50 Years Ago, Today

January 30th, 2021

Fifty years ago today, I married a 20 year old woman named Carol Luckert from Enid, Oklahoma. The next four decades were filled with joys and delights as we adopted and raised four children. Soon after we passed our 42nd wedding anniversary, after a painful six year battle with cancer, Carol slipped from my arms into the arms of Jesus. When we recited our vows on January 30, 1971, we ended with the words, “Until one of us shall place the other in the arms of God.” On April 21, 2013, I did that.

^{Carol & Jim, 1971}

^{Rosemary & Jim, 2014}

Then came a time of deep and indescribable grief. The pain seemed insurmountable. It did not feel like I had lost “50% of me,” but rather 95% of me. I felt like an empty shell, unable to function.

As healing began to come, I was finally ready to try to move forward in life. I met a remarkable woman named Rosemary Schindler from the San Francisco Bay Area. We have been married seven years now. One person wrote to me on Facebook and said, “Some never find love once, but you have found it twice.” Rosemary is the one who co-founded Well Versed with me, and ministers alongside me in all that I do. Once again, I am profoundly blessed.

Marriage is remarkable. It is one of the best ideas God ever had. (Not that God has “new” ideas, but you know what I mean.)

I cannot put into words how incredibly blessed I was in marriage for 42 years…and now how incredibly blessed I am, during the past seven years of marriage. God understands us, and designed us for marriage. It was God who said, "It is not good for the man (not ‘Adam’ the male, but ‘adam,’ humanity) to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." (Genesis 2:18) The technical translation is: “It is not good for a human person (or humanity) to be alone.” (This will make more sense when you listen to the video mentioned below.) God knows humankind. After all, He created humankind. He knows what is best for a human, or humankind. I praise God every day for the sacred institution of marriage. And marriage is worth defending.

Why is marriage – God’s definition of marriage, that is – so important? Great question.

^{Larry King}

Let me illustrate. Larry King died this week. I was on the “Larry King Live” show on two occasions. On one of those occasions, Dennis Prager and I were being interviewed about defending traditional, one man-one woman marriage. During a commercial break, Larry King turned to Dennis Prager and said, “So what’s the big deal about marriage? It’s just a word!” That was an amazing moment. The man who said that marriage is “just a word,” had – at that time – been married seven times and divorced seven times.

He was later remarried to his seventh wife for a eighth marriage and then in 2019 divorced for the eighth time. Although he was one of the greatest interviewers of all time, he did not know much about marriage. Or I suppose with eight marriages, one might say he knew a lot about marriage!

The bottom line is: Marriage is the first and most sacred of all the institutions God ever created.

And that is exactly why marriage is so attacked today. Whether it is adultery, pornography, divorce, homosexuality or even transgenderism, there is an all-out assault on marriage.

But why is marriage so important? Why does it matter? Is Larry King right? Is it merely a word? Or is there something more. In fact, much more?

The answer is, yes, there is so much more. How do we know? Take a few minutes and listen to one of the most exciting Biblical teachings I have ever done. Yes, it was on marriage. This short video teaching will stretch you. I mean, it will really stretch you. And you will view marriage in a whole new light. You will see how incredibly important marriage is from God’s sight. And why people should not tamper with the definition of it.

Watch now by clicking on the image below.

In addition to this short 16 minute video, I am going to do something I have never done, and that is to include a substantive segment from my book Well Versed: Biblical Answers to Today’s Tough Issues. One chapter dealt with this topic. Click the button below to read:

Chapter 1 of Well Versed

WE ARE SO GRATEFUL FOR YOUR SUPPORT.

We are working with diligence in this hostile culture to make a compelling and winsome case for God’s pattern for life and government. Your support is what causes us to press forward in this challenging environment. We are NOT quitting. We are doubling down. And with your prayer and financial support, we will continue.