The hour - The day - The week

It's been a week and a half since my last post :)

So much has happened....

One week ago today, I was waiting anxiously for the moment when the doors of the church would swing open, and my bride would be walking toward me.

It was an amazing day.

The night before I had been up until just after midnight helping get things set up, (that pales in comparison to a number of people who were up until 3AM, and several who worked round the clock), but on Sunday morning adrenaline had kicked in to keep me in a wide awake state.

The hour.

The toughest hour was the hour from 10AM to 11AM. Trying to pack the car for our honeymoon, get dressed, and then waiting at the church, was so packed with suspense I'm surprised I didn't break out into a cold sweat. Or did I? Anyway, that hour ended when I was standing at the church and the bridesmaids started walking down, followed by the most beautiful bride there ever was.

The day.

 Much of the day was a blur. Thankfully, we had awesome photographers, (My sister and her husband, and Cherith's brother in law) so many of the memories are immortalized.

The ceremony seemed to be over before it had really started, though someone afterward told me it took about 50 minutes. If it did, it was probably the quickest 50 minutes of my life. The rest of the day was simply one amazing glow. Until about 5PM, when my body decided that it had had enough, and that it wanted rest, RIGHT NOW! :D By the time we finished with the photography it was 7PM (sunset), and it was 8 by the time we actually left for our honeymoon destination.

 

THE moment. Walking out of the church as husband and wife, flanked by the groomsmen and bridesmaids, who formed a 'guard of honor', up the aisle.















 

Isn't she just the most stunning bride ever?

The week.

Which week? The one before or the one after the wedding? I think it might be safer to stick to the one before. :) There was a stack of things to do that last week, in preparation for the wedding. Thankfully, quite a few people were willing to help out, and, "many hands make light work". Even with all the hands, it was hardly light work. Cherith's sister Bethany seemed to bear the brunt of organising and arranging things, and often had to choose between her college studies and wedding preparations. I'm hoping she doesn't suffer for 'neglecting' her studies! :) In the end, one or two things simply didn't get done for lack of time. But I don't care. The day was fantastic, fabulous, and incredible! It was a fairytale wedding.



I'm not hoping for a 'fairytale marriage'. That would be too much. Marriages take lots of hard work. But I know we will be happy together, as long as we keep up all the little things that got us where we are today, on honeymoon. Love, respect, courtesy, honor, patience, humility, and forgiveness.

The bridal car :)

Farewell......

 Spending time with each other is very important too, so if you'll excuse me, I'm going to end this right here, and go spend some time with my wife. :)

Last minute things...

So many details go into a wedding... And this is a small wedding...

It doesn't help that we are budgeting, and so doing many things ourselves, rather than buying ready made things, etc. It DOES help that there are so many people willing and able to help out! Because frankly, nothing much would happen without their help.

But a lot of work goes into this day...

It's been painful to see my fiancee struggling with all the work needing to be done, and not having a respite from it, day after day, almost the entire day. I'm glad now that we have two weeks of honeymoon after the wedding, because we are going to need the time out. At least, she will. I've felt largely useless before this week, as Cherith did most of the arrangements for the wedding while I was working, and even though we talked about everything together, I didn't feel like I was taking a fair share of the load. Even now, I wish I could do more to ease the load on everyone else. But with the work to be done, it is enough to keep a number of hands very busy indeed.

We have been making place cards, wedding programs, decorations, trying to arrange transportation, and trying to fins the right people for certain roles. It's been downright confusing sometimes, when there is no clear answer, but God has been providing very clear answers.

I'll be glad when it's all over, but in the meantime, I'm enjoying seeing just how many things God is bringing into place for the big day. Time after time it seems He has orchestrated everything to work out perfectly. Not just 'fine', but perfectly.

And as everything is coming together, I'm continually confronted with the fact that Cherith trusts God more than I seem to. For her, every problem is simply something more to trust God with. Yes, she is worn out from everything, and yes, she get's frustrated, or feels overwhelmed by it all, but she doesn't lose sight of the fact that God is taking care of things......

And He really is... So why should I stress?? Why????? With God in control, even the weather is behaving itself. 3 days ago the forcast was considerable rain for the day. By this evening, the rain pattern had weakened and shifted enough so that the forecast for the day is "sunny"!

After all, in 4 days from now, it will all be over, and there will be no more wedding planning to worry about...

Missed....

So, it's been a week and 2 days since I've seen Cherith, and that, by the way, is a record. Since March, when I moved to the area where she lived, it has never been more than three days. :D Sounds crazy, but due to life circumstances we were able to spend a lot of time together.

And today! Today she's coming back! I could let out a yell... This last week has seemed like an eternity. Don't ask me why, because I don't really understand it, but especially the last four days have seemed to drag by like cold molasses! So, now, understandably, I'm excited! :)

And then, it is only a week and four days to our wedding! So now there are lots of plans to finalise. This week is supposed to be my last week of work before three weeks of holidays. So yes, I'm excited!!

Not long now.........

Sunset

Sunset.

The shadows deepen, and the night draws on. This is a special sunset though. Because this sunset brings in the Sabbath.

As I recline in the glow of lighted candles (My favorite way to open Sabbath), I realize a sense of loneliness. This is the first time I have had to open Sabbath on my own. The first time in my life.

And hopefully the last. In just over two weeks I will be married, and I hope that I will never have to spend a Sabbath away from my closest earthly companion. Even now, it feels like a part of me is missing.

As the night darkens outside, I thrill with appreciation for what God gave to man in the garden of Eden. Or is that, what He made possible for man to give back to Him? Because Sabbath is God's gift to us, but it is also our gift back to Him. That one special day each week, when angels in heaven and men on earth can be synchronized and united in a day of worship and praise to the Lord. That one day when we can put away earthly cares, worries, problems, and work, and just rest in the Father's love.

Special? I should say it is.


So don't be late. You have an appointment with God Himself.

Three weeks

In three weeks time exactly, it will be the morning of my wedding, and I will have a severe case of nerves...


I know I will feel excited, nervous, anxious, and yet strangely calm.

Because there won't be any doubts. It seems the most natural thing in the world to be getting married, even though two years ago marriage never entered my mind. Strange how much can happen in so short a time.

And it's strange how variable time can seem to be. Sometimes it seems to crawl along so slowly that it's almost stopped, and yet at other times it disappears like a handful of sand running through your fingers. It was Albert Einstein who explained it like this. "When you sit with a girl you like for two hours, it seems like two minutes. But if you were to touch a hot stove for two minutes, it would seem like two hours. That's relativity." And that describes the last year and a half precisely :)

But I think my mum explained it best when she texted me 9 weeks ago, and explained to me that it was twelve weeks to my wedding, and that one week is really nothing at all, and so twelve times nothing is still nothing :D....

And the last nine weeks have really seemed to vanish like some much sand pouring away....

Three weeks.... Just 24 days. 576 hours. 34560 minutes. Nothing at all really.

Long and short

Strange how long and yet how short time can be.

A year and six months ago, life was very different. I was a bachelor, living in QLD, life was very routine, and getting married was certainly not on my mind at all!

Now, four weeks before the wedding, I sit here in a temporary room, my things in boxes around the room, in a house without electricity except what runs off car batteries, in the middle of nowhere in New South Wales, on the property owned by Cherith's parents.

In the last year I have started courting Cherith, moved interstate, been unemployed for 2 months trying to find work, moved again for work, driven 40,000kms in my car, (Usually I would do less than 15,000kms in a whole year), gotten engaged, and that's only the start of it. Life has been quite topsy turvy sometimes.

There's only one problem with that.... I like routines.

Well, I like change too, but just not too much of it at once. But it seems like so much has been changing in such a short time in my life that it's disconcerting sometimes.

And in just four weeks, I am to be a married man. I guess there are many more changes to come too! :)

But when I look back over the last 14 months or so, it seems like both a very long time, and a very short time. It seems like Cherith and I have been talking together forever, and that getting married to each other is the most natural thing to do. Then it seems like a short time, and that we are only just starting to get to know each other. Then again, I guess we have the rest of our lives to learn about each other, so I'm not about to graduate from that school anytime soon, even if we do understand each other quite well already.

And I love Cherith. But there's one thing to remember. Love is not just a feeling. It is an act of your will. Some days it is not easy to show that love. But by the grace of God, I will always love her, whether I feel worn out, frustrated, stressed out, annoyed, sad, or happy.

I am looking forward to being married. But I have to admit to being just a little bit nervous..........

Two heart-stopping seconds.........

Just two ticks of the clock. But they seemed more like ten.

A busy, unfamiliar road. Suddenly realizing that I had to slow down in a big hurry....

The wet road, sliding, squealing tires, the car in front that seemed to get closer no matter what I did. And ten thoughts flashing through my mind in a heartbeat. The song I was singing was cut off and replaced with a prayer. Probably the shortest prayer I've ever prayed.

Amazing what adrenaline does.

Seconds seemed to blur together. 

Let's look at what happened in the space of about three seconds there. It started when I realized that the traffic in the lane I was in, was stationary, about a hundred meters ahead of me. No rush, I would simply change lanes. I couldn't move right, because I needed to turn left, besides, the right lane was stopped dead too. No worries, the left lane it was then. Mirrors, check. Check blind spot, whoa. I knew there was no car right there just before, but he was obviously going a little faster than me and had caught up. Running out of space, I couldn't merge. Stop it was then. Brake. Hard. The tires started to squeal. No! I couldn't afford to lose control of the car now! I obviously didn't have too much traction on the wet road. Good thing I had remembered to insure my car again. But I couldn't afford an insurance claim right now. A $1200 excess was more than I could afford with my wedding coming up. Dear God, please no! Cars were passing me on my left, so I still couldn't change lanes. Resist the urge to shut my eyes. I rode the limits of traction until I was 4 feet from the car in front of me.

Then I was dimly aware of a frantic pounding in my head and chest. The blood flow to my brain had just tripled. No wonder I thought so much in three seconds. Good thing too, Or I would have panicked badly and slid into the back of the silver station wagon in front of me.

And that brings me to the point I wanted to make. I'm no driving maestro. But He heard me in that split second. And planned for it a long time before.

"I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made..." Psalms 139:14. Wonderfully? Sure, every Christian believes that. Fearfully? Why fearfully?

Why did God give Adam adrenal glands? Why did he design him with an immune system? He didn't need it in the garden of Eden, that's for sure. But God, in His loving mercy, provided man with the things He needed to survive even if he fell into sin. God designed man to survive.

Fearfully.... Wonderfully........

Made.... Created.... Designed....


Thank you Lord!