July 11 – “Wedding craziness”

The weirdness actually started the night before.  I got a phone call from a friend who used to live in Lubbock and still has family there.  Her sister had just called to say that some friends of hers were in Galveston.  That in itself is not so unusual, right?  People from Lubbock coming to the coast for a little vacation.  The unusual thing was their request.  They had been together for over a year, and on the spur of the moment they wanted to get married here in Galveston.  Karen was calling to see if I would be willing to do that.  They really wanted it to be a “Christian wedding” rather than something done by a justice of the peace.  I told her I could make it happen, but the couple needed to give me a call directly instead of having two “middle men” involved.  Well, that connection was made with no problem.  And one of the first things I asked about was the license.  The groom assured me they had done that first thing that morning.  Next question: “And when do you want to do the ceremony?”  Therein came the issue.  They wanted to meet me at the beach that night.  I had to ask the final question: “Do you realize that the license is not valid for 72 hours from the time you apply for it?”  Silence.  I guessed that was not something they had been apprised of.  So I continued with an explanation about getting a waiver.  It would require contacting a judge and assuring him you knew what you were doing.  He agreed to get that done and call me the next day.

His call came in about mid-morning.  They saw the judge.  Pulled him out of a finance committee meeting, in fact.  I kind of snickered and sarcastically remarked, “I’m sure he was devastated to have to miss that.”  They were laughing because they had done some research and discovered that Galveston was one judge short.  Something about legal action against him.  Sigh.  Welcome to Galveston.  They also got a kick out of the judge’s secretary and her explanation of the reasoning behind having to get a waiver.  “It’s so you can prove to him that you’re not drunk and doing something stupid.  This isn’t Las Vegas, you know.”  Well, there you go.  Couldn’t have said it better myself.  We set to meet at the church at 6 and walk down to the beach for the ceremony. 

Around 4:15 we got another call.  Not from the couple.  This time it was April.  She had been in a wreck on her way home from work and couldn’t get hold of Nathan.  Chris told her to call the police, and I jumped in the car to go check on her.  She had been traveling west on the seawall when a tourist traveling east decided it was time to turn left into his hotel … right in front of her.  She honked repeatedly, but sadly, to no avail.  He just kept coming.  April did her best to avoid the crash, even headed right for one of those grand green city beach trash cans, but still he kept coming.  I suppose it could have been much worse.  No one was hurt (Although April did confess that she bumped her head.  Watch that girl for a day or two, Nathan).  There were three children in the other car, none of which were in seat belts.  That could have been bad news, too.  By the time I arrived Nathan had called April back and arranged for a wrecker owned by the family of one of the fire fighters.  She was a bit shaken up, but fine.  The officer completed his dealing with the other driver.  Looked to me like he got a ticket, but I couldn’t say for sure.  The wrecker arrived and the officer essentially dismissed April.  I took a few pictures with my phone, and we headed home.  Nathan and Cailyn were meeting us at our house. 

Oh, remember the wedding?  I made it with minutes to spare.  Even had time for a quick bowl of homemade chicken and dumplings.  The friend and go-between was there to be the official wedding photographer and limo service to the beach (actually, they gave us ride in their golf cart, but limos service sounds so much more romantic).  It was a lot of fun, and they handled the serious parts very well.  I said it before and I’ll say it again, “They are no longer two people, but one.  And no one should separate a couple that God has joined together.”

Mark 10:6-9 says, “But at the beginning of creation God 'made them male and female.'   7 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife,   8 and the two will become one flesh.'  So they are no longer two, but one. 9 Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.”

Father, walk with that couple through the next phase of their life together.  Amen.