Anna and Nathaniel were married on July 20, 2013.  Nathaniel’s grandparents pioneered an Evangelical Seminary in Germany.  His parents continued the work there and that is where Nathaniel was raised until he went to University in America.  Anna and Nate met during their first week in Medical School in the University of Alabama, Birmingham.

Anna, Mom, Liz, and Tabby all wore Indian sarees.  We road to church in a “London Cab”.

It was a joyous time for the whole family.  Just over 100 people were in attendance including from Anna’s primary school, secondary school & track team, friends from our old neighborhood, our old church here as as well as our new church.  People came from Hong Kong (family and friends), Malaysia, Thailand, China, and even the US, besides Singapore.

I had the privilege of sharing the Wedding Message and Pronouncing them Husband and Wife.  Three other pastors also participated in the ceremony.  Thanks to Pastors Ong, Lip, and James!

Joyce and I were so honored to welcome Nathaniel Rogers into our family, and to give our first daughter to marry in such a beautiful ceremony.  Many spoke of the tangible presence of God.  Liz sang “How Beautiful” to violin, cello, and flute accompaniment.  There was hardly a dry eye in this old, 1835 Armenian Church.  It must have been quite an experience for the numerous Muslims, handful of Hindus, and the smattering of of non-Christians who had come.

Thank you for sharing our joy with us on this amazing and glorious day!

ADDITIONAL PHOTOS

This shot was taken at our home before we left for the church.  Elizabeth’s boyfriend Anthony was also with us (he lives in Thailand), and even helped lead worship and accompany on the guitar for Liz’s offeratory and the recessional.

What a privilege to walk my firstborn down the aisle!  The Armenian Church was quaint and truly classic.  It only sits around 90 people, so some of the folks had to stand in the sides and back.  Still, it couldn’t have been better : )

As you can see, my “girls” except Charlotte wore Indian sarees.  I decided against it too.  But Nate, Nathan, and Jeremy also found Indian outfits which all seemed to come together just nicely.  The whole celebration was international from the gitgo.  Nate raised in Germany.  Anna in Hong Kong.  Between them the speak 7 different languages (German, Spanish, French, Mandarin, Cantonese, Arabic, and, oh yes, English).  Indian outfits, Armenian Church, all performed in Singapore for Americans.

The mother of the bride was breathtakingly beautiful.  I was ready to get married all over again myself!  Hard to believe this was taken just days shy of our 27th anniversary.

Thanks for sharing our joyous day with us through these memories~

This blog is excerpted from the message I shared at my daughter Anna’s wedding. I have edited it for a more general application which can be for us all in many aspects of our lives, but put in the context of marriage.

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared
for those who love Him.” 1 Cor 2:9

I’d like to tell you something that I have discovered about God; He LOVES to surprise us. He LOVES to prepare these really awesome things for us, and then present them to us at just the right moment.

Consider how God prepared and then surprised Adam with Eve. Here’s the picture. God first brings all the animals to Adam to name. Now there are a LOT of animals out there, so this must have taken a very LONG TIME. The variety, the engineering, the colors, the exquisite design, their crazy and wonderful functions, had to have left Adam with an ever increasing, deeper and deeper sense of awe and inspiration. And then came the garden itself, with all its trees, varieties and flavors of fruits, plants, and flowers with all their richness of color and fragrances. I mean, I recently went to the Singapore National Orchid Garden and discovered there are 25,000 different types of orchids alone!

In case you hadn’t thought about this, GOD PREPARED ALL THESE THINGS FOR US TO ENJOY, along with the stars, and fish, and on and on…

As great as all these things were, God still had one more surprise up His sleeve. While he was sleeping, God removed a rib from his side, and out of it he made Eve. Did God need to use a rib? No. He did it to show that Eve had always been a part of him. When God designed him, He already had Eve in mind. Then just at the right moment, He brought her to him. God prepares, God orders, God presents. It is such a beautiful picture of how God works. He is constantly preparing things for and surprising those who love Him.

I know this by experience, for after 27 years of marriage I am awed that God would have done such a wonderful job of preparing my wife especially for me. Surely my eyes could not have seen, nor my ears have heard, not did it enter into my heart that God would have prepared such a remarkable person for me to spend my lifetime with.

Married couples need to hear this message today. They need a vision for what their lives can be like together. That does not mean that life has always been perfect, or will always be perfect for you. But it does mean that the memory of this verse, its truth, that God has painstakingly, meticulously, miraculously prepared a woman for a man and vice versa can help to marriages through the hard times.

Another thing about which I am convinced is when God prepares a good gift, it is not a temporary arrangement. Some think that you start off with a thrilling honeymoon and then it is all down hill from there. Not true. A lifetime is not enough time to discover the wonders of your spouse. God’s gift does not grow stale. It is not in His nature to give a gift that you would grow tired of. His way is to give things which create a perpetual novelty, an undisturbed freshness. I’ve had the privilege of seeing some couples who loved and served the Lord together for more than 60, even more than 70 years. I have been moved to tears when I have considered the richness, quality, and depth of their communion.

Here are a couple thoughts about this verse. First of all, the “eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man” simply put means this: whatever you have imagined a life together under God’s plan to be, it is better. It is NOT better automatically, mind you. You still have to obey Him. You have to walk in His ways, and embrace His will. This is a PROMISE, not a GUARANTEE. There’s a big difference.

The second thought is about the word “prepared”. Now, sometimes it is really important to stop and think about a word, understand its meaning, and then really absorb and digest the implications of its use. This is one of those times.

You see, God is an incredible planner. He has never done something without putting enough thought into it. He has never contrived a half-baked idea. He has never started something well and then gotten distracted. He has never run out of time. He has never run out of resources. And he has never not had enough helpers. So in other words, when God says “I am preparing something for you”, trust me, you are in for something amazing.

Here are two instances in the New Testament where the Greek word hetoimazo is used to highlight what this really means when it says God has prepared something for you.

The first instance is in Eph 2:10, where it says “we are his workmanship (a word which itself is sometimes translated masterpiece, meaning we are like a poem He has written, or a work of art) created in Christ Jesus for good works (created to perform some stunning things) which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” So God has planned these really amazing things to be a product of our lives, and then He prepares the conditions, the opportunities, the people, the resources, the favor, etc. to make them happen. This is one of the places where this word for prepared is used. He is always preparing things for us to be engaged in which are all a part of the grand design of our lives, upon which His signature will be written and then displayed for all to see.

Another instance is in the last book of the Bible, the next to last chapter, which describes the consummation of all things and which comparing us, His church, to a bride who has been prepared and made beautiful for her husband. I can’t imagine a more vivid illustration of God preparing things for those who love Him than this! The preparation of a bride for her husband transcends time and culture. We need only to look at the book of Esther who lived 2500 years ago, to be convinced of this. She spent twelve months to PREPARE herself for her husband. The first six months she bathed daily in oil of myrrh to make her skin soft and supple. The next six months she was doing the Chanel makeover with perfumes and beautifying agents to make herself ready for her husband.

In the same way, God prepares exquisitely, extravagantly, and exhaustively. To put it another way, when God says He is preparing something for us, and He compares it to a bride preparing herself for her wedding day, we can say with complete assurance that this God, our God, this amazing and boundless Planner, when He says He has prepared a woman for a man, and a man for a woman, preparing and provided for your married life together, you can be absolutely certain that it’s going to blow your mind.

Since this verse is not a guarantee, but a promise, it behooves us all to receive this promise, then cherish and hold on to it at all cost. In an age when marriages are under intense attack and people in general cling to hope as to a thread, this is a message of hope. In an hour of desperation, in times of great distress, in an age when the very institution of marriage is under brutal assault, this is no small thing.. People who witness such a couple in the grip of this promise will literally be stirred to believe again…yes, believe that a happy, prosperous, honoring marriage is possible. Hallelujah.

Finally, receiving this promise is not difficult. You really only need to do one thing. Indeed, it is the one thing for which we have been made. You only need to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. You don’t need to be perfect. You don’t need to study Suntse’s Art of War for Marriage, or read all the latest self-help books. Get imput. Study to understand the principles of God’s Word for marriage. But the most important ingredient of a happy life together is not complicated at all. Put Him first. Let Him sit upon the throne of your marriage. Seek Him first, and all the things you want and need will be added unto you. The Father has prepared you for each other. Your eyes have not seen, nor ears heard, nor has it entered into your hearts, just how amazing a Masterpiece you will be when He is finished with you. Amen.

“And Caleb said, ‘You know the word which the Lord said to Moses the man of God concerning you and me in Kadesh Barnea.’”   Josh 14:6

Caleb understood a hugely important principle in fulfilling God’s purpose for his life:  cherish the word of the Lord to you and hang on to it through thick and thin.
How much should we cherish the word of God to us?  How about waiting 45 years for its fulfillment?  You might not even be 45 years old!  The fact that he had to wait all those years had not diminished the promise of God in Caleb’s mind.  If God promised it, He would do it.  If He had spoken it, the Word would come to pass.
Beloved, we cannot look with wonder upon those who seem to live according to a greater purpose and passion, as though they just got a better deal. They just lived by the right principles and frankly, they seized the opportunities and challenges before them.  They were tenacious, refusing to forget, be sidetracked, or distracted.
And it is not just that he would not let go of this promise either.  It was planted SO DEEP that even age, the fact that he was 85 at the time, did not slow him down or deter him from seeing the word of the the Lord come to pass. The word quickened him, emboldened him, and with it came the anointing to accomplish it.   The enemy who stood in the way or Caleb receiving his promise was formidable, and had been entrenched in those strongholds for hundreds of years.
But Caleb would not be denied. In the end, Caleb took the mountain that became the inheritance of his family for generations. In doing so he claimed Hebron, the site of the burial of some of the patriarchs.  He changed the name from Kirjath Arba, named after the greatest giant to have lived, greater even than Goliath, to Hebron, which means to unite or to join.  His obedience opened the doors of blessing and opportunity for many. Indeed, the naming of Hebron proved prophetic. Nearly 400 years later, Hebron was the very site where all the scattered tribes of Israel were united under one ruler, David, declaring “we are your bone and your flesh” (2 Sam 5:1).
Our text ends with the words, “Then the land had rest from war”  v. 14:15  Caleb’s persistence and patience paid off. As such, he becomes an example and inspiration to us all, to cherish and hold on to your promise! God will be faithful to release it to you, at just the right time.