A life of Adventure

Daphne and I enjoyed a quiet breakfast for our 24th anniversary on Monday, and we were served by our beautiful daughter - waitress Nicole, who's working at Kenosha Cafe this summer to earn money for college.  We were alone in the cafe for maybe 30 minutes before other customers arrived, which was a good thing as I wanted to tell Daphne something important.

For those who don't know our story, prior to getting married I went through a period of cold feet... well, rock-hard frozen feet is a better description... to the point that Daphne gave me back her engagement ring and told me to make up my mind.  I can't really describe how hard this was for her, as she'd re-arranged her entire life in preparation to marry me - and now she was facing even giving up our relationship as well.  It took several weeks and God breaking into my world in a supernatural way for me to understand where my fears were coming from.  In short, I was afraid of failure.  I was leading the CCC ministry in Senegal at the time.  I was a new leader and pretty insecure in my role.  The Lord helped me to realize that I was living in the fear of what "might" happen; that Daphne would join me in Senegal, that it would be too hard for her to adapt to the culture, learn French, make a whole new set of friends (yikes, what was I thinking!!!) and that we would have to leave - and I would be a failure.  Here's what the Lord said to me: "I want you to marry Daphne.  If, for whatever reason, Daphne can't cope and you have to leave, then it's because I have a better plan for you and your family.  Don't be afraid - go ahead in faith."

Looking back now, (and this is what I told Daphne over breakfast on Monday) I realize that my fears were totally unfounded, because I married the most adaptable, hardy, faith-filled woman on earth.  She didn't just survive, she thrived - and we enjoyed many wonderful years of ministry in Senegal.  On our wedding day 24 years ago, I couldn't promise her we'd ever be wealthy or famous, but I did promise that we'd have a life of adventure.  I asked her if I made good on that promise, and her reply was, "Well, let me see... lived in three countries, on three continents, had four nationalities, speak three languages, have three beautiful daughters, and we're now running a crazy little store called the "Sasquatch Outpost" in the Colorado mountains... yeah, I'd call that I life of adventure!"   And it's not over yet