The boundless adventure
Love is not a state, it is a movement. Personal contact is not a state, but a fleeting movement that must be ceaselessly rediscovered. Marriage is not a state, but a movement—a boundless adventure.
Paul Tournier (1898–1986)
A good marriage
A good marriage is not one where perfection reigns: it is a relationship where a healthy perspective overlooks a multitude of “unresolvables.”
James C. Dobson
Give me grandchildren!
Those of you who attended the wedding will recognize the title of this post as a quote from Abigail’s father when he announced the traditional tossing of the bridal bouquet. He also said that we do this in part to anger the feminists. I couldn’t agree more!
I know some muddle-headed Christians have talked as if Christianity thought that sex, or the body, or pleasure, were bad in themselves. But they were wrong. Christianity is almost the only one of the great religions which thoroughly approves of the body—which believes that matter is good, that God himself once took on a human body, that some kind of body is going to be given to us even in heaven and is going to be an essential part of our happiness, our beauty, and our energy. Christianity has glorified marriage more than any other religion; and nearly all the greatest love poetry in the world has been produced by Christians.
C. S. Lewis (1898–1963)
Whatever your hand finds to do…
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There are photographers … and then there are Luke and David Edmonson—absolutely the best!
I sense that I may have worn out my welcome with so many posts about a single event, but Joe and Abigail’s wedding set a new standard for what a Christian wedding should be—in every way. And I love to highlight excellence.
When I said “in every way,” I meant “including the photographers.” My wife and I have been involved in portrait, event, and wedding photography for more than 20 years. My wife was named Lifetouch Studios’ National Photographer of the Year in 2007 for her portrait work in the infants to five-year-old age range. In fact, my wife has a wall completely covered with her photography awards. I know I’m a bit biased in favor of her work, but I’m not the only one who thinks my wife’s photography is really great.
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Because we are photographers, we tend to look at photography with a critical eye. We love to see the resultant photos of weddings we attend but that we have not been contracted to do the photography for. Overall, we consider our work to be well above the level of the wedding (and portrait) photography that we have seen.
But Luke and David Edmonson, the wedding photographers who covered Joe and Abigail’s wedding, are the best we have ever seen. They were consummate professionals—putting everyone at ease as they performed their required work with uncommon professionalism. They directed the wedding party and the attendees when needed and just seemed to always be in the right place at the right time to catch those spontaneous special moments that happen so often at weddings and wedding receptions.
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I’ve enjoyed sharing the photos I took at Joe and Abigail’s wedding, but now you need to go to EdmonsonWeddings.com to see work by photographers who are completely out of our league. When you reach their site, click the link to “Weddings.” Then hover over “Portfolio” and then choose “Featured Wedding.” This may not be the “Featured Wedding” for long, so you’ll need to do this soon. These pictures will blow you away.
These two photographers are a father and son team and they work together in an almost uncanny way. I was able to observe the son as he covered the ceremony from the front of the church. His instincts are unbelievable. He seems to have a sixth sense for anticipating any emotional interactions or responses to the ongoing events. After the ceremony I watched the two of them make their way among the crowd of attendees, taking informal portraits and journalistic shots of the Joe and Abigail’s friends. They were pleasant, responsive, upbeat—simply the best photographers I have ever seen.
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If you know someone who is engaged to be married, pass along this information to the bride- and groom-to-be. These are the photographers they are looking for.
Simply outstanding!
By the way, the photos in this post are mine—not theirs. You simply have to go to their web site and see how fantastic they are. I know mine pale by comparison. But you just have to see these photos.
As I was taking my own pictures of the wedding, I captured these photographers in action. The remaining photos are the few photos that I got that included these artists.
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Here you can see the son directing the pose
while the father takes the shot.
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You can see the son in the background
taking a picture from the opposite angle.
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O Happy Day!
Here is one verse of Scripture that, as a young believer, I used to repeat often, for it was very dear to me. It is this: “Bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar” (Psalm 118:27). I did feel then that I was wholly Christ’s. In the marriage covenant of which the Lord speaks, when the Husband put the ring upon His bride’s finger, He said to her, “You have become Mine.” I remember when I felt upon my finger the ring of infinite, everlasting, covenant love that Christ put there. Oh, it was a joyful day, a blessed day! Happy day, happy day, when His choice was known to me, and He fixed my choice on Him! That blessed rest of soul that comes from a sure possession of Christ is not to be imitated, but it is greatly to be desired.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, My Conversion
Focused on Christnot on self
Successful marriage is always a triangle: a man, a woman, and God.
Cecil Myers
Abigail and Joe’s wedding brought many surprises. Throughout the ceremony I had my camera prepared to capture the next expected phase of the wedding and most often that expectation did not happen. I quickly began to see a pattern whenever these unexpected turns showed up. Each time something departed from the traditional marriage, the focus of those in attendance was being redirected toward Jesus Christ.
The first of these unexpected moments came when the peliminary music came to a stop. I expected the groom and groomsmen to appear from one of the side doors. What happened was that our pastor, Mike O’Brien, walked to the platform, explained that Joe and Abigail wanted a clear presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ to be made to those in attendance. Pastor Mike gave an outstanding message dealing with the biblical nature of marriage (established by God for one woman to be married to one man), the responsibilities of the bride and groom (the bride’s responsibility to submit and the groom’s responsibility to love as Christ loves the Church), and the need for everyone to come to Christ who died to save from their sins all who would turn to him for salvation.
Our salvation day eclipses your marriage day, for union to Christ will bring you greater joy than the happiest of marriage bonds. If you have ever received the honors of the State, gained distinction in learning, attained a position in society, or arrived at a larger wealth, all these are but dim, cloudy, foggy days compared with this “morning without clouds” (2 Sam. 23:4). On that day, your sun rose, never to go down again. The die was cast. Your destiny for glory was openly declared.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Power In the Blood
The message was clear and simple, as the gospel is. Pastor Mike did not back off of things that fly in the face of our politically correct culture. And he appealed to all who did not have a personal relationship with Christ to seek out one of the pastors in attendance (there were many) and to remedy the situation that day. He said that Joe and Abigail would consider it a great privilege to know that someone had come to Christ as a result of their wedding.
for the couple’s life together
Later in the ceremony, the preacher (Joe’s father), asked Eric Graves, Abigail’s brother-in-law, to come up to the altar to pray for the couple’s life together and to ask God for his blessing on this marriage. The prayer was motivating and moving. This prayer focused our attention on the fact that God is the foundation of marriage and reminded us that “unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain” (Psalms 127:1). This departure from tradition speaks volumes about the strength that this marriage will have.
Another wonderful departure from tradition came at the moment that I expected the preacher to declare Joe and Abigail “man and wife.” I raised my camera eyepiece to my eye to prepare for the upcoming kiss. But instead of the pronouncement and the traditional kiss, the preacher told us that Joe and Abigail had requested that at this moment all of us in attendance sing the Keith Getty hymn, “In Christ Alone.” Here are the words to this wonderful hymn:
In Christ alone my hope is found;
He is my light, my strength, my song;
This cornerstone, this solid ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My comforter, my all in all—
Here in the love of Christ I stand.In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save.
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied;
For ev’ry sin on Him was laid—
Here in the death of Christ I live.There in the ground His body lay,
Light of the world by darkness slain;
Then bursting forth in glorious day,
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory,
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me;
For I am His and He is mine—
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.No guilt in life, no fear in death—
This is the pow’r of Christ in me;
From life’s first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No pow’r of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home—
Here in the pow’r of Christ I’ll stand.
Anticipation
It is the same with us today. We are waiting for the day when we will put on our proper garments and be manifested as the children of God. You are young princes, and you have not yet been crowned. You are young brides, and the marriage day has not yet come. And because of the love your fiancé shows you, you long and sigh for the marriage day. Your very happiness makes you groan; your joy, like a swollen spring, longs to leap up like some Iceland geyser, climbing to the skies. Your joy heaves and groans deep within your spirit because it does not have enough room to express itself to others.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Power In the Blood
Symbol of the bride of Christ
Ephesians 5:22 – Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
All brides have a lot to deal with as they head into the final stretch prior to their wedding day. Some brides lose control and become known as “bridezilla.” Some brides handle the entire thing with aplomb, but everyone still knows that they have tremendous stress going into the home stretch.
But the cultural/social phenomenon that a wedding has become is caused by stress factors of our own making. When we look at the biblical reasons for a wedding and at the symbolism that is built into the ceremony, we realize that brides have good reason to be stressed.
In a Christian wedding (a bit of a repetitive statement since technically ALL weddings spring from the God of Christianity), the bride is a symbol of the bride of Christ who is to be presented “holy and blameless” and “without spot or wrinkle.” Imagine the pressure on the bride who understands this need to be without blemish. Christian brides have traditionally worn pure white to focus on that symbolism. As Christians, we are “clothed” in righteousness that has been placed there by Christ’s death on the cross—not by our own good works, which would never reach the level of perfection that is demanded (absolute perfection).
Ephesians 5:25-27 – Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
Joe and Abigail obviously understood completely the symbolism of the Christian wedding and the gravity and importance of this symbolism. Abigail’s dress was drop-dead gorgeous, as was she herself. As her father escorted her up the aisle, Abigail’s eyes never left Joe’s face. The bride of Christ is to be fully focused on her groom—Jesus Christ.
The fact that Abigail showed a full understanding of the symbolic nature of a Christian bride indicates that Joe understands his role as well. Joe is representing Jesus Christ, who gave his very life for his bride. Joe must love Abigail with unconditional love. He is called to be willing to go so far as to lay his life down for his bride. And knowing Joe, I know that he is absolutely prepared to do just this for Abigail should that need arise.
What God has joined together
After a heavy workweek that produced very few blog posts, I have a boatload of posts for this week—but they are all about the same event.
Yesterday we attended the beautiful wedding of Joe McKinley and Abigail Hamilton, a young couple that attended our church while they were students at Liberty University. This wedding was so beautiful and God-honoring that it may not be possible to put it into words … but I’m going to try.
Come back each day to read a little bit more and to see more of the photos.
Success in marriage is more than finding the right person: it is being the right person.
Robert Browning (1812–1889)
The big day
After a long and grueling work week (68 hours in four days), yesterday my family headed south to Columbia, South Carolina, to attend the wedding of a wonderful couple. We had a good trip. The best thing being that when we left Virginia it was about 32 degrees outside and when we arrived in Columbia, S.C., it was about 70 degrees. Even though Virginia was the capitol of the Confederacy, sometimes it just doesn’t feel “south” enough. I was born in Yankee territory, but in God’s grace and mercy he moved me to Virginia before I was old enough to be tainted by Northern ways.
Weddings are a wonderful reminder of the “circle of life,” as it was called in the Lion King. It’s so easy to forget the earlier stages of life when we are living through other stages. Romance, courtship, love, planning for the future … these are all wonderful stages of our lives. And it’s delightful to see younger couples who are dedicated to the Lord and to each other as they embark on the journey of life together.
Many years ago, people lived all their lives in the same village. They learned together, played together, worshiped together, got married, worked, and lived all their lives with the same ever-growing group of people. They learned commitment to each other. They learned how to live together in spite of recognizing each other faults. They learned to be accountable. Our mobility, while be a great benefit in some areas of our lives, has contributed to a loss of those positive things. I regret that loss.
I pray that our friends Joe and Abigail will be blessed with a community of people who love and live with them and encourage them in their walk with God.
It’s an exciting day today.
By His grace - For His glory 