Today's post is going to divert from the pattern of following up on the Sunday message.  I want to focus on my family--Nancy, Abby, Emmy and me.  Those who know us personally know that Abby will be getting married next month.  People have been asking me, "Are you excited?"  The honest answer is, "No, I'm not excited."  It isn't because Aijay isn't a great guy.  He is.  It isn't because I don't think they're old enough--they're older than Nancy and I were when we got married.  It's that even for a guy who endorses change wholeheartedly, the changes have been coming really fast in the Marshall family.

All of a sudden (I know it hasn't really been suddenly, but it feels as if it is.) Abby is going to be a wife, Emmy is going to be a senior in high school, and Nancy and I are middle-aged.  How did that happen? They say time waits for no one, and whoever "they" are, they're right.  Time seems to keep accelerating, and weeks seem to take about a day to happen.  Abby's been home since Friday, and every time I look at her it's the Subaru commercial I mentioned in worship yesterday--the one with the dad talking to the little girl about driving safely, and watching out for others, and then the little girl being grown up as she backs out of the driveway--all over again.

Emmy put together a brief slideshow of Abby and Aijay's lives for the bridal shower, pictures of their transitions from babies to children, to teens, to adults, and as I watched I realized something:  We were part of all of that for Abby.  Nancy and I were there for the birthdays, the first days of school, the piano and oboe lessons, the basketball games, the first dance, the first time driving the car, and so many other firsts, seconds, thirds... And we weren't just there as observers.  We coached, we listened, we instructed, we chaperoned, we lived life with both our girls---and the good news is, God willing, we will continue to live it with them.  As each chapter of life has been written or gets written, Nancy and I have been there and will continue to be there (as I say, God willing, because only He knows the number of breaths we get in this life.)

I'm starting to get excited for the next phase in Abby's life, the phase that was so exciting for Nancy and me when we lived it.  I remember the challenges, the mistakes and the blessings as we moved out of our parents' homes and started our own life together.  In some ways it seems so long ago, and in other ways it seems like only yesterday.  God has been with us every step of the way--just as we have beem there for our girls--only more so.  Of all the important lessons we've presented to our girls over the years, the most important is that God never fails us, never leaves us, never gives us bad advice, is ALWAYS for us.  And if God is for us, we can get through anything! 

The bridal shower was a blessing to Abby, Emmy and Nancy.  I could feel it as we reflected on it together last night.  Nancy and Emmy worked so hard to make it so, but the one thing present they couldn't provide wasn't a thing--the love of God in a family devoted to Him.  It wasn't spoken, but many of the guests present were "church ladies," folks from the bigger family we've been part of all of our lives.  God designed us to live together in community--the first community being our families of birth, the second being His family--the Church.  Then as we grow and mature, most of us leave our fathers and mothers and unite with a spouse.  If we are truly blessed that spouse will put God first, and will establish a new community designed by God where the couple grows closer to Him as they live life together.  That's my prayer for Abby and Aijay.  Nancy and I have been married for more than thirty-two years, and I can honestly say that the best years are the most recent ones.  We're still so opposite in personality that the sparks fly at times, but we've learned to appreciate the differences more and more instead of trying to change them.

Change.  That's where this post started.  Changes taking place that are hard even for the guy who is always ready for the next, new thing.  As I've written and reflected here, I'm realizing that Abby is stepping forward into the life that God's design for creation calls her to live.  Am I excited about that?  I'm getting there.    

Heavenly Father, Thank You for blessing me with three, amazing women in my biological family--Nancy, Abby and Emmy!  Bless us and fill us with Your Holy Spirit that we may live into each chapter of the life You are writing for us with courage, anticipation, perseverance and joy.  This I pray in Jesus' name.  Amen.