Vows: Love Never Fails

When the police cruiser pulled up to the curb outside, Faith Framingham’s heart skipped a beat, for she could see that her son, Chuck, who should have been driving, was not in the vehicle. Chuck's partner, Sandy, stepped out slowly. Sandy's pursed lips and ashen face spoke volumes. Faith waited by the front door, her hands clasped tightly, to counter the fact that her mind was already reeling. "Love never fails," the apostle Paul wrote. Based on the evidence, it seems likely he must have been speaking of divine love, for human love is just that, human, with all the susceptibility to temptation and failure that being human entails. So what holds a relationship together over time and miles? What binds partners together? What protects a marriage when that bond is tested? VOWS. Another word for the most solemn promises. God promised to love His children, no matter what, and He so loved them, that His own Son gave His life for them. Two people in love promise to be true, to hope, to wait...as long as may be necessary. Partners depend on each other, trust each other, cover each other's back, especially when things get tough. Spouses promise, before God and other witnesses, something like this: "I promise to live with you according to God's ordinance in the holy estate of matrimony; I promise to love you, comfort you, honor, and keep you, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, to keep myself only unto you, and through God's grace to be faithful and devoted to you as long as we both shall live." VOWS. That's what this story is about. A compelling read.