Good and God Things at My Son's Wedding

-
My son Kyle got married this week.  Because of the threat of rain we had to move both the ceremony venue and the reception venue with only hours notice.  Weddings can be crazy anyway let alone moving venues at the last minute. 

The original plan was to have the wedding at 4:30 on the beach at Sand Harbor State Beach, Lake Tahoe.  This is an absolutely stunning place. On a sunny, warm, summer day it is a place hard to beat for beauty.  But the forecast was ominous—steady rain, thunderstorms, hail and high winds.  The forecasts were correct.  It rained most of the day and the beach was a wet mess. 

The day before I wandered into a beautiful church right in the middle of Incline Village.  I waited until after the Sunday service and went to try to find the Pastor.  There were only a few people left and I found a small group of people in a hallway. I recognized one of the guys in this small group and said to him, “I know you….” He said, “I recognized you the moment you walked in….I’m Al Denson.”  Of course!  Al was the guest worship leader at the church that morning and back in the early 1990’s Al worked with Dawson McAllister and we did ministry together at Redwood Chapel.   After some reminiscing I told this small group that we had a wedding planned but the forecast for the next day was terrible and we were looking for a backup.  Al disappeared saying he would go find the Pastor and he reappeared a moment later saying the Pastor would be out of a meeting in a few minutes and it likely wasn’t a problem.

The Pastor did show up a few minutes later and sized me up and said he would be happy to open up the church for the ceremony.   The church is in brand new condition as it had recently been completely renovated.  It was a beautiful place to have a wedding.  I escorted Destiny, the bride, into the church that day and she said, “I can’t believe I am getting married in a church I have never been in before.”  Hilarious.

At the same time, we had a beautiful park-like venue set for the reception.  This location right next to the swanky Hyatt Regency Hotel was perfect—if it was a warm, dry summer night.  If not, disaster!   The reception host had said that if there was rain we could move the reception to “The Chateau”—whatever that was.  Destiny didn’t think much of it because her heart was set on an outdoor wedding and reception on a beautiful, warm mountain evening in August.  “The Chateau” is a very upscale Golf Club up the street and was again, beautiful.  If they had purposely tried to book the golf club for the reception it would have cost 2-3 times as much.  So our reception looked out over a mountain golf course.  Cool! 


God is good.  He provides.  He knows what we need.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Advice Please (Bret's Weddings)

-
I need some advice from my friends.  Far and near.  Young and old.  I don’t care.  I just appreciate your input.  For many years I have been a Pastor and have a close relationship with a lot of people.  For a long time I was a youth Pastor and a Pastor of a church that had many young people.  As is customary (ha), these young people grow up, fall in love and want to get married.  When that time comes I sometimes get a phone call saying (almost always similar):  “Pastor Bret, we are getting married!! And we would LOVE you to perform our wedding ceremony.”  I almost always say the same thing: “Wow!  Congratulations.  I am so excited for you.  Let me check with my schedule, my wife and get back to you.  But I am honored you would consider me to lead out on such an important day.”   Most of the time I am able to accommodate people in their wedding plans as they are working months, if not a year ahead of time.   Here’s where I need advice.  Oftentimes the couple will ask me:  “So, what
Read more

The Life of an Interim Pastor

-
As of this month, I am finishing a 13-month term of being the Interim Pastor of the church we have been attending for the last four years.  I was asked in April of 2013 to commit for six- to twelve-months to be the Interim Lead Pastor by the founding Pastor and wife who were moving back to the midwest to be closer to their aging parents.    It has been a different kind of ministry assignment than I have ever had before.  I consider myself a strong leader and a visionary.  An Interim (like a substitute teacher) is there to keep things going, help in the "in between" and not alter the DNA too much.  That's tough for me.  I like to get my hands on things.  I like change.  I like momentum and growth and dynamism.  I also followed a very loved and long-term founding Pastor and wife couple who were the glue of the church.  They had been there fifteen years.   Overall, the experience for Sallie and I was positive.  I was able to lead, speak most Sundays and be active in mi
Read more

Our son celebrates his 5-year anniversary today...but their wedding day was quite the miracle!

-
Image
Sallie and I pictured with Kyle & Destiny on their wedding day,  Monday, August 11, 2014, outside the entrance to Cornerstone Community Church August 11, 2019 Our son, Kyle and his beautiful bride, Destiny, were married five years ago today.  It was a fantastic day of joy, laughter, hugs, and reunion with friends and meeting new family.  The day before was a bit...stressful.  All weddings have their own stress but this wedding had its own unique issue:  the weather.  The original plan was to have the wedding on the beach at Sand Harbor Beach in North Lake Tahoe near Incline Village (one of the MOST beautiful places in the world!).  The reception was also to be outside at a private place next to the Hyatt Regency-- everything planned out to the tee.  But the weather forecast was ominous-- thunderstorms, heavy rain all afternoon.  2014 was the wettest summer Lake Tahoe had experienced in years...and August 11 was not going to change the pattern. So, what to do?  Scramble! 
Read more