We and God

A couple of weekends ago I performed a wedding ceremony for my grand-son and his bride. My local readers will remember the weather was not the greatest and Friday evening at the rehearsal it appeared that rain was going to spoil the bride’s plans for an outside “country” garden wedding. The yard out back of the reception hall was well maintained, packed solid and in spite of all the recent rain the ground was still firm and able to support chairs and such. But, what were we going to find the next day after an all night rain? Saturday morning was dismal and cold with rain falling and a forecast of continued rain. Arriving at the scene of the 3 p.m. scheduled nuptials, rain was still prevalent at 1p.m. and arrangements to wed indoors were continuing. At 2 p.m. the sky lightened and the rain turned to a sprinkle, but the cell phone weather radar showed more rain on the way. At 2:15 the bride sent word that if it wasn’t raining any harder by 2:45 the wedding was going to be outside in the garden. The call went out for “all hands on deck!” Groom, groomsmen, father-of-the-bride and all able bodies, dressed for a wedding, hit the ground running, setting up chairs on the lawn, in sprinkling down rain. The husband to be ordered his groomsmen to stand firm during the ceremony even if the rain pours down and everyone else heads for the barn, “My beloved is going to have her outside wedding. I like to be prepared so hid an open umbrella out of sight behind the decorated arbor backdrop which we would stand in front of during the ceremony. Well, to make a long story short, the bride had more faith than anyone else and it paid off to fulfill her dream day. The rain completely stopped about 2:50 for the rest of the day! Her country wedding, including a crowing rooster and his harem wandering the grounds, went off without a hitch. It is said to be good luck if it rains on your wedding day and if that’s true it’s going to be a great marriage. I do know one thing; if their optimism of life holds true, God will continue to bless their union.

The story is told of an encounter between a high school principal and a young ninth grader. The principal noticed the young man in the hallway with a very defeated and frustrated look on his face. He asked, “Is everything okay?” The boy replied sternly, “No! I don’t understand all the stuff the math teacher is trying to teach us; all the letters, formulas and logarithms. It’s impossible!” With an encouraging tone, the principal said, “I’m sure we can work hard and do it, can’t we?” With a condescending tone the boy quickly replied, “Well, I guess ‘we’ can say that, because the ‘you’ half of ‘we’ doesn’t have to do the homework and take the tests with the ‘me’ half of ‘we’.

[Ephesians 5:22-33; 1 Corinthians 13:1-8a; 1 Thessalonians 5:12-24] God, being the author of both marriage and the church, has outlined very similar behaviors to be conducted in both families. ‘We’ have to work together in love and forgiveness, all the while teaching, learning and correcting one another that ‘we’ may always glorify God in all ‘we’ do. It shouldn’t surprise anyone to find that the happiest married couples are also faithful, obedient, active Christians. Don’t think for a moment they don’t have problems, but a successful marriage and family looks to the Word of God for strength and guidance just as the church family does. “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not put out the Spirit’s fire …test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.”