POT LUCK - A Love Story!

I watch House Hunters on HGTV and many times a young couple have on their wish list a "man room", or "man cave." Many couples agree that they want a weekly night out. She wants to be with her friends and he wants a night with the guys. It used to be that when you married you wanted to be with each other for the rest of your lives. At least, that was how Jim and I saw it. Oh, we like being around our friends and our family but it isn't something that we feel we need to do to prove we are individuals or so we could be ourselves and not a couple.

When our family moved from Iowa to california we moved next door to a young couple. They had three small girls. A lovely couple that was not afraid to show their devotion to one another. Shortly after we moved in, Nelda brought food! Through the years as we watched their little girls grow up, they also watched our family grow up. I remember Nelda saying to me that she wondered why we walked so straight with our heads high. She thought we were a little stuck up, and full of confidence. As she began to know us she wanted whatever we had. Nelda and Bob were tall. The tallest in our family was probably 5'8". I suppose we walked straight with our heads held high, so we could look tall! I think she was right about being confident.

Eventually Bob, Nelda and the girls began going to our Sunday School and Church. They became acquainted with Jesus Christ and realized that was what we had that she wanted. Bob built Nelda a bigger house and rented out their small house. Jean and I eventually rented it! I lived there just a few years but Jean lived there for over 30. Jean had to raise her own rent because the Landlords just wouldn't do that. At Christmas time they would return the rent money to us. Some Landlords may have considered this but Bob and Nelda actually did it. I remember once receiving a little Christmas stocking with my rent money nicely tucked inside.

They traveled nationally and internationally and enjoyed their travels together. As years passed and Nelda's health began failing, Bob took care of her. When he physically couldn't care for her, he reluctantly put her in a nursing home. He couldn't stand not being with her daily, and because his health was not good, he applied and was admitted into the same nursing home. They shared the same room! Patty, Pam and Teresa watched their parents devotion for one another. Once, I received an email showing two beds with Pam standing between them. Nelda was in the one on my left and Bob was in the one on the right. In April 2008, Nelda went ahead of Bob to be with her Lord. Bob apparently couldn't stand being separated. he followed her two months later. What a love story! What an inspiration for all married couples.

Today many marry and divorce so quickly they never have experienced the love that God says can be between a man and a woman. Bob would have been 90 his next birthday. Nelda was 87! Love is decided upon, it doesn't just happen. We don't fall in love! God didn't fall in love with us, He decided to love us. Jesus didn't fall in love with us, He decided to love us because that is what His father wanted. God has given us many scriptures on love but the one I want to use here is found in 1 John 4:15-21. "If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us." It goes on to say that when we live in God we know God's love. Our love is made complete because we have confidence in Him. The reason for this, is because in this world we are like Him, not the world. In verse 19 it says; "We love because He first loved us." A love between a husband and wife who also love God receive the blessings that only God can give. Bob and Nelda's life together was a true love story! It started with them as one and ended with them as one! This surely beats having a man room any day! By Jane Ann Crenshaw 7/29/08