LIVING ON THE EDGE

Wedding ceremonies always amaze me. I love observing the dynamics that occurs with each ceremony. I must have done a thousand plus during my ministry and during every ceremony the dynamics are the same. TENSION. Weddings are the most stressful event on the planet with the exception maybe of a funeral service.

It never ceases to amaze me the amount of stress one places on oneself just to have a huge beautiful wedding ceremony. Everything has to be just right. The flowers, the food, the ring bearer, the dresses, the tuxes (not so much. They never fit). But everything else has to be just right. The stress is HUGE.

The couples and the families will spend upwards to a year preparing for and spend thousands of dollars for an event that will last about 30 minutes and then have a reception that will last an hour or so. A movie comes to mind here; FATHER OF THE BRIDE. If you haven’t seen it you need to if you are planning a wedding. It’s a great counseling tool for every couple.

My point of this diatribe on wedding ceremonies is I wonder if the divorce rate in America would be lower if the couples and families took as much time preparing for and stressing about THE MARRIAGE as they do about the ceremony.

I wonder if they took a year to attend classes on marriage or counseling sessions and had an older mentoring couple to hang out with for a year that have been through the fire in marriage and made it, would this help in bringing down the divorce rate in our country.

Being a part of so many weddings and officiating my fare share I have come to the conclusion we have it backwards. Couples need to spend more time preparing for THE MARRIAGE and less time preparing for THE CEREMONY.

I was hangin’ out at my local Starbucks, my office, this morning and I had another one of those God moments. Those moments that just happen and you get caught in the middle. Love those.

As you read in my previous blogs, our church went skydiving for Jesus and we had a great time.

One interesting side note to the jump was I had a friend go with us that I had met and became acquainted with from my local Starbucks. He had a desire to skydive and mark it off his bucket list before he checked out. So he went.

He’s not a Christian and admits he is not a very religious man but he wanted to tag along with a bunch of crazy Christ followers to risk his life to skydive. To me that is amazing in its self. I think he was more nervous hangin’ out with us than jumping. Not sure about that but he looked a little nervous when he met us in the parking lot for prayer prior to leaving.

I met him this morning at Sir Bucks and we had a conversation about the philosphical sides of the leap of faith and what we experienced. We did share some of the same emotions but we did have one stark difference in our experience.

He said he was in sheer panic mode when he left the plane and felt that way until the chute opened.  He said he felt like he was totally out of control during the free fall. He compared that feeling to us as humans when we’re born. Once we leave the womb we are in a free fall with no one there to help until we find a mentor.

With that I told him that I experienced something totally different. I experienced God’s amazing peace. I was not nervous at all once I left the plane. I was totally at peace and was enjoying the free fall. I told him I knew who had me and was confident in the jump master. Besides, what could I do, change my mind?

As we talked about the jump I shared with him where that peace comes from and who gives it if we just surrender our lives to Jesus much like we did to that jump master who was strapped to our back. We were not in control at all even when we thought we were. The jump master had us in his hands the entire time. We just couldn’t see his hands working while he worked the chute. Acts 11:21 reminds us of that.  Trust God’s hands. They are working in your life even when you don’t see them.

I love these God moments. I don’t even have to ask God to bring me people to share Jesus with.  All I have to do is put myself in His hands and let Jesus do the work. WOW! How cool is that?

Have you ever had one of those days where you are sitting in Starbucks and God shows up and you’re right there in the middle of it shaking your head and asking yourself, “is this really happening?”  Well, I had one of those days last Thursday June 17th.

I was hangin’ out at Starbucks, like I normally do reading and watching people come in and out. (That is fun entertainment in its self. God has a huge sense of humor.) As I was reading, one of my Stizzle Bizzle buddy’s show up and we begin our time of solving the world’s most pressing issues and talking about life. In the course of that conversation my ACLU friend comes in and joins our conversation. (If you don’t remember him, click here for a reminder).

As we were talking, we got on the subject of morals. I ask them if they had seen the movie “No Country For Old Men”? They had and the ACLU guy and I both agreed that the premise of that movie was our country is morally bankrupt. As we discussed that, ACLU guy asked us what our standards are for morality. One guy said he set his own moral standards. ACLU guy and I both looked at him with shock. I looked at the ACLU guy with shock that he and I was in agreement. Strange and wonderful. God was working.

See, the ACLU guy knew there should be a standard but he stopped short of saying what he thought it should be so I offered my 2 cents by saying our laws are based on the top ten list mentioned in the bible and that is our standard.  Again the ACLU guy agreed. Now I’m really getting into this. So I press on. After a little more discussion the ACLU guy opened the door for me by saying he was not a very religious man but did believe in a HIGHER POWER or creator. That was awesome. I jumped on that and told him I was glad he wasn’t very “religious” and told him I wasn’t either. That blew his mind, a preacher who is not religious? That softened him up for me to share the gospel.  He sat there and listened and I believe understood what I was saying. He didn’t except Christ right then but I guarantee he will.  God is working in his life and I pray that one day I will be able to lead him to Christ.

God shows up in places where and when we least expect him. I never thought I would have an op like this so soon. I never know when God may use me to lead someone to Christ.  All God wants is for us to be available and submissive to His spirit. He is always working and all we need to do is get in on what He is doing.

How do we know what He is doing? OPEN YOUR EYES. He’s right in front of you.