Fourteen years ago God brought a girl named Megan Berry to such a low place in her life that saying YES to my proposal seemed like the right, and perhaps only thing to do.  That’s what had to have happened because there’s no other way to explain it.  It’s also the same scenario that I have imagined after meeting your wives. The only explanation is divine intervention. Seriously, what outside of an act of God would have allowed us to marry the women we did?
And once our wives said, “Yesâ€, we quickly moved into the next phase of that relationship.  The funny thing about marriage is there really isn’t a ramp up period.  Think about it, one day you’re single, the next day you’re married.  I mean there is a lot riding on this relationship and there really isn’t an application process or class you have to pass.  Sure there is pre-marital counseling, and the engagement period but once that commitment is made verbally, the deal is 95% closed.  But did we all realize what we were getting into?  I mean,  back in the day, I thought my wife was getting a good deal— me and a diamond.  But I look back at it now, and I easily got the better part of it.  Not since the Cowboys traded Herschel Walker and a few late round draft picks to the Minnesota Vikings for five players and 8 future draft picks (3 first round, 3 2nd round 1 third round and a 6th round), has there been a more lopsided deal.
My point is this: for the most part we all go into marriage blind. Â I mean, we THINK we know what it’s going to be like, but what do we base that on? Â If you’re like me you probably based it on the marriages you grew up around; Â Your parents, maybe your aunt and uncle. Â How about Claire and Cliff Huxtable, Ralph and Alice Kramden, Carol and Mike Brady and maybe even Al and Peg Bundy? Â Now sorta mix all those together and you would come up with the picture of what I thought marriage was like. Â Why would I picture it any different? Â This was the picture of marriage that I saw for a large chunk of my life…and then I got married, Â Let me tell you that marriage looks NOTHING like the picture I grew up with in my head, although my wife will tell you that she married a cross between Ralph Kramden, Al Bundy…and Kevin James…and NO that did not fit her picture of what marriage was supposed to be like for her either.
However this realization didn’t happen over night.  At first it took some getting used to, after all, I had all of these pictures in my head of what marriage was to look like, and yet when I stepped into it I started realizing that it was nothing like I had pictured.  It was far greater. At least for me…I can’t speak for my wife.
The crazy thing is I did the same with church.  I grew up with this picture of what church looked like, and just like marriage I based it on what I saw around me.  What if the picture was incomplete?  What if it wasn’t telling the whole story?  What impact would that have?  What if that too was supposed to be far greater than what we imagined?
This Wednesday Gavin Long Author of the book , At Home with God, Our Father, will share with us “My Church Picture”
If you have a buddy that ever went to church, this would be perfect for him…
Invest, Invite…Inspire
Pat Mancuso
patmancuso@mac.com
(703) 401-8302
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