This is My Story

Julie, my wife, will celebrate her birthday this Saturday. The other day I was at a card shop looking for that perfect card, which would express my love to her. I came upon a "Wedding" card that had these words written in it: "We live two lives, the second one starts when we are married." Nice sentimentality to be sure - in fact, I almost bought it. But as I reflected on it, I realized that it is profoundly mistaken. The truth is that we live two lives, and the second one starts when you are baptized, or in the words of my favorite theologian, when you "catch up to your baptism." That is, your second life truly begins when you come to saving faith in Christ.

When Julie and I were married, we both were walking with God; therefore, our marriage did not begin a new life, but rather was a glorious continuation (and one of the finest expressions) of our life with God. This truth was our reasoning for choosing Fanny Crosby's hymn "Blessed Assurance" for Julie to walk down the aisle. An odd choice in the eyes of many, but the words beautifully expressed our sentiments that day:

"This is my story, this is my song. Praising my savior all the day long."

We felt our marriage was part of God's greater story, not only in our lives, but in the Kingdom of God. We felt that God would continue and multiply the good works he had started in each of our lives as we joined together. We wanted the day to be about him, and only about us in so far as our marriage was an expression of his faithfulness. And that is how we have tried to live as a married couple, failing often, but keeping that as our goal.

"This my story, this is my song. Praising my savior all the day long."

As people, our lives change often. We are taken to new places, we start new jobs, we are children, we have children, and the list goes on. But if you are baptized into the community of faith, then these events are all seen as merely parts of the continuous story of God's work in his kingdom. And the story will reach its climax when we depart from this world and are, together with all the saints, married to the lamb. This is why I want "Blessed Assurance" played at my funeral. But this time I will be walking down the aisle, with my wife and others beside me, as we approach Christ, our blessed bridegroom.