More from Peter Caligiuri

Over the 54 years since I came to faith in Christ, I have discovered that life has a funny way of giving us all unexpected adventures and detours along the way. Since that Easter of 1971 when I asked Jesus Christ into my heart, there have been some wonderful, some interesting, and even some very difficult Easters in between.

The day before Easter of 1973 my wife Nancy and I exchanged vows in a little church in southern Missouri. Then, the following day, my stepmom prayed to receive Christ at the church where we were married. It took only two more weeks for my dad to follow suit. 

As our anniversaries came and went, we were blessed with two sons. In those days when money was tight we struggled from paycheck to paycheck, but watching our two little guys delightedly racing around our tiny back yard with their friends made us feel as if we were living in the finest place on earth! 

After the boys grew old enough to move on to college, marriage, and careers, we missed those days of hiding Easter eggs in unexpected places around our apartment. But Easter by Easter, we began the adventure of being grandparents. Three weeks after Easter of 2002 we welcomed our first grandson into the family, and over the next year and a half, two more arrived. Later, through adoption, three more grandsons and one very special granddaughter joined our family. 

But the most difficult Easter came in 2010.  Just after that Easter, I got a call from one of my father’s best friends telling me my dad was in intensive care in a hospital in Florida. Of course, I flew down from Pennsylvania immediately and was blessed to be able share seven days with Dad—the man who had been an example, my most trusted counselor, and my best friend—stepped through Heaven’s doorway. Sitting next to him in the quiet of that room, though I was filled with sorrow, I also sensed the overwhelming peace that I had not lost him forever but that he was waiting for me, cheering me on and resting in the presence of Jesus. 

This year as one more Easter approaches, Nancy and I are preparing to celebrate 52 years of life together. Yes, there have been struggles and tears mixed in with our happy times, but through it all Jesus has been faithful. By his grace, our vows of, “For better or worse, richer or poorer . . . till death do us part,” are more than a memory. They have become a treasure that is richer and truer now than at that moment at the altar, because God has kept us step by step all along the way!