Renewed

You've got to love weddings. I loved the perspective that I had on one this weekend. I had the privilege of performing a wedding for a young couple this weekend, our friends Amanda and Kellen. Weddings are such exciting and purposeful events. Everyone's smiling at weddings, or even shedding tears of joy. People gather at weddings to celebrate the union of a friend or a loved one. Weddings instill hope for the future and they represent a celebration of family legacy. Family members of the Bride and the Groom are filled with pride as they recount the lifetime investments that they have made into the lives of the Bride or the Groom. While we celebrate the Bride and the Groom, marriage ceremonies are also a great time of reflection for everyone attending. The ceremony reminds us that marriage is a reflection of an even more significant relationship, that of Christ and His church, and for married couples the ceremony renews the vows our own marriages.

Renewal is a pivotal process for everyone. Renewal speaks to a process by which we recalibrate our focus and our priorities. We pause intentionally to remember our values and to put first things first. Life can quickly create a gravitational pull that makes our lives reactive and out of order. Unintentionally, we married people can make incremental sacrifices to our marriage relationships in favor of trying to manage all of the other relationships and related responsibilities in our lives. If we let it happen, the "urgent" will overtake the important every time. There is a limit to our mental and emotional margin. We can't expend all of our energy on other people and neglect the relationship that's second only to a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. I'm certain that I'm going to disappoint people in this life by not granting them all the time and energy that they want from me. I'm also certain that I don't ever want those disappointed people to be my wife or my children. Our time is limited so in turn the number of meaningful relationships we can have is also limited. We must make proactive, wise choices with our time or slippage will occur in our most important relationships.

As I reflect on Kellen and Amanda's wedding, I am renewing my mind around the priorities of this life. For believers, a central truth to this life is to love God and love people. This begins and ends at home. My energy and passion is also renewed for the vision and direction of Longleaf Church. In particular, I have renewed conviction about one of our guiding principles; our church will be mission driven and NOT program driven. Simply put, we want to focus on cultural relevance, small groups and empowering families. By taking a less is more approach to church programs, we challenge our people to spend more time investing in their families, doing life together with fellow believers and living out their faith within our communities.

As Amy and I spent time with Amanda and Kellen in the weeks leading up to their wedding, we charged them to take one key step after they tied the knot. That key step is to join a small group at Longleaf Church. Yep, that's how significant we think it is for people to "do life together" in small groups. When I've conversations with men and women describing broken marriages, it always occurs to me that the accountability, belonging and care of a small group could have guarded the healthy direction of their marriages. The healthy direction and the hope exists on a wedding day. As we renew our minds around God's truth this week, let's all remember the hope and promise of a wedding day....