Jane and I were married in West Point , Virginia 32 years ago today. It’s conceivable that I will be alive at age 91. If I actually survive until then (along with my bride) then we’ve not yet entered the second half. But it’s a safe bet we’re more than half done already. Some of our wedding guests expected to tour the Military Academy . Whether any were serious or not I couldn’t tell . There’s that other West Point in New York where Lee and Macarthur studied. There were some present then not with us now. Most sorely missed are our two dads. We flew to London for the honeymoon. First because my father offered to pay and, secondly, because we thought we would never have the chance to cross the ocean again on a minister’s salary. A baggage handler’s strike at Heathrow compounded the trans-Atlantic exhaustion. Our driver couldn’t find the hotel. It snowed the day we arrived as it snowed in Budapest this morning. I had no coat.
Southerners eventually learn.
I wish everyone I know were as blessed in marriage as I. I want to talk about it more often but am always afraid 1) It will sound like boasting 2) It will make those formerly married or unhappily married uncomfortable. My happiness in marriage is due to Jesus and Jane --in that order,
Jesus launched His ministry of miraculous signs at a wedding. After His baptism He stood where Adam fell by resisting the devil in the wilderness. Adam and Eve did not eat the fruit because they were hungry. They were not hungry. They could eat from any tree in the Garden save one. They ate the fruit because they believed a lie about God. Adam sinned on a full stomach. The Second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ refused to turn stones into bread even though He was starving. When we track the chronology of the Gospels we see that Jesus was baptized in Matthew 3, tempted in Matthew 4, walked back to the scene of His baptism in John 1 then walked toward Cana into John 2.So He traveled from the wilderness to the wedding In the wilderness He refused Himself bread though He was starving. At the wedding He gave others wine though they had drunk. Bread is a necessity. Wine is a luxury. He granted luxury to others while denying necessity to Himself Surely this is the model for every husband. Surely Jesus is the perfect Bridegroom (John 3:29) .After He rehabilitated the moral possibilities for Man by succeeding where Adam failed He set out on a rescue mission for marriage. When Adam and Eve sinned marriage fell with the rest of Creation. There was shame and there was blame. Shame and blame would have been imminent in Cana once the wine was gone.
The wine can run out in any marriage if we are left to our own resources. That’s a place God never intended to leave us. Jesus was invited to Cana . And when He is invited into marriage He makes Himself available to meet every legitimate need. Sometimes we ask and He appears to delay. When Mary declared they’d run out of wine I can only trace a “no” in His response. Somehow Mary heard a “yes”. At that moment she gives the servants the greatest counsel ever uttered in the history of the world. “Do everything He tells you” she says.Could there be any greater counsel than that?
Ours is to apply, obey and wait, even when the wait is agonizingly long (though those first century guests didn’t wait long). His part is to bless and provide.
Jane and I have reaped the benefits of His unfailing presence and undeserved blessing for a very short 32 years.
The headwaiter marveled that the best wine was saved for last.
That’s a precedent for joy in the second half.
Southerners eventually learn.
I wish everyone I know were as blessed in marriage as I. I want to talk about it more often but am always afraid 1) It will sound like boasting 2) It will make those formerly married or unhappily married uncomfortable. My happiness in marriage is due to Jesus and Jane --in that order,
Jesus launched His ministry of miraculous signs at a wedding. After His baptism He stood where Adam fell by resisting the devil in the wilderness. Adam and Eve did not eat the fruit because they were hungry. They were not hungry. They could eat from any tree in the Garden save one. They ate the fruit because they believed a lie about God. Adam sinned on a full stomach. The Second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ refused to turn stones into bread even though He was starving. When we track the chronology of the Gospels we see that Jesus was baptized in Matthew 3, tempted in Matthew 4, walked back to the scene of His baptism in John 1 then walked toward Cana into John 2.So He traveled from the wilderness to the wedding In the wilderness He refused Himself bread though He was starving. At the wedding He gave others wine though they had drunk. Bread is a necessity. Wine is a luxury. He granted luxury to others while denying necessity to Himself Surely this is the model for every husband. Surely Jesus is the perfect Bridegroom (John 3:29) .After He rehabilitated the moral possibilities for Man by succeeding where Adam failed He set out on a rescue mission for marriage. When Adam and Eve sinned marriage fell with the rest of Creation. There was shame and there was blame. Shame and blame would have been imminent in Cana once the wine was gone.
The wine can run out in any marriage if we are left to our own resources. That’s a place God never intended to leave us. Jesus was invited to Cana . And when He is invited into marriage He makes Himself available to meet every legitimate need. Sometimes we ask and He appears to delay. When Mary declared they’d run out of wine I can only trace a “no” in His response. Somehow Mary heard a “yes”. At that moment she gives the servants the greatest counsel ever uttered in the history of the world. “Do everything He tells you” she says.Could there be any greater counsel than that?
Ours is to apply, obey and wait, even when the wait is agonizingly long (though those first century guests didn’t wait long). His part is to bless and provide.
Jane and I have reaped the benefits of His unfailing presence and undeserved blessing for a very short 32 years.
The headwaiter marveled that the best wine was saved for last.
That’s a precedent for joy in the second half.
2 comments:
I used your exhortation from this blog as an exhortation for my students today to make the second half of the semester just as good as the first. Maintaining a commitment to excellence in the long-run is hard in many areas of life. Thanks for the reminder that God often saves the best for last.
It's amazing how much I see all three of your children in those pictures. Miss you guys! The content of your blog defies the silly medium that I predicted . . . I'm impressed.
Andy
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