Mississippi Romeo fears he is jilted by his Juliet

Years ago, a girl from a wealthy family in Natchez, Mississippi, fell in love with a poor boy from the country. Their families consented to a wedding, albeit reluctantly, when the boy and girl persisted in professing their passion for one another.
Since the wealthy bride's family was embarrassed to have the country bumpkin in their city church, they decided to have the wedding at the rural church of the groom. When the Saturday of the wedding arrived, people began to fill the pews of the little house of worship. The groom's side, that is. The bride's side remained empty. No family of the bride, and no bride.
The organist played happy wedding music in anticipation of a celebration that appeared to be over before it began. The preacher looked at the forlorn face of the groom as the appointed hour came and went. The minister had never felt so sorry for a fellow in all of his days. "That girl ain't coming," the preacher thought. "Her family has talked her out of it."
Just as they were about to give up and send everybody home, a cloud of dust arose on the horizon. It was the bride and her family, rushing in, all out of breath, dressed for the wedding. The preacher proceeded to lead the smiling groom and his sweaty, breathless bride in a quick exchange of “I do.”
At the reception, they learned the rest of the story from the father of the bride. It seems that the bride's wedding dress was at the dry cleaners, and when they went to pick it up that Saturday morning, the cleaners was closed. The father of the bride had to make frantic phone calls and demand that the owner of the cleaners open up on his day off. After finally fitting the dress on the frantic bride, they set out into the countryside to find the groom's little church, only to get lost. This was long before the days of cell phones and GPS.
Imagine the joy of the bride when she saw the little church at the end of the gravel road. Imagine the joy of the groom when he saw his bride riding up in a cloud of dust. Yet none of that can compare with the joy that the church, the "bride of Christ" will have when we see our Lord Jesus coming to take us up to heaven!
"Let us rejoice and exult, and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready" (Revelation 19:7, ESV).
You might think that I made up this amazing story, but I did not. The preacher who performed the wedding tells me it really happened. What is even more amazing is that the marriage of Jesus, the Lamb of God, and the church, the Bride of Christ, is really going to happen, too. Will you be there?

(Copyright 2011 by Bob Rogers. Email: brogers@fbcrincon.com.)

Song of Solomon good for Valentine's, but quote the right verse!

It's Valentine's Day, when everybody talks about love. However, some of us fail to communicate.

A cake decorator in New Zealand was asked to include the reference to a Bible verse on the couple’s wedding cake. They requested 1 John 4:18 because it states, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear.” Unfortunately, the cake decorator wasn’t a Bible scholar so the cake ended up with a reference to John’s gospel instead of his epistle. In beautiful print was “John 4:18.” Had the decorator taken time to look up the verse this error would have been detected before the wedding. “You have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband.”

I heard about a man who was feeling bad that he had not been romantic. So he decided to show up at his door with a coat and tie and give his wife flowers. He rang the doorbell, and when she answered, there he was in all his glory, as he handed her a dozen roses. To his surprise, she sat down in the doorway and just cried.

"What's wrong, honey?" he asked.

She replied, "This has been a terrible day. Rachel came home from school sick, Daniel broke a window with his baseball, the microwave won't work, and now you come home drunk!"

Even though our attempts are communicating love can sometimes be misunderstood, we should still make every effort to express our love. The Bible has an entire book, Song of Solomon, that is dedicated to the celebration of romance between a husband and wife. I know a fellow who often reads verses from the Song of Solomon to his wife. Not a bad idea. Just make sure that you read the right verse. Song of Solomon 4:9 would work: "You have captured my heart with one glance of your eyes." But you don't want to read to her from Song of Solomon 7:4: "Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon looking toward Damascus."

Make sure you communicate your love clearly.

Copyright 2008 by Bob Rogers.