25th!!

Can 25 years have whizzed by ALREADY??!!!   Wasn’t I a bride gliding to the altar on my Dad’s arm just a couple years ago?

A brief recap:

We met on the Biola campus in the fall of ‘81, but not in the traditional sense.  I was in my senior year at Biola; Chris had already graduated.  Having completed Officer Candidates School in 1979 and received his officer’s commision with the United States Marine Corps the next year, he was on active duty.  Based at Camp Pendleton, he would often spend weekends at Biola visiting friends and attending church.

We were introduced by two mutual friends in October of ‘81 outside Crowell Hall at Biola.  In February ‘81 Chris received orders for a six-month overseas deployment with the Corps.  We kept in touch by letter.  He returned in September.  We were “unoffically” engaged at the November 10 USMC Birthday Ball held at the Camp Pendleton Officer’s Club.  We were officially engaged on Christmas Eve 1982.  My diamond engagement ring was discovered under the tree on Christmas Day, buried in a box of Crackerjacks.

Six months later my best friend and I were married at a candlelight wedding service.  Mailed in March of 1983, our wedding invitations to 300 guests read like this:

“Believing that God in His infinite wisdom

has willed the uniting of our our children…

it is our special joy to invite you

to worship with us

as they become one in Christ

and begin their life together

Saturday evening, the seventh of May

nineteen hundred and eighty-three

at seven o’clock…”

It was 85 degrees – perfect because we opted to do pictures outside, at a park near the church before the ceremony.

Father of the Bride

On that sun-soaked Saturday evening in May 1983, the wedding party glided down a church aisle to Pachelbel’s Kanon in D Major.  Maternal and paternal mothers lit the left and right sides of a white trinity candle.  Our soloist sang  Time for Joy by Gerry Limpic:

Time for joy, time for cheer

That is why we all are here

To see the union of two we love

Led and blessed by God above…

From the beginning of time

It has not been good for man to

be alone

So now before our eyes we see the blessed plan

The marriage of a woman and a man…

My Dad and I followed shortly thereafter to Bach’s Sheep May Safely Graze and Maria’s Processional from The Sound of Music. I met my sweet, moments-to-be husband at the altar as Dad replied “Her mother and I do” in response to the minister’s, “Who gives this women to this man?”  The Address to the People, which we wrote, came next:

“Honored guests, we are gathered together here in the sight of God and in the presence of these witnesses, to join Chris and Kristine in holy matrimony, which is an honorable estate, instituted by God, and signifying the mystical union which exists between Christ and His church; it is therefore not to be entered into unadvisedly, but reverently and in the fear of God.  Into this holy estate these two persons come now to be joined.”

Our wedding program featured Isaiah 45:6:

“That men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun that there is no one besides Me.  I am the Lord, and there is no other.”

Wedding Party (L to R): Vernon Coleman, Cheryl Kincaid, Paul Hilton, Laura Naas, bride and groom, Maid of Honor Shelley Mitchell and Best Man Marvin Gainer.

Together, we sang a congregational hymn, The Solid Rock.  Our two officiating ministers, Rich Thune (Alumni Director at Biola) and Dr. Lowell “Doc” Saunders (an ordained minister and my major advisor at Biola) read from Genesis 1:26-27, and 2:18-24.  Two friends, Jarry Jones and Wanda Hill, then sang a duet of Trabant’s This is the Lord’s Doing:

1. God brought together the scattered parts of me/He made complete, showed me He had a plan for me

The plan was in His mind long before I knew your name/Since following Him, my life has never been the same

Chorus:

For this is the Lord’s doing – nothing that we ever could devise/This is the Lord’s doing – and it is marvelous in our eyes.

2. Depending on Him, my life was fulfilled being on my own/But somehow I knew that I wasn’t meant to live alone

Following Him, He brought me to be a friend of yours/And to my delight, He’s making us one forevermore…

Chorus

3. I never knew commitment could make me feel so free/I feel His love flowing through you, pouring out on me

You are a gift that I’m going to treasure my who life through/And with the Gift-giver’s help, I will give my best to you!

And this is the Lord’s doing – nothing that we ever could devise/This is the Lord’s doing – and it is marvelous in our eyes!

Prayers followed.  Drawing from several sources, we wrote our own vows.  They included a statement of privileges and responsibilities read by alternately by Rich and Doc:

Chris, you are now entering a relationship with many privileges and responsibilities.  The woman you love is about to become your wife.  She tells the world of her love for you as she leaves her home to become your helper and your friend.  Your hunger for righteousness  is her joy, your protection her peace.

Kristine, you too are entering into a relationship with many privileges and responsibilities.  The man you love is about to become your husband.  He tells the world not only of his willingness but of his express desire to turn from all others and to you for all of life ahead.  Your love will be his inspiration and your prayers his tower of strength.

Our vows included taking each other “to be my wedded wife/husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, cherish, and respect, till death do us part.”

As we exchanged rings we said, “I give you this ring as token and pledge of my commitment to be your husband/wife, and of our constant faith, friendship, and abiding love.”

After the ministerial pronouncement and presentation, we lit the center trinity candle together and blew out the two side candles, signifying the “leave and cleave” principle of Genesis 2.  We floated down the center church aisle and exited to Beethoven’s Hymn to Joy.  We honeymooned at Yosemite National Park, Hume Lake, and Monterey.

Reception – Joy Hall, GHFC                           Maid of Honor Shelley, Rich Thune,                                                                Lowell “Doc” Saunders, Best Man Marvin

Both sets of parents and one minister are now deceased.  It hasn’t always been easy.  We’ve had plenty of ups and downs.  But I love my DH today more than the day I married him.  Of all the many blessings God has showered on me, he is certainly God’s choicest and best.  So except for pre-scheduled posts, you won’t hear from me for about a week.  We’re celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary out of town – hiking and refreshing our vows in the Cascades!

Our life verse:

“‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.”

- Zechariah 4:6b

Solo deo Gloria!