It was 1984 and one of the men I had led to salvation in Jesus, eight years before, was marrying and he called upon me to be his best man. Just two problems: he was a world away and it was to be a full blown country-western wedding! Yeah, white cowboy hats, western tuxedos and of course everyone had to wear white goat kickers ... It only complicated matters that his chosen was - uhm, not a good choice. She was on the rebound at the time and just wanting to prove to herself that someone would marry her. But then, no one ever listens to me, in his case not until he was sitting in jail on trumped up charges so she was free to file divorce, liquidate assets and make sure nothing could be found out about her boy toy. (darn discernment! that was supposed to be unknown by anyone!) Yeah, she dropped the charges once all of her preparations were in place.
The wedding photos were all shot at a little park on the Platte River in Wheatridge, Colorado. Given the clothing, it was a fitting setting for the photo session. I-70 was yards away but could not be seen due the tilt of the land, so it looked all so rustic with white buffoons running around! During the session, I had seen a woman sitting by herself at one of the tables and crying miserably.
When we were all done with the photo shoot, and most of those had left for a party, I walked over and sat down. She dumped her story on me like a sea lion on a salmon! and I was (due to nature) completely unable to absorb any of her problem. However that is not to say that God did not use me at the moment in time to share the Gospel, direct her to a decent church in the area and give her some general advice about what to do about long term boyfriend - whom was sitting in jail for having beat her up that morning! And here she had been thinking about marriage ...
Let us now advance 10 years and I am on a campout at Mt. Rainier, in Washington state. I did not want to be there, but it was a weird event I got roped into traveling to. I set up my tent, washed up, walked over to the picnic area and sat down. Yeah, guess whom was there! Same woman as from Colorado! What are the odds? Well, I was stunned! She had no memory of me, just living in her pain. Still with the drunk, now married, and oh by the way - pregnant with triplets! Really? What the heck? I had expected her to have left him in jail a decade before. Silly me.
I was again given the story, so quickly was caught up on where her misery is and I became her husband's long distance "friend".
Advancing 20 more years to New Years Eve 2014, whom is there? Yeah, that same woman whom keeps popping up in my life (at least once a year it seems!). So, we talked, we joked, she had a good evening. Her husband the same, but then we are old, odd friends now.
God moves people in and out of our lives constantly. You can chose to be involved or not. If you are involved, well no one will listen to you, you will be cursed by those closest, but you will be contributing to a changed life. Seed planting is just as important, as seed replanting, tending the seed or even the harvest! Everyone loves the harvest, no one likes planting and watering it seems - no glory, no numbers, no status or feel-goodism.
I think as a couple they still struggle. Their kids through the years have had their challenges but overall I think are doing well. One is now headed for college, one is thinking military and the other? Well, no sense rushing decisions ... LOL.
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