Pastor John is on a writing leave right now, writing his next book, and we will have more

on that in the near future.

But for the next several episodes, we're joined by our good friend, Ray Ortland.

Ray is an author and the senior pastor of a manual church in Nashville, Tennessee.

And today I want to talk about marriage because Ray, I've been following you on Twitter and

Instagram for a few years now.

And one of the things that strikes me is the beautiful and happy marriage you enjoy

with your wife, Janie, it's really sweet to watch.

And so I want to start here, speaking especially to guys, what is the secret to a long and

sweet and happy marriage?

Well, I think immediately of Proverbs 5 verse 18, rejoice in the wife of your youth.

I'm struck by that because it doesn't say rejoice in your young wife.

Biblical 2, Deuteronomy 24 says, when a man is newly married, he shall not go out with

the army.

He shall be free at home for one year to be happy with his wife.

And that sounds like a really wonderful year.

Rejoice in the wife of your youth, that lasts throughout a lifetime, even into old age.

The wife of my youth, Tony, she will always be.

However long we live, she will always be that girl I fell in love with starting September

12, 1968 just outside the South entrance to Centennial Gem on the campus of Wheaton

College.

And in the intervening years, now 43 years, which have flown by, nothing important has

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