Superglue Works...

Kind of a strange title (for the website), I guess.  I have been planning to start a blog for awhile now, only delayed by a title.  Marcus had a few ideas, but I wanted something a little more creative (that, and everything we could think of was already taken!).  Then the other night I came across this (taken from my Women's Devotional Bible)....

"Once two items are glued together, separation becomes a painful, sticky mess.  Paper tears and fabric frays if you divide the two pieces that have melded into one.  Once separated, the original items are never the same- each inevitably retains the fragments of the other.  Think of two pieces of paper glued together- after they've been torn apart, each piece is ragged and weak.  That's why superglue comes with a label advising the consumer to use extreme caution when handling it. 

We might think of marriage as something like God's superglue because it weaves two lives intricately into one.  After this blessed blending, attempts at separation cause irreparable damage.  Hearts break, commitments crumble and families split.  God's intertwining of husband and wife extends to children, friends and families related to the union.  God's Word also provides a strong warning, "What God has joined together, let man not separate."

When Ruth Bell was a teenage girl, she left her childhood home in China to attend school in Korea.  Her idea of the future?  She fully intended to be an old maid missionary in Tibet.  However, she did give the thought of a husband some serious consideration.  So she wrote the following list of particulars:

"If I marry: He must be so tall that when he is on his knees, as one has said, he reaches all the way to heaven.  His shoulders must be broad enough to bear the burden of a family.  His lips must be strong enough to smile, firm enough to say no, and tender enough to kiss.  Love must be so deep that it takes its stand in Christ and so wide that it takes the whole lost world in.  He must be active enough to save souls.  He must be big enough to be gentle and great enough to be thoughtful.  His arms must be strong enough to carry a little child."

Ruth eventually found a man who fit her qualifications; she married Billy Graham.  Ruth and Billy Graham realize that their marriage has endured the test of time not because they are perfect people, but because God is at the center of their relationship.

It takes supernatural empowerment and a determined effort on the part of both husband and wife to keep the bond of marriage strong.  Only through God's strength can couples remain "superglued" together."

Oh, and by the way, I found that guy that Ruth described.  :)  And I am so thankful.