With This Ring....The Power of Two

 

A Happy Saturday to YOU, fair reader!  What is happening in YOUR neighborhood today?  We got another soft, soaking shower again today in Montgomery County; and the plants are smiling!  

Yesterday was my 16th wedding anniversary!   Just a glance over at Wikipedia to quench my undying curiosity to see if perhaps there was an algorythmic or cataclysmic or revelatory siginificance to the number 16.  Wiki revealed two things that stuck out to me:  #1 16 is the Coming of Age, for quite obvious reasons in our culture.  Sweet Sixteen and all the pop culture songs celebrating that magical coming of age.    Digging a little deeper....

"Sixteen is the fourth (#2) power of two. For this reason, 16 was used in weighing light objects in several cultures. The British used to have 16 ounces in one pound; the Chinese used to have 16liangs in one jin. In old days, weighing was done with a beam balance to make equal splits. It would be easier to split a heap of grains into sixteen equal parts through successive divisions than to split into ten parts. Chinese Taoists did finger computation on the trigrams and hexagrams by counting the finger tips and joints of the fingers with the tip of the thumb. Each hand can count up to 16 in such manner. The Chinese abacus uses two upper beads to represent the 5's and 5 lower beads to represent the 1's, the 7 beads can represent from a hexadecimal digit from 0 to 15 in each column."

The power of two!   Yep, this has significance to me.  The Bible says that if one can put 1,000 to flight, then two can put 10,000!   Also, Ecclesiastes, that sage book written by Solomon states, "A strand of 3 cords is not easily broken".


For me and my husband, our marriage was witnessed by many, but most of, by God Himself.  I like that

in this photo, loud and clear, and with bold, red italic font, we see here our Solemn Witness, the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself.   As Christians, we make a covenant with God to love unconditionally, and to the end:  One Man, one Woman, and One God.   The very first institution God established was the institution of marriage, in the Garden.  When He instituted that, He also gave Man + Woman dominion over all of His Creation; to rule and to reign.   We see this shattered today in our society as marriage is continually assaulted by those who want to erode our society from the inside out, but nevertheless the testimony of God stands sure; for Scripture says, "The LORD knows them who belong to Him..."   He gives us the power to both will and do His good pleasure.  


I guess I am kind of whimsically enthralled with these photos today, being delighted that though they are film pictures, that I could successfully scan them on my Epson Workforce printer and upload them, thus preserving them digitally!  That's pretty exciting to me, since I am a digital girl...heehee....  A big plus, of course, is getting to photoshop these images and have fun with them, and to glory in the fact that the "younger me" was really quite beautiful, if I do say so myself.  ;)   And to vow, however I can, to try to revive that beauty again.....somehow.   


Joe Taylor and I met 4 years before our marriage.   He was fresh froma travelling workman lifestyle, a lifestyle of bravery, hard work, a rock and roll lifestyle, hard living and hard knocks.   Married at an early age but not willing to really settle down (18 is YOUNG, y'all!) he lost his first wife to divorce and estranged from his little girl.   He has hung iron on scyscrapers, hung over ships welding, hung over mountains, bridges, and trains to leap off, and then hung his heart on me!     I felt honored when he wrote me my first song, gave me his first kiss, and "went steady" on Valentine's Day, 1995.


I was the Rambling Girl; travelling 6 states by the age of 6, and then 32 nations by the time I was 30!   Learning how to read and write the Thai Language, braving the Amazon Jungle and River, climbing mountains in Golden Triangle, smuggling Bibles into China,  and living on a ship carrying relief supplies to war torn areas.  I had been lost at sea, lost in sin (before that), lost in Los Angeles, and lost in love.    But when I met Joe, I saw a man who was ready to settle down, and a man who would be true.   We married in July of 1995.

Here are my lovely bridesmaids.   My sister Erin was my Matron of Honor, and she was pregnant with my nephew at the time.   My best friend Sharon, my daughter in law, my  wonderful friend and Pastor's Wife and her daughter and another close friend to "got us together" so to speak attended me.   My best friend's daughter, and another close friend's daughter were flower girls.   I had a processional of dancing girls who led the celebration with a worship song, and a worship service preceded our event.   It was also a reunion;  I saw some smiling faces out in the audience who I did not know, and later found out that our Worship Leader was 2nd cousins with Joe's brother!  Small Small world!

How embarrassing....we sort of did a "budget" wedding.....since we both didn't have any money; he had just started  his construction business that year (poor thing-what a stressful year for him!), and I of course had been a missionary for 13 years before that....so I think our whole wedding was done on less than $500!  Now, that's a deal!   Our reception was done in the children's Sunday School building and they were remodeling....lol!   Haha.  Oh well!   Maybe I can photoshop the sheetrock mud and tape and float off the picture!

My Daddy walked me down the aisle, and poor thing, he was SO sick that we thought he would not even be able to make it to the wedding.   He didn't even let my little brother buy a ticket he was so sure that he would not live to survive the trip.   So in the end Todd did not come as it would have been exhorbitantly expensive for him to fly last minute.  That was a sad occasion for me.  I loved my DAD so much and was so happy that he was able to !

Here is Joe with his late brother, Jay.  I loved Jay SO much and miss him terribly.   Here they are cutting up.......as usual.  

I really like this picture; not sure when it was snapped, but I think it might have been during the vows?

Notice I am smiling and laughing.    I distinctly remember a little giggle during the "I promise to submit to you part".   Lol.....

Here's the exit photo.    

Did look ecstatic or what?!     Our wedding party:

So you see, a Wedding really is A Family Affair.  Two lives, completely separate, now joined by an Unseen God who chooses to show Himself strong to those who will take Him at His Word.   Bound together, in covenant, backed by the power of Heaven; the First Divine Institution, unshakeable, unmoveable, destined to bring glory to the One who gave Himself to establish Covenant, Redemption, Family, and Dominion.   

I really choose to believe what Wikipedia said about the number 16.   Coming of Age, and the Power of Two.  I believe that this coming year, our marriage, like a fine vintage wine will come of age, and be enjoyed, not only by ourselves and our daughter, but by those around us; bringing stability in these troubles times.   And I choose to believe; to grasp, apprehend, and take hold of the dominion covenant for our lives, marriage, business, ministry and families:  The Power of Two, a strand joined by a Third, though Unseen Party; a cord which cannot be unraveled by stress, worry, fear, issues past present and future.  He who is Faithful has chosen us, and He will do it!

I hope I have encouraged you, fair reader by my story!  Thanks for allowing me to share today!

P.S.   There is alot more to the idea of marriage than just wedded bliss.  For a complete commentary and a really thought provoking in depth read on marriage, here is a great book!

Comment, please!  What is your favorite wedding memory?  What have  you learned on your journey as a married couple?