“We need a witness to our lives. There’s a billion people on the planet, what does any one life really mean? But in a marriage, you’re promising to care about everything. The good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things, all of it, all of the time, every day. You’re saying ‘Your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it. Your life will not go unwitnessed because I will be your witness’” (from Shall We Dance).

I’ve been to lots of weddings over the years. Extravagant weddings and simple weddings, weddings with caviar and weddings with baked beans. Some lasted while some fizzled out.

Today, I was honored to be a part of one of the most God-honoring weddings I’ve attended in a very long time. It was obvious to me that the bride and groom loved each other but also that they each loved Jesus more.

We had communion and worship at this wedding, which made it not all about the bride or the groom. It was all about God. That’s what weddings are supposed to be about.

Oh, and there were plenty of Star Wars references thrown in, which only served to enhance the awesomeness.

Planning the perfect wedding is all well and good, but planning a good marriage is better. Ask the bride and groom at the end of the wedding day what the ceremony was like and they’ll likely say it was all a blur. Ask a couple celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary what their marriage has been like, and they’ll have plenty of stories and advice to give.

I know which I want more. And I think I’ve seen two people who are committed to building a good, God-honoring marriage that’s built for the long haul.

My heart is definitely full tonight.

I tried something a little different than my usual Saturday outings. I went over to Nolensville and ate at Nana’s Diner. Afterward, I went for a bit of a stroll.

For a moment, I had the tiniest hint of fall. It was slightly less warm and the teeniest bit less humid. It was glorious.

I know there are something like 1,000 days until fall actually kicks in, but for a few moments, I entertained for a second thoughts of flannel and bonfires and s’mores and all things pumpkin spice.

I’m sure the reality of being in the middle of summer in the middle of the South will kick in soon enough, but for now I have this little nugget of a memory to hold on to.

That’s it.

It’s not getting the spouse or the bigger house or the nicer car or the better office.

It’s Christ in me, the hope of glory.

I sometimes still can’t believe that these two are the same cat. The first is when I brought home a little nameless kitten from the Williamson Animal Shelter way back last June. The second is the same cat, who now goes by he moniker Peanut, who has grown and fattened up and generally made herself at home.

I do like grown-up Peanut a lot, but sometimes I wish time could stop or at least slow down a bit for a little while. And maybe that I could always live somewhere where it’s perpetually fall.

But I do so enjoy little Peanut. She’s loads of fun.

I saw this reminder recently. I think every believer at some point feels overwhelmed by their sins and failures. Sometimes, it’s hard to see anything but your own shortcomings and weaknesses.

The very name Satan can be translated as accuser. He’s the one reminding you of all the times you’ve screwed up. He’s the one who makes you feel alone in your sin.

Not God. God is the one who removes your sin as far as the east is from the west. He’s the one who remembers your sins no more.

Satan knows your name but prefers to call you by your sin. God knows your sin but calls you by your name. Never forget that.

“Then I heard a voice from heaven say, ‘Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’

‘Yes,’ says the Spirit, ‘they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them’ (Revelation 14:13, NIV).

I was saddened to hear of the passing of Mrs. Barbara Glenn, mother of Mike Glenn, pastor of Brentwood Baptist Church.

I confess that I didn’t know her well. I regret that I never took the time to talk with her and hear her stories. From what I know from people who did know her well, she was quite the lady. She was from a generation made of sterner stuff than is found nowadays. I will miss seeing her on Tuesday nights at Kairos.

Whenever I pass through Hudson Hall, I remember people who seemingly were always there, ministering and counseling and speaking life into others– Tim Holcomb, Royce Harrell, and Gerald Stowe.

What all of these people have in common is that they leave behind a legacy of love demonstrated and lives changed. I know for a fact that there will be people in heaven due to the faithfulness of these followers of Jesus.

My prayer is that by the grace of God I will leave a legacy of my own one day, not that people will remember my name and make much of me but that they will have come to know and cherish Jesus and make much of Him.

Blessed are those who have gone before and seen the goodness of the Lord and followed after Jesus. They do indeed rest from all the hardships of this world, and their legacy lives on for generation after generation.

Yes, they are, aren’t they?

Taken at Radnor Lake State Park in Nashville, TN.

“The Christian idea of marriage is based on Christ’s words that a man and wife are to be regarded as a single organism—for that is what the words ‘one flesh’ would be in modern English. And the Christians believe that when He said this He was not expressing a sentiment but stating a fact—just as one is stating a fact when one says that a lock and its key are one mechanism, or that a violin and a bow are one musical instrument. The inventor of the human machine was telling us that its two halves, the male and the female, were made to be combined together in pairs, not simply on the sexual level, but totally combined. The monstrosity of sexual intercourse outside marriage is that those who indulge in it are trying to isolate one kind of union (the sexual) from all the other kinds of union which were intended to go along with it and make up the total union. The Christian attitude does not mean that there is anything wrong about sexual pleasure, any more than about the pleasure of eating. It means that you must not isolate that pleasure and try to get it by itself, any more than you ought to try to get the pleasures of taste without swallowing and digesting, by chewing things and spitting them out again” (C. S. Lewis).

With a couple of friends getting married in just over a week, this seemed appropriate. The Bible does say that the two become one. The Bible also says that human marriage done right is a testimony to and picture of how Christ loves his own Bride, The Church, and gave Himself up for her.

I believe that a good marriage happens when two people, called by God, find out they can serve together better than they could apart and make their home a mission and their marriage a ministry.

Recently, I saw the spitting image of a car I used to drive before the Jeep era began. Back in the day, i.e. before 2003, I drove a 1993 Ford Taurus very similar to this one pictured above. It had a maroon interior with bucket seats, but otherwise, it was identical.

Flashbacks like this one are fun. It doesn’t make me want to go back and buy another Taurus, but it’s a reminder of where I’ve been. It was a great car (except for the A/C which never worked right and left me a sweaty mess in the middle of summer).

But I’ve since upgraded to the Jeep, so I feel like my cool factor has gone way up.