Background

I had a dream that I was captain of my soul
I was master of my fate, lost control, and then I sank
So I don't want to take the lead, 'cause I'm prone to make mistakes
All these folks who follow me, goin' end up in the wrong place
So just let me shadow you, just let me trace your lines...

- Background, Lecrae

Pastor Jae gave a message yesterday about John the Baptist, how he paved the way for Jesus in his heart and through his ministry. It was a sobering reminder that if we make paths towards ourselves and for our own glory, everything is meaningless. The life of John the Baptist and his declaration that he must decrease and Jesus must increase challenges me to examine my life. What is the direction of my relationships with people? What about my prayers? My Doctrine of the Church prof talked two weeks ago about how he sometimes challenges people when they pray. "Why? Why should we pray for healing?" Is it for God's glory?

Desiring to have the roads to Zion paved in my heart (Ps. 84). Asking the Holy Spirit to examine, reveal, and by his grace redirect.

Wedding

There are a lot of things I've been thinking about and learning that I want to blog about, but I feel as if I need to write something about the wedding first. But, I'm not sure what to write! Not that there aren't many blessings from the day, but I'm not sure what to say/write about it. Maybe if I had specific questions to answer/write about?

Though much of it was a blur, it was a beautiful day for us. God answered our prayers for what we hoped the day would be, and people afterwards affirmed us in terms of God granting the desire of our hearts for it to be a time of worship and thanksgiving. It also was a wonderfully humbling time in terms of seeing the way in which the communities we've been a part of gave of themselves so lavishly to us. I'm thankful because in our desiring to be wise stewards of money, we were forced to rely on other people. More than saving money, experiencing grace through the body of believers was so meaningful to us in the end.

The highlight for both of us was the worship in music. That, and the speeches at the rehearsal dinner and family dinner banquet. Jeff has known for years that he wanted to ask Eugene (his old youth pastor) to lead at his wedding and during the planning process I was looking forward to the music so much! Not only did we have amazing musicians but praise through music is a huge part of our (Jeff & myself) lives. Our moms walked down to Come & Listen by David Crowder (which is the one song I absolutely knew I wanted at the wedding) and the lyrics basically sum up what we hoped our wedding would be- a praise to God and celebration of his faithfulness in our lives up until our wedding day as we look forward to what is to come. The lyrics are drawn from Psalm 66:16:

Come and listen, all you who fear God;

let me tell you what he has done for me. (NIV)

Here are the lyrics (kinda shortened cause it repeats a lot):

Come and listen, come to the water's edge,

All you who know and fear the Lord.

Come and listen, come to the water's edge all you

Who are thirsty, come.

Let me tell you what He has done for me.

He has done for you,

He has done for us.

Come and listen, come and listen to what He's done.

Praise our God for He is good.

I'm not sure how much more I'll write about the wedding day, but you can read about it on my brother's blog from his perspective! (CLICK HERE!) He's a better writer than I am anyways. =)

2 highlights for me:

One of my favorite pictures

Jeff surprised me!