20 Years
Twenty years ago, I married my best friend. We've been through it and come out the other side strong and healthy. Here's to us!
Wedding homily written and given by our wonderful pastor, Rocky Ellison, and posted with his kind permission.
SAM & JENN
Once each month I will be working in the church office, and the phone will ring. The person on the other end wants to know about the availability of the church, and the church staff, for some personal need; they want their baby baptized, or they want to get married. I patiently explain that I am glad to provide these services for anyone who participates in the life of the church. They don’t have to join as members, but they have to come to worship and be involved. They always promise to come the very next Sunday and meet me in person, but they never do. In fifteen years not one of them has ever walked through the door to worship - until you two. You have been different from the very beginning; and I mean that in the best possible way.
The life journey which brought you together is not the typical story. You weren’t childhood sweethearts; you weren’t one another’s first great love. You had to negotiate your way through loneliness, betrayal, heartbreak, addiction, illness, and loss to find each other. You had to travel across a thousand miles and blend broken families to find love. And yet, here you are. It’s right for you to be here today, it’s right for you to be in this place. At a crucial moment, when this church was finally identifying its purpose, you were the right family at the right time.
We call this Providence - when God reaches down and involves himself in the details to bring about the best possible, but least anticipated, outcome. I think providence is God the Father pouring down love on us when we need it the most. I think the love of God brought you two together, and I think the love of God brought you to this church.
Your lives have not been easy. Each of you has faced more challenges in your few years than most couples face in an entire lifetime. Maybe that’s why you fit together so well; because each of you has that special maturity that comes from trial by fire. Often, when I perform a wedding, I wonder what challenge will come along and shake the marriage to its core. What tragedy will be the one that breaks their hearts and causes them to question or even resent their vows? I’m not worried about you two. You both understand that having that special person by your side makes all the difference in the world. You both know that it’s better together than alone. You both know that a love based on a powerful faith in Jesus can always survive. You already know what it will take everyone else years to figure out. But, like I said, you’ve been different from the beginning.