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Key Bible Verses: "You are so upset over all these details! There is really only one thing worth being concerned about" (Luke 10:41-42). Bonus Reading:Psalm 131:1-3

I officiated at a wedding that started as a disaster. It was a stormy day with the rain pounding against the stained-glass windows. Some main city streets had been closed from flooding, which meant the out-of-town guests were hopelessly lost on side streets and would miss the wedding. Also, for some strange reason we couldn't get the candelabra fully lit. By the time we were supposed to start, the flowers hadn't arrived.

I made a few adjustments in the homily and talked about how fitting it was to have an imperfect wedding for what was always going to be an imperfect marriage, just like every marriage. All of the resolve to get unimportant things just right, I said, was about to mess up the important thing, namely, weaving two lives into one flesh. Although I gave it my best shot, I could still see the anger and hurt in their eyes.

But the moment they turned and faced each other to say their vows, everything changed. The groom's eyes watered up with tears of joy as, for the first time, he really saw his beautiful bride. All of his frustration melted away, as he finally beheld the joy of his life. That got her crying. They got it, just in time.

—M. Craig Barnes in Hustling God

My Response: I'll ask God for wisdom to distinguish the essence from the trappings.

Thought to Apply: You are given a situation. What you are determines what you see; what you see determines what you do.

—Haddon Robinson (seminary professor)

Adapted from Hustling God (Zondervan, 1999) by permission.

Copyright © 2003 by the author or Christianity Today/Men of Integrity magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity.

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Prayer for the Week

Lord, teach me to get along happily with whatever You wisely and graciously choose for me.

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