At 13 years old Lois walked down the aisle of the Southside Baptist Tabernacle in the West Willow subdivision in Ypsilanti, Michigan, and became a follower of Jesus.
42 years ago today on a grey autumn day she walked down the same aisle and vowed to spend the rest of her life as my wife.
We drove away in our little green Plymouth Duster. She changed from her wedding gown to a pretty mint green dress in the car. My heart raced at the intimacy of it. We sat close on the bench seat. She smelled like “Windsong.” The song “We’ve Only Just Begun” by the Carpenters played on the radio as we drove south along Interstate 75.
We stoped for our first meal at Bob Evans in Lima, Ohio. She had ham. I had chicken noodles. We started our life together in a cozy apartment in the up-stairs of a neat farmhouse near Pleasant Hill, Ohio. I think we had 300.00 between us. The summer before she laid away the most inexpensive living room furniture you could buy and paid it off with her earnings. The apartment was fresh and sunny. it smelled of new carpet. To this day the smell of new carpets takes me back to those first months of our marriage. On autumn nights the wind off the fields blew the curtains in our open windows and scented our love-nest with the fragrance of autumn air.
God has given us an amazing life in spite of our very real brokenness and ever-present faults. I’m sure our many failures and indwelling sin have been used by God’s sovereign hand to help us help each other grow in holiness and deepen our dependance on God.
For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:11 ESV)
Lois has been a tough, loyal, woman of stubborn conviction and simple faith. She is still following Jesus and she is still my loyal wife. God has given us four sons, four daughters and soon 18 grandchildren. God has allowed us to be in full-time Ministry for over 42 years starting in the corner of a corn field in the parsonage of a little country church in Ohio.
All this is a testimony to the truth of the Bible and the every-morning new mercies of God.
Two simple kids drove off together crunched together on the front seat of a little Plymouth. Looking back over the decades I know we were not alone. We were never alone. The stories of God’s kindness to us, his provision and protection could easily fill a large book.
Today I rise before the sun with a very thankful heart. Thank you, Lord for Lois. Thank you Lois Pierpont for the life you have given us.
