Tonight I officiated an amazing wedding. Yes the wedding was great and the ceremony nice and meaningful but it was something that wasn't planned that made the evening. But to understand the significance I have to take you back to Father's Day this year.
Every week after service at The Church at Sendera Ranch our men (18+) get together for what we call our men's huddle. The huddle is 2 minutes related to the message where we give out a small item to help the men remember the message and to act on it that week. On Father's Day, after a message about being Real Men of Jesus, we gave each man one poker chip. I said to them that it represents their life... they only have one and they have to go all in. Will they go all in for Jesus or all in for themselves... whose glory were they going to live for, whose desire were they going to pursue, and whose kingdom were they going to build. I'm well aware that many of the men in our church are considering following Jesus but they aren't quite there yet so I told them that the day might come when they (flinging my chip to the floor at the front) might need to come forward and go all in for Jesus.
In my last premarital coaching session with the couple that married this evening I asked where they each were in their standing with Jesus (something we talked extensively about in our first session). The guy said he was close, wasn't quite sure, and didn't know what was holding him back. But then he told me that he was carrying that poker chip around and really thinking about it. Fast forward to this evening.
The couple that married tonight were blending a family and wanted to include the kids in a unity sand ceremony as opposed to the unity candle. Each person in the family gets a vial of sand and they join the sand together in a container to demonstrate their new unity as one. As we started the ceremony I had the groom lead and pour a little sand into the jar... but he didn't do it right away... he was fiddling in his pocket for something. In a few seconds that felt like more he pulled out his poker chip and put it into the container as he poured in a little sand. ... I almost lost it and his bride almost did as well. She had wanted him to lead and trust Christ and here he was, on his wedding day, going all in for Jesus.
What an awesome evening and a truly life changing wedding. God is doing so much in this couple's life right now that it's exciting for everyone around them. It's a night I won't soon forget. And I can't wait to tell the story at their baptism in August.
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