What Just Happened?

A Time To Praise God - Proverbs 16:9

Most of the time in our lives we feel like we are "in control". We make plans. We follow mostly a routine and "life goes on". We see others having accidents. We may have an unexpected, but understandable reason to end up in urgent care or the emergency room at the hospital because hey, things happen. But then there are times that are like, what just happened?

For months my fiance and I were looking for a middle ground area to just have a very small vows and document signing ceremony, no big formal wedding. We had a notary public lined up for the event in South Carolina near Charlotte, North Carolina. But the weather has turned colder and wasn't conducive to an outdoor venue as we envisioned. The notary we had found was from a further distance and had a higher fee. So last week, last moment we started looking for a more enclosed location. In doing so I 'stumbled' across a notary closer to where we had targeted for the small event. I made a call, asked about the date. All was okay for Friday, December 6, 2024 at 11:00 AM. Though we told our children, her three and my six in the end only one of our children and a granddaughter could make it. We well understood the timing wasn't good for most of them.

Another question we had bantered back and forth was "Are you sure about this?". "Well, are you sure about this?" "Are we sure about this?" Since it was for the rest of our lives we very reasonably wanted to be absolutely sure. Yeah, you know it's absolutely the right thing, but still you wonder. We wanted to be sure.

And so we got off sixteen minutes later than we wanted from her place. Though some traffic on the interstate was heavy at some point it wasn't a bad drive, just a bit longer than I had planned. Even so we arrived with three minutes to spare. My middle daughter very shortly afterwards parked behind us.

As I knocked at the door to ask for Patricia, the notary, the husband answered the door. It wasn't an office like I had thought, but a personal residence. The man graciously invited us into the home. His wife the notary was slightly delayed. First I noticed a table filled with a Bible and Bible study materials. When he asked if we were there to get something notarized I replied, "No, to get our marriage certificate signed." That immediately became a different situation altogether. His wife came into the dining area where the husband had completely cleared the table. I presented the wedding certificate (in triplicate) to Patricia. Before we began her husband prayed for us. Patricia asked if we had our vows. We did. We had worked on them mentally for months first, then in writing more recently. As we read them, first myself, then my wife to be hers we heard the preacher reacting to our thoughts and vows. We then placed rings on each other's ring finger, then were pronounced husband and wife.

Her husband, a preacher of the gospel prayed yet again. The we talked about the things of the Lord, His opening and shutting doors (Revelation 3). We are weak. We have not the strength to open or shut the doors, and sometimes we spend our time trying to open doors God has shut. For those we truly have no strength to reopen. I shared how I had recently heard a preacher tell how only God can open the Red Sea when He chooses and close it when He chooses, all in His time. He leads us to the place where we must depend on Him and only Him. The preacher prayed yet again. Then I just needed to sing the gospel song, "He is mine. He is mine. I am blessed beyond all measure He is mine. His salvation full and free from His death on Calvary. He is mine."

We went expecting your basic office building. We came to a home, and then felt like it was truly a place of worship, an amazing place and time of praise and worship. We wanted to stay, but knew we must leave. We were overly truly blessed with what we thought was just going to be saying vows, signing papers, but that seemed a small thing and so insignificant in comparison to the praise, praying, and worship in that place.

All I could say over and over was, Wow! Thankfully my daughter video recorded much of it and was a witness along with her daughter, one of my grandchildren. I did keep asking, Did that just happen? Having several there to witness, we each can testify that it did.

The confirmation came not from us or the video that captured that time of saying our vows and signing the certificate, but from how God brought praise to Himself. Somewhat like the disciples when the body of Jesus was placed it the tomb none of us had a clue what God had planned. No, I couldn't make this up. In my memory these words don't match the magnitude of it all so I still wonder, Did that just happen?