Couples and Weddings

I was asked to speak last week at a meeting planned by a ladies' group of another church, but it was for both the men and the women. I was asked to speak about the family. The church is a long way from where we live, so I was very glad to be able to have Robert go along to drive. Neither of us had ever attended a meeting there.
I introduced ourselves, telling about how we are both Canadians but that we met here in Belem.
I talked about how we each came as a single person the first time, but after years of dating by letter and ham radio, we were married. Then in God's Math 1 and 1 became 3! We returned to the field with Esther! I talked briefly about our family and how now, after 24 years, we are again a "single couple". I used some pictures that I saved from my favorite artist to illustrate the stages of life.

The message? Well, we read the account in Genesis 2 of the creation of Eve and the institution of the practice we call marriage. Some observations, briefly:
1. God saw that it was not good for man to be alone.
2. Adam did not have a choice. But then realize that a perfect God created a perect wife for him, too.
3. God created Eve to be a helper, someone in whom Adam could confide and trust.
4. God took a bone from Adam's side, not his head nor his foot; Eve's place was to be beside him.
5. The two were to become one... means physical union after marriage, and so much more. They were to be faithful to one another all of their lives (see Malachi 2:15 - 16). Divorce was not in God's plan (Romans 7:2-3, Matthew 19:3, 1 Corinthians 7:10-11)
6. God created us to form a marriage between a man and a woman, not a homosexual relationship! He did not create Adam and Steve, but Adam and Eve!! (read Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 - God is very clear about this, and the penalty is severe.)
7. Adam and Eve did not have parents, they were the only ones on earth. Isn't it interesting that God said right from the beginning (Genesis 2:24) that a man should leave his parents' home and cleave to his wife, forming a new home? This is repeated in the New Testament.
8. Nudity was not wrong before they sinned, but after they sinned, they were ashamed. God sacrificed an animal to make clothes for them. Lack of decent clothing is so common in this tropical country, that I took the opportunity to talk about modesty, too.

From there we went on to talk about our own marriages, based on 1 Corinthians 7 , Titus 2, Ephesians 5:21-33, and 1 Peter 3:1-6. I had also prepared a list of things that they could do on a date, to help to keep their marriage alive and to actually do things together - they enjoyed that! Is it any wonder that the study took almost an hour? There were many young couples present, and they expressed appreciation for the study. There was even one couple who had come only for the second time to the church, and they came with the desire to become Christians that night. I had a good opportunity afterward, while the ladies served cake and guarana, to talk to them alone and encourage them in their decision to follow Christ.

We had a another holiday here in Belem this week, and although we decided to go to the mission beach house that morning, to prepare it for renters for the long weekend, we got up early and I made a chicken & macaroni salad to take along. We ate our lunch at the side of the river, enjoying the breeze and the view, before we went for a walk. Is that called practicing what I preach?