for you to consider the newspaper article as a Valentine’s Day gift to the two of you.”
“We have a Valentine’s Day gift for you, too,” said Geneva. “We want to bring a ray of sun into your life, so we’ve invited our granddaughter, Sun Rae, to eat lunch with us this Sunday. We want you to meet her and she may turn out to be the future Mrs. Gage.”
“Then you can have decades of stress- and distress-free marriage, too!” Gregory beamed.
(To contact the writer of this column about speaking engagements (in the U.S.A.), including Christian Comedy Fundraising Outreaches, Christian Creativity Seminars and/or puppet ministry, please type “Speaking Engagements” in the subject line and e-mail raysofson@gmail.com or kidcool4jesus@yahoo.com.)