Dum Dum Dee Dum!!!

It's official!!! If you weren't at church yesterday (at my church) or I haven't talked/called you yet, you missed the big announcement. I'm getting married! I asked Laura on Thursday and (obviously) she said yes! I'm all bubbly inside. She really likes the ring but it's too big so we'll have to get it sized down. I've had the thing for a month and a half so I'm glad it's out of my hands and finally on hers. We got to spend the greater part of three days together at the end of last week. She came over on Thursday morning, through snow and wind, to see me. We worked on getting final preps made for heading to see my parents in Newton. By the way, I had a pipe freeze and burst under the house late on Wednesday evening (so I didn't have any water until Thursday afternoon). She made a wall hanging with pictures she collected from my sisters and I for my mom. I wanted to take her on a carriage ride through the park and ask her there but they didn't run it I guess due to the cold and snow. So I was forced to improvize. I had been singing Winter Wonderland most of the afternoon. When we got to the park, I had to find a snowman to be "Parson Brown". So when I got to the "You can do the job..." part, I asked her if she was getting the allusion yet. I asked her if she loved me enough to spend the rest of her life with me and knelt down in the snow and gave her the ring. That's how it went! We drove home separately for the next hour and a half (which I wouldn't recommend to anyone!) because she had to drive home on Saturday. We told my parents at dinner and most of our families on Friday either personally or by phone. I went to visit her family on Saturday in an unexpected twist of events. I then drove home in a snow shower on Saturday night. I have a few more personal calls to make but other than that, the important people know (In reading this, you qualify as 'important people'!).

Proverbs 27:6 says, "Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses". Kind of make you wonder, with friends like these, who needs enemies? That's not quite the point this verse is making here. Verse 6 draws from 5 which says "Better is open rebuke than hidden love". Five simply says being corrected in public is better than love that is kept secret. That helps understanding 6 in that the wounds being talked about is this open rebuke. See, if a friend really loves you, if they are a true friend, they won't spare hurting your feelings a little if you are in the wrong. In the long run, if YOU are a true friend, you'll realize that this was to your benefit and you will be better off. Now, an enemy's 'kisses' are deceitful. I'm sure we have all known someone who's not afraid to kiss a little tail now and then to get what they want. And after they get it, they're gone, usually leaving the "kissed" in a state of unbelief and pain. An enemy will do this multiple times, which if for no other reason, is probably why they're an enemy! So, as my mom used to say, choose your friends wisely. I think we can learn a lot about ourselves and other people if we try and live this out. We'll be better friends to others, we'll be able to discern people's motives more clearly, and we'll not put up with things that are blatantly wrong, in our own lives nor in others'.

We will be having Big Deal and Youth Group this Sunday and Wednesday.
The deadline for the Sr. High Winter Retreat at Camp Illiana is Sunday the 2nd.
The deadline for the CIY Discipleship Retreat (for Seniors and Young Adults) is Jan 9.

Later...