As you read the title of this article, there might be a couple of things going through your head right now. If you’re like me, you probably hear Bonnie Tyler’s famous song. If so, feel free to pause and sing it out!
On the other hand, both the picture and the words ‘total eclipse’ might have sent you on a quick daydream about what the next few days are going to look like. For a few short minutes on April 8th, we will experience the effects of the moon passing between the Earth and the sun. The daylight will be dimmed, the temperature will drop, and things will look a little different. We will also get to see some things we don’t normally see. This will be an amazing event and one that you might never get to experience again.
In my life, I have experienced a few life-changing events. For instance, I have two children, a seventeen-year-old son and a fourteen-year-old daughter. The days they were born completely changed everything.
There are others I can look back to:
- When I gave my life to the Lord
- When I got my driver’s license
- When I entered the working world
- When I graduated high school and college
- When I was ordained
God has been kind to me. I could have made a larger list. I’ve done a lot in my 42 years on this earth. There is one event I didn’t mention that radically changed everything. On June 12, 2004, I married Ann, and we started our new life together. There is nothing we can experience in this life quite like being married. Marriage, among other things, was designed for companionship, mutual love, pleasure, and deep connection. It was also designed for discipleship. There is no other person on this planet who knows me like my wife. Both the good and the bad. This means that there is no other person on this planet who is more qualified to help me see my mess that needs to be sanctified. What a gift! Not only do we walk through life together, but we do so while encouraging and sharpening each other in the Lord.
We also get to serve in a ministry that desires to see all marriages healthy and thriving. Marital drift is real, and it doesn’t take much to start down the lonely path to isolation. Believe me, I know. You may have experienced this in your own marriage, and chances are you know someone right now walking down a rocky marital road. But hope has a name, and His name is Jesus. He is the One who sits with us in our pain and shows us the way out, even when we’re blinded by our own misconceptions and sin. Praise Him for his free gift of grace. Praise Him for a covenant relationship.
You know, a total eclipse is indeed a rare thing to see. But it only lasts moments, and if you’re not intentional, you’ll miss it. But for all its beauty and wonder, the moments leading to totality can be a little dangerous. The light is too intense, and it can cause pain and even blindness. Though we want to see it for all it is, we must take precautions and be vigilant. Once totality occurs, we can look straight at it with wonder. We can gaze at what God has done. The same is true in marriage. We want to see the beautiful thing that it is intended to be, but we must take precautions. Pursuing our spouse is a diligent, daily effort. And it is worth the effort! Anything less invites danger into our homes. Our lives are a vapor, Scripture says, and without intentionality, we will miss the rare and beautiful thing marriage truly can be.
Our prayer for you is that your marriage will stay on the road to oneness. That each day, you would experience the life-giving goodness of being married. That your legacy would continue to be written and that your family would walk in the blessing of the Lord. That your marriage would be mission and others would see how good it really can be.
Jason Ancarrow — Director, Central Arkansas Marriage Initiative
Jason Ancarrow serves in CityChurch Network’s Flourishing Families Initiative as the Director of the Central Arkansas Marriage Initiative (CAMI). He has served CityChurch Network since 2019. Previously, he ministered for twelve years as the Youth and Senior Pastor at his hometown church in Kingwood, TX. He believes in the mission of the Church and desires to see each church championing biblical marriage to reach their community. In his spare time, Jason enjoys spending time with his family, working out, and catching up on movies and shows that there’s never any time for. Jason and his wife, Ann, live in Benton with their two children. Jason serves as an elder at South City Church.
