“Let me check the room just one more time, Honey.  You know I have a bad habit of always leaving something behind,” she said.  Her husband stopped as he wheeled their luggage to the door, smiling as he turned to her.  He seemed to have an air of divine confidence that she had never seen in him before.  He’s different, she thought.  Godly, humble, yet courageous, and I can’t believe how much I love him.  “This time, Sweetheart,” he said, “We’re leaving a lot of things behind.”

It was Palm Sunday and the weekend of the nation’s capital’s annual celebration of the Cherry Blossom Festival, just a few miles away and in full view of the hotel.  But Rob and Lucy were headed in the opposite direction of the clamor of the world.  They were beginning instead on a journey where God would forge their path of a new life, together and unified as neither one ever dreamed possible.  

As Rob drove the couple out from under the shadow of the fifteen story building, despite a continuous cleansing flow of tears of joy and gratitude, Lucy turned and strained to see the hotel where so much had taken place.  The name “Doubletree” was barely visible against the silhouetted sky as the warm sun shone down on the garland of cherry trees surrounding the reflection pool beyond.  

Rob and she both knew the incredible weekend wasn’t over.  During the entire two and a half hour drive home they chattered away with starry-eyed plans for their future like newly weds leaving the wedding party for their honeymoon, and reminisced as a couple on their 50th anniversary.  They also shared somber moments of awe-filled horror as they realized how close it had come that weekend to going the other way.  Their twenty-five year marriage had come as close to ending as it possibly could.  But there at the Doubletree, on Palm Sunday 2009, the couple’s cries of “Hosanna in the highest!” which means, “Please God, save us now!” were abundantly answered.

While the task ahead of them remained ominous, somehow their steps were light as they returned to their home.  They looked different, felt different, and their home did, too.  And within twenty-four hours of leaving the cherry blossoms behind, Rob saw to it that their resurrected marriage had a chance to blossom as well.  Throughout the day immediately following the New Life Weekend they had attended as a last ditch effort to salvage what was left of their bleeding hearts and broken marriage, God prepared a miraculous path set by Rob’s obedience, trust and courage in a Power greater than his own.  He spoke to his family members, one at a time, and respectfully, lovingly, but firmly set boundaries and made clear his priorities, verbally affirming his love and devotion to his wife, Lucy.  He explained that this Easter, rather than celebrating in the traditional manner with his relatives, he and his wife would instead be taking a very important trip to visit their two sons residing on the same college campus in Virginia to ask their forgiveness and share the good news.  The news that their parents had been restored and their marriage resurrected by the power of Jesus.  Because of the truths taught during the New Life Weekend, and drawing from the strength of new-found friends, Rob had held tightly to the promise of God to give him the words and the way, and later to Lucy’s hand as he told her about his day.  

Through their tears and rejoicing it was increasingly evident that the heavy baggage the couple had for so long traveled with was indeed left behind.  They felt different.  They agreed they even looked different . . . even their home felt different!  And Lucy found that for the first time in her life, her tears brought healing instead of only more pain.  The couple embraced again and again, unable to take their arms or eyes off of each other.  They recounted the events of the weekend, cherishing and lifting up each precious member of their group, hand-picked by God, with like burdens, unique strengths, and similar stories.  Stories of carrying burdens they were never designed or intended to carry.  In their own ways, and in separate struggles, each one had suffered subtle, yet mortal wounds, hemorrhaging despite great lengths and expense to heal what no human reasoning or treatment could.  “Behold, I am making all things new.” (Rev. 21:5)
 
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light," said Jesus (Matt: 11:28).  Accompanied by brothers and sisters who had come to the weekend wounded, weary, and in need of hope, Rob and Lucy were led to surrender their burdens to the only One capable, willing and worthy of receiving them.  By the end of the turbulent and painful weekend, the couple and others they had grown so close to were shepherded to the very throne of Grace and led to “walk on water” by other pilgrims who had traveled the road ahead of them, and could see to navigate more clearly. 

Rob, Lucy and countless others were led to new life, standing under the shadow of The Cross . .Formed by a double tree.