The Marriage Mirror

In just about 30 days I will be watching my beautiful bride (to be) walk down the aisle to some lovely tune, fastened around her father's arm- a symbol of his place and honor in her life and also of his authority to give her away in good confidence. We will all be surrounded by a crowd of witnesses, people we love and that love us, people that have paved the way for us and have made a great example of the Holy Union, people that have stood through the seasons of life-we will be surrounded! We will also be overwhelmed, I suspect my eyes will not hold back the flood and neither will hers. I posit my hands will be sweaty with nerve wrecking love and deep fear (a sacred mixture), my knees shaking as we walk through the ceremony to confirm our oaths before those present and seen and above all before those present yet unseen. It will be followed by much laughter and celebration and wonder- but it will be in 30 days!

Today is not that day-yet! Now is the time to anticipate and prepare the way so to speak for that day, that when the wedding feast should come all will be set and ready in order. In this 'limbo' of time being engaged and in our situation being long distance, you learn some things about yourself and about this stage of life no one else could teach you. One of the main things that is principally learned is Hope- if there is one thing learned in an engagement it is hope! It is also how this hope translates into the fibre of everyday life and transforms what would have been a long winded and drab thing into a much appreciated process that brings you a step closer to the long awaited event. I have grown most in hope this year- how to let a promise for the future stimulate and sustain the responsibility for today-this is the heart of hope- to inspire!

It goes without saying that one might have a very endless list of things hoped for in marriage and interestingly enough, even the unmarried have such a list. We posit on hope and on what she offers us as possibilities for the future and we rejoice at the thought and every sound and scent and sight that is even remotely connected to this hope is welcomed with arms wide open.

And yet in light of all this excitement and promise if truth be told, Katie (my fiancée) and I are more eager and excited and pray more for one thing more than our wedding day-the return of our Lord Jesus Christ and consequently the resurrection of the saints. If you can believe it, there is nothing that has given us more continual cause for hope than this singular thought-that any day now and for sure sooner than later, we could be captured in the clouds with Him along with other saints and instantaneously have our mortal, failing and vile bodies be consumed by life himself and Joy himself and inherit forever Christ-likeness and with it immortality! Nothing makes us more giddy and excited than this!

John writes a simple phrase in 1 John 3:2 "...what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is." It is my intimation that the simplicity and fluidity of the phrase slip by us as we read (most times in an effort to get to the 'really meaty stuff') nevertheless, the phrase sheds light on the power and hopefulness of hope. In this case the fulfilment of what was started at our second birth, that is; regeneration (being renewed completely), sanctification (being cleansed completely) and ultimately glorification (being like Christ completely).

The short of it is that marriage is a mirror. A reflection of sorts of what is really yet to happen and everything about it points to that reality! What is more is that every sensation of pleasure, joy and hope resident in the terrestrial version of the Holy Union will be astronomically amplified to incalculable proportions in the celestial and real version of this Union when Christ will return for his Bride the church! 'When he comes we shall be like him...' what a statement loaded with hope and light! It is my thought that the most amazing function of marriage on earth with all its perks and benefits, is to give us a foretaste of what joy shall be when we finally return to the maker of our souls and enter into His rest.

The marriage mirror reflects a greater hope and goal for us to pursue and although I am excited to get hitched next month- oh what better hope and purer joy to have our Lord return, to see him as he is and ultimately to be like him! Maranatha! Come quickly Lord Jesus, Come!

Joy and "The People of God" in Lithuania

I went to City Church in Klaipeda, Lithuania today while on my abroad trip to Europe and Asia. This church service was great because I saw the power of the Joy of The Lord. My idea and experience so far in Lithuania has been very positive. One interesting thing that I have observed is that people in Lithuania do not naturally smile and wave at strangers, this is not necessarily because they are mad or unhappy, but it is just different from the way that I am used to greeting and being greeted in the USA. Getting used to this difference has been interesting for me because I am naturally inclined to think that those people who do not smile are upset.

The one place that I had a different experience was at City Church. This was the first place that we walked into and had people genuinely excited to see our group of students. Also, one of the members of the church exclaimed "People of God!" as we walked in. The abundance of smiles and welcoming "God Bless You's" was totally uplifting and encouraging. These people were shining with the Joy of The Lord. 

How cool it was to worship with brothers and sisters who I may never see again on this earth but will worship with in Heaven for eternity!

Gloria a Dios!

Jake | Allbaugh

In All Things- First!

“He is before all things and in Him all things hold together… that in everything he might have pre-eminence!” Col. 1:17-18

What a word for us today! He is now even now holding all things together which another passage goes on to elaborate that “He is upholding all things by the word of his power” What a wonderful Lord and powerful savior that upholds all things instantly and effortlessly! Think Universe, Mars, Blazing Sun, Beautiful moon, hued skies, vast oceans, rushing rivers, steep falls, wide lakes, high mountains, ominous precipices, weather patterns and then counterbalance that thought with friends, lovers, families, children, babies, smiles, cells, bones, muscles, laughter, humor, emotions, thoughts, decisions, love, hope, ideas, plans, all this and more infinite things he is now upholding effortlessly in his majesty!

Oh may this same Lord continue to be before you, before me, before us! May we do all to purpose for him to have first place, pre-eminence in our life, love and hopes! May he take precedence over our wants, fears, ambitions, desires may he lead where we tremble to tread, may he encourage where we are too weak to walk, may he enfold where we are left alone and cold, may he befriend where we have been left with none, may he teach where we are ignorant, may he inform our imaginations, fuel our love, infuse our joy, extinguish all sin, fulfill our every desire, conquer our every fear, demand every loyal fibre may he be first!

O may we have such a deep desire to see Him pre-eminent in us and all we do! May our lives shadow his and our love reflect his unending and supernatural love for his Bride that he is now interceding for to make and present as  beautiful on that Bright morn when this life shall be over and phantoms shall give way to real men and women, where hopes shall mature to realities, where faith shall give way to sight, where today will open the door to forever!

May this vision enthral us to live each moment as our last and make the most of what has been lent to us!