Married :)

This is my first post as a married man!  If you are wondering why I haven’t posted most of the summer there are two reasons for it.  First, summer is our super busy season here at YMI.  Second, summer was my super busy season for preparing for my wedding!  So, I want to write about my wedding experience first and the blessing in my life that Taylor is.  Next time I will blog about the amazing ministry that I saw done throughout YMI’s missions ministry this summer and how God worked.

I promise not to make it sappy.  But I love my wife.  She is truly my partner in ministry, in life, and in adventures.  Her beautiful name is Taylor Noelle (Whitehouse) Keith.  She is an amazing musician and one of the most friendly people you know.  But as any person in ministry knows, it isn’t easy to do it alone.  That is why I am so blessed that she is missions minded.  Our goal is to serve the Lord in missions.  For the next several years it will be in the USA with YMI, but in 7-10 years we would like to go international.

Our First Look

For those of who who made it to our wedding thank you so much!  It was such a blessing.  Our prayer is that you were blessed as we sought to keep Christ at the center of the wedding and will continue to do so in our marriage.  For those of you that didn’t make it here is the cliff notes version of some of the blessings that day.  First, God preserved good weather as it was an outside wedding.  It was forecasted to rain, but it stayed nice all day.  Second, it was simply beautiful.  Our friends the Poseys arranged our flowers.  Our parents spent ours on making decorations.  And the bride was stunning.  All this paled in comparison though to the beauty of Christ and the focus on our redeemed hearts.  This was the message proclaimed and how the gospel gives us these hearts to offer one another in love.

 

But as with any wedding the central thing shared is the vows that Taylor and I pledged to each other.  So I ask as I share my vows here that you hold me accountable to them in the years to come.

My Dearest Taylor,

I am so blessed to stand before you today with our friends as witnesses and most importantly with God as our authority.  As I reflect over the blessings in my life I am blown away by the goodness of our God.  He has saved me from my own sinful state and made me a new creation.  And now He has blessed me beyond measure by giving to me, you to be my wife and helpmate.  He has truly used you to teach me more about Himself in so many ways.  The grace you have shown me and the forgiveness you have given me in my failures have made so much more real the reality of God’s grace in our lives.  Your expectations for me to be a holy leader have forced me to come face to face with the gospel when it would be easier to look the other way.  Your passion to devote every aspect of your life to God has inspired me to surrender all that I am to our awesome and faithful God.  Thank you for demonstrating what the gospel is in our relationship.

I am so excited to start our life together seeking God’s guidance where ever that may lead, to trust His provision and pray for His sovereign intervention when we have reached the end of ourselves.  I promise to walk worthy of the calling with which we have been called and to encourage you to do the same.  I commit to love you as Christ loves the church and to sacrifice and  put your needs first just like Jesus Christ did by giving His life for the forgiveness the church’s sins.  I covenant to lead you to the foot of the cross and to always seek Jesus with you even when that is hard or life is hurtful and it would be easier to run to worldly comfort.

Because I am not perfected yet, I know I will fail you.  But by God’s strength and with my new life in Christ my Master, I will grow to be the man you need and to demonstrate the Gospel in our relationship.  That is why I chose Psalm 62:1-2 as the verses to put on the inside of your ring. For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.  We sang it earlier, but even when I fail, and when the world feels like it is coming to an end, remember our God will never fail you.  He is our Rock and our salvation.  It is only in Him that you will not be shaken and that your soul will find rest.  So learn to wait for Him and His timing as it is always perfect.

From now on, I am yours alone.  While you are alive there is no one else.  I covenant to be faithful to you and to care for you.  No matter what circumstances we find ourselves in, rich, poor, good health, bad health, happy, depressed, safe or unsafe; I promise to put you before myself and to care for you and nurture you to God’s best.  I surrender to you my body to warm you, to protect you, and to comfort you.

I know that you are not mine, but Christ’s.  He is your Master and as He entrusts you to me and as He entrusts our children to come to us, I commit to you this day to be a faithful steward of this privilege and to give you back to the Lord more confirmed to His image.  And to release our family into His hands as He guides them to His purposes.

I am so excited to marry you.  I love you Taylor Noelle.  You truly are the love of my life.  Tu eres la chica de mis suenos