It is, I suppose, one of the highlights of most every parents lives. As we raise our children there are many highlights and milestones, but to watch our children fall in love, date, and eventually marry, has to be among the greatest. My wife Jacquie and I experienced it as her daughter Susan stood in our living room and spoke her vows to her husband Nate. We experienced it again as my son Ben stood before me on the shores of Lake Superior, and took Katie as his wife.
My eldest son, Josiah, did it differently. Since he is the child filled with wanderlust, it was to be expected. Not content with all that Pine County and the State of Minnesota has to offer, his life is one devoted to seeing as much of the world as possible, and witnessing first hand the cultures that most of us are only occasionally exposed to via television. It's the way he lives, and so when he called and told us that he was planning to marry Diana in the U.S. embassy in Egypt, it was not a big surprise. A Minnesota man marrying a woman from Mexico in distant Egypt is not something that I would have imagined when he was a child. But, as an adult, it fits him perfectly.
We are used to Josiah making his annual pilgrimage home in the summer to visit us for a hand full of weeks. This summer is different. This summer he will bring home his bride and, as his father, it is a greatly anticipated visit. Mind you, I have never met this young lady my eldest has chosen as his wife, but he has told me so much about her, I feel as if I do know her. This summer, she will be in our home and we will see her face to face. It is something that we are certainly looking forward to with joy.
And we are making preparations. I'm thinking of the meals we'll have, get-together's with family, and evenings sitting in the yard just visiting. I'm planning food, dates, times and, in general, preparing for their visit. The annual spring things we traditionally do around the house and yard to prepare for the summer have taken on an additional underlying motivation. I want things nice for the time Josiah and Dianna will be at our home.
While I perform some of the more mundane tasks such as raking and fertilizing the lawn, my mind wanders to other things. It is hard for me not to compare my anticipation and preparation to the spiritual.
It occurs to me that my heavenly Father is making preparations for his Son to bring home his Bride as well. Throughout scripture the church is referred to as the, "Bride of Christ." I am not wise enough to picture the form this will take. My mind cannot wrap itself around what it will look like. I do not know when it will happen, but I do know that there will come a time when my Father will turn to his son, Jesus, and say, "Son, bring home your bride."
And, "The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord." 1 Thessalonians 4:17 (NASB)
In that instant, my Savior, Jesus Christ will bring his bride home. It will happen whether you believe it or not. It will happen whether you are ready for it or not. It will happen because the Creator of all things has set a time for his Son to bring his bride home. Somewhere in eternity, even before he spun this universe into being, and before there was a heaven and earth, the Father envisioned that day. Even before the first flower bloomed, or man drew his first breath, the Creator had chosen his Son's bride, and set a time for him to bring that bride home.
And, on a somewhat larger scale than my preparations for Josiah and Diana, my father has been making preparations for that day since he first envisioned it in the eternity before time. He's been preparing a wedding banquet. He's been preparing a home. He's been preparing a glorious eternity for the day when time ceases to exist, and the Son and his bride are by his side.
As a believer, part of the church and part of the bride, all I can do is bow before him and humbly pray, "Come Lord Jesus." I long for the day when I will see him face to face, to know him as he knows me, and to know the complete contentment that comes from truly being home.
