Forever Love

Saturday evening, Rev. Tom Robbins and I co-officiated Danielle and Chris’s wedding ceremony at the Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas, in Irving, Texas. Here are the remarks I shared with them and their guests:

Imagine, you handed in a screenplay for a rom-com. (Guys, those are those movies you only see a quarter of, because you're fast asleep twenty minutes in.) The story is about an Oklahoma gal and a Texas guy, who fall in love. You set the scene for their first interaction on a ranch in Texas. And, it's Texas Independence Day. And, he's wearing cowboy boots. And, he's teaching her how to shoot. Oh, and the scene ends a month in, and they each both know that this is it, this is their soulmate! Likely, you'd get a note back, telling you to rewrite, because that scene was just too "on the nose". Well, folks, truth IS stranger than fiction, because that scene brought us here today. This is for REAL! Sometimes (guys, this is at the end of the rom-com, when your girl is shaking you to wake up), fairy tales do come true.

Now, I always ask couples why they want to get married and why now. Chris's answer for the why now question (I am not making this up) had something partially to do with football schedules. For the why question, which he was ready to answer a month in, here is part of his answer: "She was the most beautiful girl I’d ever spoken with, she was so easy to talk to that I was spilling my guts constantly left and right, and she was very witty. I hadn’t ever found a girl with that combination, so I knew she was the one."

Now, the one downside of rom-coms and fairy tales is the assumption of "happily ever after." What do I mean? Well, life isn't happier ever after. Life has challenges. Marriage has challenges. And you need to be there for each other, through those challenges. Rachel Platten puts it so well in a recent song:

"Hands, put your empty hands in mine...

If your wings are broken

Please take mine so yours can open too

'Cause I'm gonna stand by you...
I'll be your eyes when yours can't shine...
And when you can't rise, well, I'll cry with you on hands and knees...
Even if we're breaking down, we can find a way to break through. Even if we can't find heaven, I'll walk through hell with you..."

Well, not to keep in suspense, but Danielle and Chris totally get this! Listen to Danielle: "Being with Chris thus far has exceeded those expectations and really has shown me that he is my forever love. I love sharing my life with him and can’t wait to continue that (whether they are happy or sad moments) and experience life moving forward with him. I think that marriage is... one of the best support systems that life offers, and when going through a difficult time, just knowing that we have each other to share and ease our burdens is something I’ve always desired. I love that marriage means you... love your spouse selflessly and unselfishly, and I have no doubt that Chris is able to fulfill that... Hell, he already does!"