For those who don't know, I had the honor once again to marry one of my kids.

Ryan was married to his beautiful bride, Megan, on September 20th in Amarillo, Texas. They met three years earlier on the same day and God was faithful to their prayers and ours as they were united in marriage.

As I said at the rehearsal dinner, if God saw fit to take me home to be with him, I will have fulfilled my greatest dreams when it comes to being a dad. I was there at both Erynn's and Ryan's births, baptized them into Christ, and married both of them to wonderful people.

Both Blake (Erynn's husband) and Megan (Ryan's wife) fulfill the only two requirements I had for whomever married my daughter or son: Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength and to learn to love Erynn and Ryan almost as much as I do.  God has been, and continues to be, so faithful to us. 

And now for the word of encouragement.

With all that continues to happen with the uncertainty of the economy, jobs, layoffs, etc., how can we not be concerned or worried? I was reminded once again by my friend Ron Rose this morning when he sent this note out: 

Brennan Manning, author of The Ragamuffin Gospel, writes, “When I get honest, I admit I am a bundle of paradoxes. I believe and I doubt. I hope and get discouraged. I love and I hate. I feel bad about feeling good. I feel guilty about not feeling guilty. I am trusting and suspicious. I am honest and I still play games.” He writes his words to understand, to explore the context of his paradoxes.

When we try to understand life and God and faith without the context,  the story behind words, then we find ourselves wandering in the wilderness. Every problem has a story. Every paradox is connected to a chapter in our story. Every day you live is part of the plot, the adventure, the mystery called life.

We pray for God to remove our bad times, our crisis moments, our illnesses and our tragedies. Then if he doesn’t, we struggle with more than paradoxes. We struggle with God. Blaming God doesn’t stop the pain, but it does stop the story, giving us emptiness instead of understanding.  

Your life is bigger than any problem or crisis or set-back. You just need time to let God help you see the context, the background and the back-story. Pray for eyes that see beyond your vision.

And still for those who believe, check out Psalm 112:4-8.

rb