As of about 2:30pm today my little brother is hitched for life. To his first girlfriend! How many of you are going to claim that one?


Not only that, but they have known each other practically their whole lives. We have pictures of them together as little kids. How many of you are going to claim that one??

So they are off to the exotic getaway of Savannah to start a new life. It's cool. They've dated for four years and have been engaged for two. There has definitely been no rushing of this one.



I think this was my 512th wedding of the last several years. But it was certainly a good one, even though nothing went wrong and they rented a limo to drive off in which left me and the other groomsman with a trunk full of newspaper, window chalk, and pop cans and nothing to do. BORING!! But I know where his car is parked in Oklahoma City and I'll be heading back through there in a few days. So, Jason, even if you read this, THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT!!! Hope you enjoyed that limo ride!!

So now two of the three brothers are tied permanently to someone they love. Now all eyes are on me. I know there are a lot of well-intentioned whispers. "Does he have a girlfriend? Hasn't he stopped dating? He's getting older and older." By this point in my life my older brother already had a wife and three children. My grandmother, on the way to the wedding, added to the quips about not being able to be a minister if I am single. I know that somehow last summer the story got spread among my Tulsa friends that I had never kissed a girl. (That's a funny one, if you know my real story). None of this bothers me much, but it is a small hurdle to face every now and then for a guy who exists among groups of people all over the country who have the culture of marriage engrained in their souls - especially church people. It is especially prevalent among these people, particularly the ones who are concerned for my future welfare as a minister. In a Bible-based movement we seem to have forgotten the marital status of Jesus, Paul, Barnabus, Timothy, John the Baptist... and nevermind the hundreds of ministers all around us every year who seem to have no regard for the marriages that God has blessed them with. It's becoming obvious to me that marriage itself in a minister's life indicates nothing. I figure if marriage is to be Godly, it must be set in motion by God. He opens doors and he closes doors. He has opened some doors in my life, and has shut some of them as well. And that's okay. Will I be married someday? My guess is probably. But I subscribe wholeheartedly to this truth: I will never be in a marriage that truly pleases God unless I am okay with living the rest of my life single. If I am fulfilled in my relationship with God enough to not need anything else, then marriage will occupy the proper place for me if God puts it into my life. Are there girls in my life right now that I daydream about the possibility of being married to? Of course, people! But as I know from a large and growing amount of personal experience, God always sets the right thing in motion at the right time - God gives the cues and I act on them.

So, what would I like to do with all this rambling? I want to be able to look back at these satements as a 40 year old single man and say "right on!" I also want to look back at these statements as a 40 year old married man and say - "right on!" I believe God is able to give me a completely fulfilling life either way.

Happy marriage, Jason and Heather!