Saturday Amy Michelle Ethridge became Amy Ethridge Dodson.  It was a day of celebration and joy for the Ethridges and Dodsons as Amy and Austin began lilfe as husband and wife.

Even though Amy is our daughter (Pam and me), I have to say the service was worshipful.  And the reception was a joyful occasion with many friends and family in attendance.  We had plenty of food… there was plenty to drink (Non-alcoholic sparkling grape juice.  Hey… I AM a Baptist minister after all!)… with laughs abounding.  The only thing I didn’t like was that it all ended too quickly… but one day it won’t.

You see… Christian weddings are to be a preview of the Wedding Feast in heaven with Jesus and HIS Bride The Church.  That celebration will put ours to shame.  That celebration will never end.  That celebration will go on forever and ever and ever.  On THAT day there will not be ANY tears because of two leaving their family to begin a new one.  On THAT day GOD’S FAMILY will be united as one, in glory, in heaven.  And oh what a day that will be!

For me, from the time Pam and I walked Amy down the aisle I was thinking of heaven… the future… eternity.  I had in my mind that on a day not long from, now THE BRIDE OF CHRIST in all her beauty and perfection will stand before the loving Father of Eternity… The Great I AM.  Then He will look at His Son and His Son’s Bride and say… “WELL DONE!”

Earthly weddings and Christian marriages are intended to reflect the relationship between Christ and His Bride… The Church.  Read carefully the following passage from Ephesians 5:18-33…

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart, 20  giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21  submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

22  Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, His body, and is Himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

25  Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26 that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word, 27 so that He might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.  28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of His body. 31  “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Austin Dodson!  To God be all the glory!!