DOWN HOME A long walk into the future

Posted: 12/16/05

DOWN HOME:
A long walk into the future

The Big Day is nigh upon us.

By the time you read this, Aaron Britt Kahler, otherwise known as “The Most Fortunate Young Man in the Universe,” will have married our oldest daughter, Lindsay Michelle Knox.

Due to the persistent demands of publishing schedules, I'm writing this a few days before the big wedding. Still, I'm looking ahead, anticipating that day.

As Lindsay and I take our stroll down the aisle, I'll be thinking–sappy daddy that I am–about other walks we have taken.

As soon as we brought Lindsay home from the hospital, I enjoyed carrying her in my arms at bedtime, walking her to sleep. Any experienced parent will tell you that's a bad idea as far as swift movement to slumber goes. But it's a wonderful idea as far as getting to know that snuggly, cuddly bundle of joy who has just changed everything.

Later, her mother, Joanna, and I took other walks with Lindsay:

Stooped over for hours, her tiny hands grasping our forefingers, we walked above her as she learned to walk herself.

We walked 'round and 'round the fountain in our favorite mall in Nashville.

Early, early one morning, I walked with her in my arms as I deposited her with friends just before her baby sister was born.

Jo and I walked into class with her on her first day of school.

We walked beside her as she learned to ride a bike and rollerskate.

One Sunday morning, I walked with her into a baptismal pool.

We walked together on Florida beaches and in New Mexico mountains.

We walked to the car after ballgames.

We walked into church together.

We walked up the stairs to her bedroom to say goodnight.

A little more than three years ago, we walked Lindsay to her dorm room as she entered Hardin-Simmons University, just a few days before she met Aaron.

Jo and I have taken many of the best steps of our lives at Lindsay's side. I'll be thinking about all those walks as she and I walk down that aisle. And I'll be thanking God for all those walks, and this one too–for blessing me with the privilege of being the daddy of a young woman of grace and faith and warmth and intelligence and humor. With her, I'd walk anywhere.

Now, God has guided her to the man with whom she wants to walk the rest of her life. Sometimes, their path will be smooth and sometimes rocky. Often, it will be winding and uphill, through heat and rain and winter chill. But the splendor of vistas they will see from that path will, by God's grace, take their breath away.

And as they walk, I'll continue praying for them, as I've prayed for them since they were children (long before I actually met Aaron): That God would guide and guard them, and bless them with joy and health. More importantly, that God would infuse purpose and meaning into all the days of their lives. That they would see themselves and their world as God sees them.
–Marv Knox