Your Daughter's Wedding

All of you fathers out there who have ever given away a daughter in marriage know how it feels. All you who haven't don't. That's the facts. I've been the preacher at a lot of weddings and I've seen fathers give their daughters away and I felt for them, knowing that some day I would have to do the same. But nothing prepared me for last Saturday.
She had asked me to do a blessing. Now it's dangerous to let a father speak. And it's doubly dangerous to let a preacher speak. But when you're dad is a preacher, that makes it even more frightening. I knew what I was going to say. Rehearsed it several times. When I stood before them and the crowd, my mind went absolutely blank. It was as if I could not speak at all. And it didn't help to see the tear streaming out of her eye. I tried and nothing came out. What I wanted to say was from Judges 18 when several Danites asked a young Levite three questions. Three good questions. Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? Why are you here?
Who? The auditorium was full of those who had brought them to that place in their lives. Friends and family who had influenced over the years. People who had meant so much. Everyone of them had a part in bringing them
What? It was a wedding. A wedding is different than a marriage. A wedding is an event, but a marriage is a lifetime. And I need all of those who were there Saturday to be a part of their lives because marriage is hard. They'll need God's help and ours. I'm not saying that because I predict problems. I'm saying that because Satan will do his best to destroy there relationship. He does it to all of us. So please, Lord, be with them.
Why? They were there to make a commitment to each other before God and all of us who had influenced their lives somewhere along the way.
When the Danites asked the Levite about their journey, he told them, "Go in peace. Your journey has the Lord's approval." That's really what I wanted to say. Instead, in my blithering way, I stumbled through a blessing.
It's never easy to let your first born go. It's even harder when she's a girl. But I pray the Lord will bless them. And I pray their journey has the Lord's blessing.
Once again, please give me some time off from blogging. I'll be back next Monday. I'm helping friends move to California this week and I won't be near a computer. So, have a good day. I'll talk to you next week.

JW