Words that lead to a name change

“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12 NIV).

Robin and I celebrated our 32 year anniversary this week. We went to the beach for a couple of days to mark the moment and to thank God for all His blessings through the years (I took a few photos to remember the occasion. Here’s one of our beach chairs. Sorry, none of us. Seeing me in swimming trunks these days is not something worth remembering.).

As usual, we spent part of the time discussing our wedding day. This is something we do every year and this year was no different.

“OK, it’s 10 AM. What were you doing at this time 32 years ago?” I asked, while leaning back in my beach chair.

“I was in a panic about my hair not looking right.” Robin answered, pulling her hair back in the ocean breeze to demonstrate.

“I was looking for white dress socks at Tanglewood Mall in Roanoke. I didn’t realize my white tuxedo rental didn’t come with socks.” I said, laughing with the memory.

At 2:00 P.M. I hummed “Here comes the bride” and said, “What were you doing at this time 32 years ago?”

“I was doing something that I would gladly do over again.” She responded with a smile.

“What was that?” I deadpanned.

“Saying ‘I do” to you!” She answered, leaning in for a kiss.

“Wait a minute.” I said. “The preacher doesn’t pronounce us for another 30 minutes!”

“Very funny.” She said with a little smirk.

This kind of reminiscing usually goes on throughout our day. It’s amazing what power those two little words “I do” have. This is especially true for the bride. She marks her life long commitment with those words and then even her name is changed.

The Bible says that the Church is the bride of Christ. When we receive Him as our own and believe into His Name, we get a new name too. We become part of His family.

I have said “I do” to two very important people in my life. The first and foremost is my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The second is my sweet wife of 32 years, Robin.

There is real power and blessing in saying those words and meaning them.