Countdown….3….

Flowers, flowers and more flowers…

What’s on the list to do?

Thursday was flower day…pumpkin patch  day…morning first thing was a trek to the local flower place…three shopping carts later, we emerged for the store, loaded flowers into one vehicle…a couple of hours of conditioning the flowers, or visiting the local pumpkin patch…then the attendants and mom of the bride, a couple of the grandmothers , plus the bride and time….buckets of flowers turned into the bridal bouquets, table arrangements…

And then Family night….

Friday was gathering final supplies, discussions, rehearsal, rehearsal dinner…

24 hours till the nuptials….

Another popular Bible segment is the verses from Ruth…

Ruth 1: ……. 16b For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”

Realizing that these verses is actually words between a widowed daughter  in law to a widowed mother in law…Ruth makes it quite clear she wants to stay with Naomi…follow her God rather than return to her own country…and she becomes an ancestor of King David through her eventual marriage to Boaz, her kinsman redeemer…

Another picture of Christ…our redeemer…he paid the price of our salvation..

Also a picture of marriage…choosing to cling together, following  God together...on this journey of life.

thank YOU..

I will follow…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFna4pEF7M8

 The countdown is over….the day of….

The temperature dropped 30 degrees from the day before…windy, chilly…the rain held off…thank YOU….

The last of the steam pressing, the flowers loaded, the chairs in place, the table decorated, the sound system working…clothes at ready for groomsmen, attendants…the bride…extra coats packed…

Then another round of pictures to be followed by another round. Professional and amateur….while the sun is out… the fall leaves fluttering, adding more color to the whole ambiance….

Finally, we assemble for the processional….and all that preplanning has paid off…

“We assemble here to witness the uniting of this couple…”

The challenge, the rings, the vows, the tears, the communion, the proclamation of “husband and wife”…the recessional…and we are done until the ensuing party and celebration….

What an amazing day  and evening….

Do you remember your wedding?  The precious moments of friends and family…

Other Bible verses set the tone of the wedding ceremony…

Song of Solomon 8:6 Set me as a seal upon your heart,

    as a seal upon your arm,

for love is strong as death,

    jealousy is fierce as the grave.

Its flashes are flashes of fire,

    the very flame of the Lord.

7a Many waters cannot quench love,

    neither can floods drown it.

Ecclesiastes 4: 9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! 11 Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone?12 And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Matthew19: 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

Numbers 6: 24 The Lord bless you and keep you;

25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;

26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

1Peter 4: 8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.

Psalm 118:24 This is the day that the Lord has made;

    let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Since the Word is given to us, a personal letter about God’s Love, redemption, there is really is so much about relationships…we  can find more and more that could pertain to marriage…

Thank YOU…

So that’s my week…now a bit of clean up and sorting, getting borrowed items returned, etc… maybe a nap or two…getting caught up on some rest…and I was just one little part of it all…

But, praise and thank yous to all that participated….what love was shown…

Blessings…

The recessional…

I’m a believer…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWqmc8qxEps

 The countdown has started…2…

3 days…to go..

When I used to do wedding coordination, it was a bout this time the the bride either turned into a Bridezilla  or was to the point of, “let’s just get this over and don’t worry if something is not coming together”…. 

Both had its challenges…you want your dream wedding to come true, the party does, but sometimes it just doesn’t  happen that way…flexibility is key on all fronts…whether the mother of the bride is living her dream vicariously through her daughter or the Pinterest pictures just aren’t matching up or whatever…

Another verse that may be a theme for the service is..

Genesis 2: 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Or…

Colossians 3: 12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

The first being a united front together…so important…. I have seen so many marriages broken up or challenged by parents 

Interfering  with the couple’s decision making or whatever…

The second set of verses speak again of love,  humility, patience, forgiveness, ,etc…all of which speak of unity …which is beyond price….

Thank YOU, 

To have and to hold…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7p5Z6PpRDSI

 The countdown has started…

At the end on this week another grandchild will marry…that is number four and then there is a break until the next group comes of age…

So the time schedules are written out, what each participant, helper is doing…and already there are changes…who flies in at what time, who is arriving by car, van, etc…

The weather is supposed to be great, clothes are purchased in the right colors, everyone is lined out for vehicles, motels, airbnbs, meals…

As we are in the wedding mood in this family, I thought is would be interesting to ask Siri what the most used scripture passages are for weddings..haven’t asked “her “ opinion before…but as I looked up the question, the websites were pretty consistent in their answers…

1. 1 Corinthians 13:4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

The love verses…just think if we could  take these to heart all the time in marriages and relationships…along with the fruit of the Spirit…Galatians 5: 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

2.Ephesians 5: 22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

There are a lot more instructions for the husband than the wife…we get hung up on the submission in the first sentence and fly past the rest…what mutual love for one another…each is cherished by the other…Christ loves us so much and gave his life for us, the Bride…

Thank YOU…

Love is patient…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8SxizK1kdc

 

Dry ground…

In the midst of troubles and hardship, we wait for a light at the end of the tunnel, hoping it is not just another train…

Miraculously, God, with his mighty hand opened the sea, dried it and allowed the Israelites to walk across, not mired in the mud, but safety…

However, the conquering enemy got bogged down until the sea closed its gap, successfully ending their chase….

A new song filled their hearts…the Song of Moses….filled with praise…

The Lord has triumphed….for his people…

When life is rough for us, and then God intervenes giving us new light, don’t we want to  sing a new song as well…a song of praise…

Exodus 15: 2 The Lord is my strength and my song,

    and he has become my salvation;

this is my God, and I will praise him,

    my father's God, and I will exalt him."

Thank YOU…..

The song of Moses….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRGKRHo6o0Y

The horse and rider…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwM4214SRYU

 The Lord has triumphed….

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/UWfaTP6yKsc

 600+ chariots…2…

Yesterday it was 600+ , plus an army…

Exodus 14:9 The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen and troops—pursued the Israelites and overtookthem as they camped by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon.

The Israelites were trapped…they cried out…and the Lord said to move forward…(what , into the sea, won’t we drown)….

Exodus 14:…. Tell the Israelites to move on. 16 Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. 17 I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. 18 The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.”

19 Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them,20 coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.

21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided,22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.

Divided water, light/dark, people groups….no human can do that…only God…and this was after the plagues …God claimed these people as his own…and he took care of them as he promised…

In the New Testament, we have the verses in the book of Romans…

Romans 8:

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”fn

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,fn neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,

39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

What a promise…we may have a sea looming before us or an army  behind us as the Israelites did, but, God is for us as he was them…

He hasn’t changed…

Thank YOU….

Our God…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-JZ9KsI7YI

 600 + chariots….

Can you imagine 600+ chariots racing after you…?  What an awesome, frightening sight!  Not only that, but they were ready for war on families with  belongings, children…no weapons and caught on one side by the sea and nowhere to go….

I think of the old movies, Ben Hur, The Ten Commandments or newer one, Chronicles of Narnia…or other movies with casts of thousands coming across the plains ready for war…

And there stands Moses, “ 13 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never seeagain. 14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Exodus 14….

Would your heart quake and tremble? Mine would…they weren’t used to this kind of salvation…they had been slaves to this army for generations…they knew their human power and now were going to really see God’s…his promises made true…there was no way out except God’s…

The thing is, we have that same God who works the same way for us…we may not be seeing armies and chariots chasing us…a full sea behind us….but there are times when we are just as penned in and we need the Lord to fight for us….and we need only to be still and wait…

We don’t have a Moses to lead, but we have the Holy Spirit to speak truth, God to give peace, Jesus to save….what an army….

Thank YOU….

Our God will go before us…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmEYeZB8dDI