August 17 – “Happy Birthday Chris Vaughan!!”

Of course I had to title this one in honor of the birth of my dear wife of 39 years.  Anybody who makes it to such a milestone of life as this particular birthday deserves the simple acknowledgment of a life well spent.  But for someone who has spent the vast majority of that life living with me … well, that deserves more than a medal. 

Now I don’t want to specifically say how old she is today.  I can divulge that the two digits that join together to form the number are suspiciously endowed with curves.  The first one has a certain less-than-positive reputation in Hebrew numerology circles.  Something about it symbolizing the less-than-perfect nature of man as he is compared with the perfection of God.  And the second number is the consummate creation of curvature, a collection of arcs and swoops that join together to form the ultimate symbol of unity.  No, I won’t say what those numbers are, for they are but one of a myriad of ways to describe this lady who has stuck beside me through surgeries and city-changes, children and Cheetos, hurricanes and heat waves.  We have together gone from Noah to Noa, Gideon to Fritz, Houston to Fort Worth to Mansfield to Denver to Galveston, goofy youth pastor and his date (their first together) at Langwood Baptist Church to senior pastor (still goofy) at Seaside for 19 years, wide-eyed eighteen-year-olds at Houston Baptist College to grizzled alumni making plans to attend a combination grandson birthday party / tailgating event at an upcoming Houston Baptist University football game. 

I suppose I could go on and on, but I should save something to say on our 40^th anniversary next year.  As it is, if I remember it’s here, I might just copy this and repost it then.  You know how it is “when you reach a certain age.”  Tell Chris Happy Birthday if you see her today.  Email her.  Post on her FaceBook page.  Call her on the phone.  She’s been around a while.  Surely she’s made some friends out there.

 

And Chris, when you read this ... happy birthday, my Love.

Proverbs 31:10 says, “A wife of noble character who can find?  She is worth far more than rubies.”

Father, I have no idea how much rubies are worth.  I do know how much Chris is worth to me.  Thank you for her life and her love.  Bless her mightily.  Amen.