Those who guide us

I have some very exciting news…at least it’s exciting for me! Many of the wedding plans seem to be falling into place and it’s all been relatively smooth. We’ve had the issue of the mutating guest list that went from 175 to 300, we’ve had the issue of outgrowing our original location, and we’ve had the issue of not sending invitations out until less than 4 weeks before the wedding. However, one of our biggest issues was left unresolved until just last week…

Lisa and I had been praying about a pastor to marry us and it seemed like every way we turned things just didn’t work out. We tried the pastor at Lisa’s church, then tried the pastors at Highlands, where we’ve been attending, and everybody was busy. We started to wonder if maybe this was a sign!
Then I thought of my good friend Scott. He and his wife live in Indiana with their 2 year old son Aaron and when it hit me that he might be able to marry us, it just made sense. Scott is one of those people who as you look back on your life, you don’t realize how much of an influence they had on you until years later. Scott and Deanna were the first youth pastors I worked under as a leader in the youth group. My freshman year of college, my friend Chelle needed to work with a youth group for one of her classes and asked me if I was interested in helping…and driving her there each week! Little did I know how that would change my life.
I remember my first night with the youth group as Scott is yelling toward the kids to wrap each other up in toilet paper as fast as they can. Then he looked at me when it was all over and asked me to judge. That was my initiation into Junior High Youth ministry.
Since then I’ve worked for Scott under various circumstances–Wednesday night youth groups, college retreats, summer camp…and as the years go by I realize how much his enthusiasm and passion have rubbed off on me. Working for Scott has shown me what it means to work because you love what you do and because of the impact you have on people’s lives.
As we prepare for the wedding in just 3 weeks, I cannot express how excited and honored I am to have Scott marrying Lisa and me. As a role model who’s shown me what it means to live in God’s presence, I can’t think of a better person to also join us together in that same presence.