The Story of Us, According to Me
In the fall of 1974 the Joneses moved to central Arkansas and became the pastoral family for Greenbrier Church of the Nazarene. I was in the sixth grade and very sophisticated, so I thought. Our first service was Wednesday night prayer meeting. After the concluding prayer I stood in the church yard with my parents and siblings while lovely folks came by and introduced themselves. I felt something pelting me from behind, turned and found the meanest boy I ever met throwing rock at me. His scolding name is Michael Keith Rooney. We were twelve and he was outrageous!
The years that followed found Keith and I side by side at church youth activities and other normal things young people do. We had a shared friend group but we were total opposites. Keith loved athletics, loud music and even louder exhaust systems on his vehicles. I loved the city, elegance, fashion and classical music. One evening while at church camp, my friends and I were sitting quietly in the open air worship area. Keith and his friends, followed by a covey of giggly girls joined us. Moments later I once again felt a flying object hit me. This time it was an arachnid, of the granddaddy variety. The ensuing vocal vibration was not elegant or sophisticated.
It is still very unclear to me how Keith and I ended up dating my junior year of college. Keith transferred from a local state school to the private college I was attending and became an immediate campus hit. He had a vivacious personality and the knack for being very comfortable in his own skin. He accessorized his life with the world’s coolest truck, a 1971 GMC short-bed, butterscotch and white pick-up and Big Smith overalls. My plans included a penthouse apartment in Manhattan, so Keith didn’t fit the profile of my perfect fellow, but at every turn, he was there. One weekend we decided we were in love and married the next winter.The rest is history, but not the happily ever after kind.
Life became all-american normal, except it wasn’t. We were horrible at marriage! Keith and I knew nothing of building each other up and making each other strong, much less loving as Christ loved the church. We were raised right, but we committed wrong after wrong. So two children and fifteen years in, we found ourselves unable to stomach the idea of another minute in each other’s presence and we, together, broke our home in two, and yes, we broke our daughter’s hearts.
Complete and total failure is what I found in the mirror each day. The reality; I was now a sad statistic, would never celebrate marital milestones and might very likely walk the rest of my life alone.
And then……..Jesus showed up! Days short of our first court date Keith and I realized that together we had everything and apart we had very little of value. There is no great theology to our reconciliation except, Love One Another because Jesus first loved us! We learned to apply this first and foremost to family, the very place it is often the hardest.
How did we forgive and move forward? It isn’t easy and it remains something Mr. and Mrs. Rooney must do often, but we deliberately and intensionally lay our burdens of heartbreak and disappointment at the foot of the cross. Then…..we face the Son and we walk straight toward the Throne of God.
Today, Keith and I climb mountains, chase sunsets, bask in the warmth of our children’s happiness, dig our fingers into the coats of our fur babies and spread the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Love you all and thank you for the blessings you bring to us!
Gretchen
