A little bit of history

wanda and i were both born in san diego.  we were on the back edge of the baby boom in socal, when many midwesterners were migrating to the coast.  with the end of the korean war, the growth of hollywood, the transplanting of the brooklyn dodgers and the general lure of the coast, southern california was ripe for growth.  our parents were part of it.  we were the product of it.

here’s the house that wanda spent the majority of her childhood growing up in.  vintage 60’s.  yeah…that’s an suv parked on the front lawn.

here’s the piece of land that the house i grew up in was located on (it’s now a playground at a middle school):

it’s been 55 years since we were born.

we’ve known each other for 39 of those years.

we’ve been married for 34 of those years.

two years from now, we could both go to our 40-year high school reunions.  i can tell you now that we won’t.

i feel like i’m talking about some other people.  some other old people.

you blink and years pass.  seeing things from my past today, has left me a little melancholy tonight.  wanda and i have some amazing memories with each other.  our first date at the san diego county fair…high school football games (my school kicked her school’s butt)…four-wheeling in the anza borrego desert…getting married at good old national city first christian church:

our first apartment…the national city la-la-la-love shack (which was only 30 yards up the street from where i spent my childhood. (our balcony was on the second story, right hand side):

look, you can either believe that life is nothing but a bunch of random, meaningless events that are sandwiched in between the “bookends” of your life and death.  or you can believe that life has had the essence of purpose breathed into it by a sovereign god of design.

for me, i choose design over meaninglessness.  purpose over chance.  life over existence.  a creator over a random accident.

what about you?  have you made up your own god?  do you live as if you (and your little world and little timeline) are at the center of the universe?  or do you see something bigger out of your life?

do you acknowledge a creator-god who is having a hand in weaving your life story?  do you believe that there is something greater at work in your existence?

narcissism or submission.  you can’t have it both ways.

#existence #faith #marriage #purpose