Originally posted on Facebook on Saturday, November 19, 2022.

Don't be deceived by the smiles.

All was not well in paradise. It is a useful reminder that pictures on social media doesn't tell the whole story.

Moments after this picture was taken, Melissa and I had one of the biggest fights we've had this year.

There's struggle behind those smiles.

The moral of the story is that nicer things or fancier places doesn't fix the problems of the heart, that we're not perfect (nor need to be) and that you never arrive in marriage.

We should never become complacent. We must be careful not to forget that we have an adversary and that we're in hostile, enemy territory.

Either you're fighting to get closer or you're being pulled apart (by enemy forces).

I thank God for 21 years of glorious war. There's no one I'd rather be in the foxhole with than Melissa Luckett.

I hope to encourage the body of Christ at large and my married friends who are a microcosm of that body that they don't have to be perfect but persistent and to always be fighting toward each other -toward oneness in Christ, using the weapons of His warfare, by His grace and for His glory.