A Breath of Fresh Air

I attended a very unusual wedding this afternoon.

Unlike so many of the weddings I have been invited to over the past 30 years, the bride was not pregnant.

It was a first marriage for both bride and groom. There were no past abortions; no fatherless children from past relationships; no STDs to be concerned with.

I have known the bride since she was a young teenager at my church. Amy has always impressed me as a beautiful young woman with a gracious spirit, who puts the needs of others ahead of her own. She is held in high esteem by everyone who knows her.

Soon after graduating college, she accepted a position at an English-language school in Guatemala, teaching first grade students of missionary parents. During her time in Guatemala she met, and fell in love with, a handsome young man named Daniel, a native Guatemalan who worked as a youth pastor and helped his father in ministry.

Their love story had the usual twists and turns of doubt, angst, and separation. Ultimately, however, they could not stay away from each other. When Daniel proposed in December of 2011, Amy said, "Yes!"

And so, today, I attended their very unusual wedding.

It was heartwarming to see the two of them as they exchanged vows. It was refreshing to see a young couple who honored God and kept themselves set apart until they were married. It was nice, for a change, to see two young people do it the right way -- the way God intended it to be.

In today's world, a majority of people will laugh at the idea of purity, of faithfulness, of saving yourself for marriage. Come to think of it, the kids I knew back in the day were laughing at these "old-fashioned" notions 40 years ago.

But when I look around at the decay in our culture, I cannot help but wonder how much better off our society would be if there were more people like Daniel and Amy.

Since we Americans are so hell-bent on throwing off the "shackles" of religion, and so busy mocking any suggestion that God might have an opinion about our behavior, should we be surprised at the results?

"Look out any window," goes the Bruce Hornsby song.

When I look out my window I see a community filled with fatherless children. I see welfare moms with 4 or 5 kids from 4 or 5 different "baby-daddies" buying junk food with their food stamps. I see young women having multiple convenience abortions. 

I see broken-hearted men and women going through their third or fourth divorce. I see splintered families, where the parents are so enmeshed in their own self-centered dramas that they don't have anything left of themselves to invest into their children's emotional needs.

I see young people hooked on crack, stealing from their own parents' homes so they can afford their next high. I see withered lost souls hoisting their cardboard signs at the interstate ramps, hoping to pick up enough spare change for the next bottle of cheap wine.

Ever since American society decided to flip God the bird, things haven't been so good around here. Yet nobody seems to make the connection: When a nation walks away from God, there is nowhere to go but down.

A day like today lifts my spirits, and gives me new hope. Watching Daniel and Amy begin their covenant journey reminds me of how beautiful life can be when people choose to walk in obedience to God.

It's a shame that is so unusual today.