It has been the greatest privilege of my life to have spent the last 25 years walking beside my best friend. My wife Lisa.
Lisa taught me how to be a boyfriend, a husband and a father. She had that quiet expectation and standard, that demanded a man, a man that would protect the sweet gentle kindness that she possessed, a man that would never waiver in his commitment, and one that could be molded into a loving father. Lisa allowed me to live out my purpose in this life, to pursue Christ, protect my bride, adore my daughters and experience love beyond measure. Even in her illness and physical limitation, Lisa taught me that the God given love for my wife truly has no end and extends beyond anything I could imagine. Ephesians 3 is entirely real to me today in a way I never understood before her struggle. It reads:
“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,”
After she got sick, I would tell Lisa every day “Today I am going to serve you with my life”, and she would simply reply “I know”.
In Matthew 7, Jesus is concluding his sermon and he gives us some very powerful guidance:
24 “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds
a house on solid rock. 25 Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise
and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock."
When Lisa and I were 20 and 21, we made a commitment together that we would build our lives on the rock of Jesus Christ. We are far from perfect and made any number of mistakes along the way, but over the decades we never went back on that commitment.
I could have never imagined the incredible storm that would come against our house, but I know this. We did not and will not collapse, we will not be moved from what we believe, we will find joy again, and we will honor Lisa in all the days to come. As for me and my daughters, we will continue to serve the Lord.
Shawn Olbeter
Lubbock, Texas
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