I’ve been to many hundreds of weddings – officiated at most of them! 

Most of the time the bride’s dress is white and the groom’s tux or suit is black.  Which reminds me – A young girl was attending her first wedding.  As the bride and groom were exchanging vows, she whispered to her mother, “How come the bride’s dress is white?” 

“Because,” answered her mother, “White is the color of happiness, and today is the happiest day in the bride’s life.”

“How come then,” the astute girl asked, “is the groom’s suit black?”

Last Saturday, January 19, was a very happy day for my nephew, Brad Leach and his fiancée, Leah Edwards.

After waiting patiently for God to provide the perfect “help-mate” for each of them, Brad and Leah tied the knot with hundreds of family and friends supporting them.

Everything about the wedding was stunning. The energy was high. Laughter abounded.  The preachers connected with the couple and the guests. The food was exquisitely delicious. The high point for me was when Brad and Leah shared their vows with each other.  With their permission I share them with you.

Brad to Leah:  You look so amazing!  I don’t know if I can remember to say anything else.  I feel so grateful to be able to choose you today and I want you to know that I am going to do my best to make you laugh as often as I can, to hold you when you cry.  I want to work to create memories for our family, to plan and embrace the kinds of moments that will allow us in our lives to live an adventurous and memorable life together.  I want to bless you to pursue your dreams.  I believe in you.  I recognize the outstanding gifts that are in your life and my goal is to make sacrifices to make room for your gifts to continue to blossom.

 I commit to do my best to choose my words carefully.  I want to speak into your life words that are affirming, words that are sensitive, words that are inspiring and life-giving and I want to work to love you unconditionally, to make our marriage a safe one so that you will never have to perform to earn my love.  You will have it, when you are tired, when you are sick, when you are celebrating, when you are at your best and most importantly when you are not.  Most of all I want to love you best by loving Jesus first and serving you as he serves me.  I am so happy that He helped me to wait for you…every minute was worth it…all 15 million of them!

Leah to Brad:  Brad, I have been praying for you long before I ever knew your name and to see the man that God brought here today you are so much more than I could ever have asked or imagined.  And my prayer is that God would teach me how to be your wife, the woman that He has created me to be and by His grace.

 I promise to love you as Jesus loves you.  I promise to put your needs and your desires before my own.  I promise to honor you, to respect you and to be your biggest champion.  I promise to take care of you when you are sick, physically, or mentally, or emotionally.  I promise to hold your arms up when you are too tired to stand.  I promise to support your passions and to submit to your leadership in our family.  I promise to dream big dreams with you even if it’s thinking that this might be the big year for the Lions.  I promise to choose to love you when I feel like it and even when I don’t, and I promise to give my whole self to you completely with reckless abandon knowing that you are going to love me just as our Father does.  These things I promise to you Brad Leach for as long as we both shall live.  I love you more than words can express and I think this is going to be so much fun!

What great promises they’ve made!  What maturity and insight! What a great start for a life-long marriage!  I’m confident that through the grace of God, Brad and Leah will finish strong, just as they have begun.

Congratulations, Brad and Leah!  We love you!

I love a good deal! About ten days ago Debbie, Jonathan, Bethany, and I were traveling from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Springfield, Missouri. Sitting in the Chicago O’Hare airport awaiting our flight to Springfield, the gate agent called my name.
“We’re overbooked,” he told me. “If you and your family would be willing to fly out tomorrow morning, we’ll give you four roundtrip tickets to anywhere United flies the forty-eight states. . . We’ll also pay for your hotel tonight and give you dinner.”
For a guy who loves to take his family on little trips, this was a dream deal, a too-good-to-give up offer! “I’m sure we’ll take it,” I responded. “Let me check with my family. I’ll be right back.”
Enthusiastically, I shared the deal. “Just think!” I said. “Four free tickets!”
“What do you think?” I asked. Bethany’s face told her feelings — Her words were soft and kind, “I’d rather go home, dad. Jonathan and I want to go to Des Moines tomorrow and if we don’t get back to Springfield until afternoon. . .” I don’t remember the rest of her words, but I got the drift. Debbie was nodding in motherly agreement. I’m doing the math. . . 4 x $400. . .
“Thanks for the offer,” I told the gate agent. “We need to get home tonight.”
As I have reflected on those few moments, what stands out to me was that Bethany felt safe to express her thoughts and feelings. She knew I wanted to take the free tickets and spend the night in Chicago, yet she felt free to give her opinion. And when I gave up the “deal” for my daughter, I was expressing my value of her.
Once we were comfortably seated on the plane and flying home, I said to Bethany, “While you know I would have been excited about four free tickets, I am more excited that you felt the freedom to share your opinion with me. I just want you to know, honey, I value you a lot more than free flights.”
While giving up four free flights is a rather small thing in the light of the major events of our lives, that experience continues to inform and challenge me.
Just as Jesus valued the leper and touched him – just as Jesus valued Jairus and his daughter and went to her home and raised her from the dead – just as Jesus values each of us so much that He gave up His life so we could have eternal life – so God calls us to value others – to honor and respect them, to put their needs and desires ahead of ours!
How do we show value to our friends, family, and new acquaintances?
• By looking them in the eye when they are speaking to us
• By not insisting on having our way, even when we feel strongly about “our way.”
Jesus views everyone as significant. Zacchaeus was a dishonest tax collector (Luke 19:1-10). Jesus could have ignored him, but He saw him in the tree and called him by name.
It’s important that Christians acknowledge others as people with value. Brennan Manning writes, “A Christian who doesn’t merely see but looks at another communicates to that person that he is being recognized as a human being in an impersonal world of objects.”
Do the people we interact with know that we view them as valuable to us and to God? —Anne Cetas
Burdened people everywhere
Need to know what Christ has done;
They need to feel God’s love and care—
It was for them He sent His Son. —D. De Haan
Love people and not things, use things and not people.

Grant Andrew couldn’t understand, but that didn’t keep Great-grandma Clay from talking to him through Amy’s tummy: “Be patient, Grant. . . We’re excited for you to be with us, but not right now. . . We want you to be with us next Christmas, not this year. . .” A little over a week ago our oldest child, Amy, was admitted to Baptist Hospital with early contractions. For a week we were on pins and needles, wondering what would happen. Would Amy deliver Grant two months early? Was he ready to live outside the womb? Was Amy o.k.? Amy’s situation prompted us to change our Christmas plans. Instead of Amy and Jeremy joining us in Springfield, we drove to
Memphis, since Amy, after six nights in the hospital, is on complete bed rest at home.

We have really good news – because of the faithfulness and goodness of God, the prayers of many, and the excellent medical care of doctors and nurses, the intense contractions have stopped and Amy is resting comfortably – as comfortably as a seven-month pregnant mother can rest. We continue to trust in the sovereignty of God. His purpose for Grant, as for each of us, will prevail. That’s the promise of Proverbs 19:21.

Some of us have teasingly accused Grant of being impatient. While that charge won’t stick against him, it could against some of us. Patiently waiting is very difficult for most of us Homo sapiens.

• Young couples, wanting their parents’ lifestyle, can easily go “head over heels” in debt for a big beautifully furnished house, rather than wait until they can afford it.

• An athlete, eager to excel and be the best, takes steroids rather than patiently and consistently building his body through hard work and good nutrition.

• A pastor, with more vision than wisdom, impatiently leads a congregation into unmanageable debt which ultimately cripples the ability of the church to do effective ministry.

• A couple, because “we’re in love,” engages in pre-marital sex rather than waiting until marriage to enjoy God’s gracious gift of sexual intimacy.

• Christ followers, with a sincere desire for their friend or family member to know Christ too, become spiritually pushy rather than planting the seed and waiting for God to produce a fruitful harvest of salvation.

• Still stinging from being hurt by someone, we lash out and get even, rather than wait for God to vindicate us.

God knew that waiting and being patient are hard for many of us, so He gave us these encouragements, promises, examples and instructions:

“Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord” (Psalm 27:14).

“I waited patiently for the Lord; He turned to me and heard my cry” (Psalm 40:1).

“Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near” (James 5:7, 8).

“A man’s wisdom gives him patience. . .” (Proverbs 19:11a).

“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer” (Romans 12:12).

“Be patient, bearing with one another in love” (Ephesians 4:2).

God has a way of giving His best to those who wait! One way to finish strong is to live patiently and watch God work out His perfect plan in our lives!

Thanks, Grant, for patiently waiting. Your time is coming – it won’t be long!

jmp

There has been a resurrection in Rogue Valley!

Having been invited by Pastor Brian Steller to preach at Calvary Church, in Jacksonville, Oregon, I was honored to participate in the church’s 60th anniversary celebration.

The weekend was fabulous. Hundreds of people participated in meal and worship events as Calvary Church gave praise to God for His faithfulness during these last six decades.

The church had a strong start as John and Maryann Skinner came from California to plant this church. Under the leadership of other strong and godly pastors, this church became a vibrant church in Jacksonville and the entire Rogue Valley. More than four hundred people were part of Calvary at its peak.

Sadly, the church fell on hard times. By the time this enthusiastic and passionate young couple, Brian and Kimberly Steller, arrived five years ago to pastor Calvary Church, they could count the people who were part of the church on two hands and one foot – eleven people. Brian and Kimberly’s two young girls were the only children in the entire church.

The youngest deacon, Roger Ackerman, was fifty. Paul Kerth, the oldest deacon was 92. Harry Belau was 82. Jack Bransford was 80. These four men and Brian, about sixty years younger than Paul, were the leadership team.

Being a wise young pastor, Brian spent the first six months praying and talking with this small remnant about their future. Finally, he broke the news to them, “We have to make changes.”

They asked, “What kind of changes, pastor?”

“Everything has to change,” he replied.

“Why everything?” they asked.

“Because,” he honestly said, “What we’re doing now is not working.”

The response of these deacons, whose average age was seventy six years, paved the way for the resurrection. They said, “Pastor, whatever changes need to be made, to reach the younger generation, make them.”

And he has! The facilities have been updated – the logo has changed – the music is contemporary – small groups have been implemented – the worship service has a non-traditional look and feel, yet very Christ centered and Spirit led.

The 60th anniversary service was electric! You can imagine the energy when Pastor Brian introduced and honored five charter members who are still active in the church. They love him and he loves them. Before I shared a message entitled, “Reaching The Rogue Valley Until Jesus Comes Again,” they took a “coffee break.” The entire congregation, totaling more than 200, left the sanctuary for a cup of good coffee and fellowship. Fifteen minutes later we reassembled and I preached.

This is a resurrected, renewed, and revived church! People are being saved and filled with the Spirit regularly. Young single adults and young couples are everywhere. Dozens of babies and children are now part of the church. The youth group, under the passionate leadership of Josh and Shereena Gering, is alive, strong, and growing.

I watched Paul, Harry, and Jack (The young deacon, Roger, is deceased). I don’t suppose the worship choruses the church was singing were their favorites. But there they were – clapping and raising their hands in praise to God – a huge smile on their face – as they looked around and saw a sanctuary full of joyful worshippers, young and old.

These older men could have killed their church or kept it very small. Instead, they chose to support their pastor – follow his vision – and embrace the change. Calvary Church is doing exactly what Jesus expects us to do – they are making disciples – loving, joyful, Spirit-filled followers of Jesus Christ.

There’s been a resurrection in Rogue Valley. And I witnessed it!

Paul, Harry, and Jack are finishing strong! Because of them and a young couple who was courageous enough to make necessary changes, but not alienate the older generation in the process, Calvary Church is finishing strong, too.