New American Standard Bible (©1995)

An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels.

This is a story about one of my sons, Justin. What a journey he has been on. If I wasn’t his dad, I might be jealous. Right after high school, instead of going immediately to college, he went on a 9 month missions trip to Northern Ireland and Romania. Life-changing stuff. He feed and cared for homeless kids (whom also had kids), prayed for and saw the sick healed and preached the good news to lots of people. When he came home, it was like God planted the world in his heart. My wife and I knew that he would probably never live at home or possibly in the United States for a while after this.

Forward ahead 2 years after completing 2 years of college, on a “chance” visit to a church conference in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Justin picks up a brochure about St. Stephen University in St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada. Just what he was looking for: a university with a history program that included a study abroad program, a summer traveling and studying in France, Italy, Spain, England and Germany.

Fast forward another year and a half and my son is graduating. He had already made plans to teach English in South Korea to help pay off some of his student loan. He teaches for a year and then goes on a 2 month excursion throughout Laos, Thailand and Cambodia.

Well, my son came home for several months to catch his breath before going to St. Paul, MN (at least it’s America) where he will leave until he’s married.

I almost forgot: before Justin went to St. Stephen University, he told us that he was going to find a wife. And he did, a beautiful, people-loving, compassionate daughter of the King of Kings. We are thrilled. He blessed us by proposing in front of his mom, me, his sister and brother. Part of his proposal was for Jessie to become part of our family. What an honorable thing to say.

But I don’t think the traveling will stop, the world is in my son’s heart. My hope for him and for all the students at Calavry is that the kingdom will fill up their hearts so that they can bring the kingdom to every part of this planet. “Let your kingdom come.’

My son found a wife. That’s some of the kingdom right there.