The Big 1–0

I remem­ber see­ing a ser­mon series once titled “Mar­riage: Clos­est Thing To Heav­en, Clos­est Thing To Hell.” Bril­liant title.

Ten years ago at this time I had just fin­ished hid­ing my car from my grooms­men to pre­vent any unto­ward pranks and was at First Assem­bly of God in Lafayette, LA get­ting ready to be mar­ried under the aus­pices of Eric Treuil (who was using the author­i­ty invest­ed in him by God and the state of Louisiana).

Three quick mem­o­ries:

  • Paula was very beau­ti­ful in her bridal dress.
  • I began fid­get­ing with my ring while still in the sanc­tu­ary, a habit I’ve con­tin­ued to this day. I don’t know why, but when­ev­er I’m thinkig about some­thing I’ll either spin it around on my fin­ger or take it off and put it back on a few times. What­ev­er the cause, you can see me doing it on the wed­ding tape as we recess out of the sanc­tu­ary.
  • I had a pile of eclairs as my grooms cake cour­tesy of high school bud­dy George Byron Noel. He’s a real­ly good chef and my cake was deli­cious (as my broth­er can attest, since he ate approx­i­mate­ly half of it 🙂 ).

We head­ed out on a hon­ey­moon that includ­ed a stop in New Orleans and cul­mi­nat­ed in a stay at South­ern SALT (now known as the Upris­ing) where I will be preach­ing in just a few days. It’s fun­ny how things seem to come full-cir­cle some­times.

10 years. Much clos­er to heav­en than hell by my reck­on­ing.

Hap­py anniver­sary, Paula. I’d mar­ry you again in a heart­beat.

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