25 Years With My Champion

Today is the 25th anniversary of a most significant day in my life, second only to the day I put my faith in Jesus Christ. On August 7 of 1993 I married my high school sweetheart, April Hudson. Two years of high school courtship, the transition of going away to college while she was still in high school, then being in college together for a couple years, all provided us five and a half years of life experiences to navigate through together at such a young age.

After those years of relationship building we became more and more confident that we were not only compatible as a couple but truly complimentary in every way – called to serve together in the world, in ministry, and to use the gifts God gave us to bring out the best in each other. We both knew before we even graduated college that we were ready to begin that journey together as husband and wife.

So, I got down on one knee in December of 1992 and eight months later we made it official: Mr. and Mrs. Stewart. August 7, 1993 was the day these two separate people became one.

When I say "one," I mean that in every way. What I believe about marriage is that it is the gift God has given us that provides humanity with the opportunity to most accurately reflect the image of Himself, which points all the way back to creation. When reading the Genesis account of the creation of the world, I have always chuckled a little at the way God responded to the various things He created. When He made light, He saw that it was good (1:4). When He separated the water and dry land and called the water the sea, He saw that it was good (1:10). When He inhabited the land and seas of the earth with all kinds of living creatures – animals, fish, birds – He saw that it was good (1:21, 25).

Everything God made was GOOD. Then... He made man. And His goal in making man was to create something different than all the other living creatures. This was to be a kind of creature that would reflect God's very image: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." (1:26). What an incredible thing to consider! That the intention in creating mankind is that we would reflect the very image of God!

However, after putting man in a garden and watching him roam around by himself for a bit, God made a very telling statement. He said, "It is not good for the man to be alone." (2:18). Funny, after everything else He had created, He considered it good. But there was just something missing from man, which was something so significant that it was not yet considered good until God completed the picture.

From there, He forms woman. Finally, after putting them together in a relationship of oneness, He looked at what He had made and considered it... "good."

This is why it says, "a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh." (2:24)

That "one flesh" relationship of marriage is the most accurate way we have in this human world to reflect the character and nature of the Holy God. This is my understanding of what marriage is.

And this is how April and I have chosen to live every single day as husband and wife. My areas of weakness are so often her areas of strength, and vice versa. She picks me up when I am in need of it, and I like to think that I have done the same for her. When we disagree (which is actually healthy to do, by the way), we work together to find the best solutions.

We are ONE. Since August 7, 1993 there has never been a hint of two separate lives. I know this is hard to fathom in today's world where absolute personal autonomy is practically worshiped, but this is how it works for us. Though we are distinct (of course, that is how God made us; there would be no need for both man AND woman if we were not distinct, that's the whole point... I digress); though we are distinct and have our own goals, our own careers and passions, we share them as though they are our own. We are ONE.

And after 25 years of sharing this one life together, I am energized more than ever to pray for and dream about another 25 years, should God continue to extend such beautiful grace to us.

I love you, April. Together we are a champion. But we are not done building yet. In many ways, I feel like we are just beginning.