By streams of Living Water

I feel like I'm still catching up on things of this summer. When you're mostly disconnected, that's probably not an entirely bad thing.

Post-camp, I mad a wild dash to the Grand Rapids-Holland-Muskegon zone for Ben and Lauren's wedding. It was a good time, though the beginning had a rather interesting start-I felt vaguely in a video game where I'm seeking the one elusive spot where you can park in Grand Haven (NO ONE remembered to warn me that my friend was getting married on the weekend of the Coast Guard Festival!), so I totally missed dinner. It did make for an interesting experience to meet up with my friends in Spring Lake.

But I digress. While hunting for presents/a card with Leah up in Muskegon, she and I both got really sick of all the saccharine, cookie-cutter wedding cards that we found at Hallmark at the mall. Wedding card shopping is tough, mostly because of what I described. There's nothing that sets any of them apart anymore, so to do that while staying appropriate takes a bit of patience and hunting, unless you have the time and planning to make your own card or send pictures to the store. I didn't, so I had to wing it. Thankfully, Leah and I *DID* find a card with a passage from Jeremiah (I think it was chapter 31) that stuck as something Ben & Lauren would like.

Oddly enough, Ben & Lauren picked a Scripture (Psalm 1:1-3) for their wedding that was unique, too. Rather than talking about two becoming one flesh or what love is, they took the idea in a completely different direction.

¹Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
²but his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

³He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.

The minister who performed the ceremony mentioned how she was surprised at this selection, but mentioned how as she studied the passage over and over, how it really *IS* perfect for a wedding, and how it wasn't meant just for the new husband and wife. It was for everyone listening.

And I had to agree - as I sat there, pondering the words of the psalmist, thinking about how a blessed man gains life to the fullest is by the streams of living water and by truly delighting in the teachings from the Word, I thought to myself, "This is what it is. This is what we meant at camp. This is being a rebel. A revolution."

Thanks Ben & Lauren, for a good reminder. Your minister was right - it was for EVERYONE. It was a great wedding (and that was quite a reception arrival - on a SAILBOAT!).