I love weddings. Many pastors share horror stories of bridezillas gone nuclear. I choose to focus on those occasions upon which God was smiling. This past weekend was one such instance. 

     I was granted the privilege of officiating the wedding of my youngest son’s best friend. The nuptial was held on a fall day beside the waters of the Hocking River. The temperature was seventy degrees. The sun was shining. The trees were filled with dazzling colors. No sanctuary has been decorated so magnificently.

     Following the declaration of marriage, the entire bridal party set out in kayaks for a five-mile journey toward the reception site. The blessed couple was accompanied by a flotilla that soon disappeared around a sharp bend. The tiny band of voyagers traversed over swift rapids, descended over steep falls, and occasionally slogged their way through dry channels. The most beautiful aspect of their excursion is that they finished together.

        The writer of Ecclesiastes commented about the wisdom of traveling through life together:

      “God doesn’t intend for you to handle all the pain and stress in your life by yourself. We were wired for each other.”

      In 1782, the hymn writer, John Fawcett, wrote:

            Blest be the tie that binds

            Our hearts in Christian love;

            The fellowship of kindred minds

            Is like to that above.

            We share our mutual woes,

            Our mutual burdens bear;

            And often for each other flows

            The sympathizing tear.