I am writing this 10 minutes before I lead a worship service in which a Rachel and a Jeff will be married. My friend Ron shared this little tidbit about this thing: Love is a dream. Marriage is an alarm clock.

I like that saying. When I was courting Susan it was a dream. Not in the sense of fluffy clouds and unicorns. In a way it was more that young naive everything will turn out OK kind of dream. But marriage, you know, after the wedding is over, is like an alarm clock. You wake up to a new kind of realization. Everything will not always be OK. In fact most of the time it is hard. It is a wonderful kind of struggle, because you are not alone.

I am hope Rachel and Jeff wake up sometime this week and have that aha moment. I am not alone in this anymore. I have a partner to share in all that life brings, sad and happy, hard and easy.

Marriage is a good endeavor. And everyone should be able to stand up and say publicly, this is my partner, and we are going to live life together, because we cannot do it without each other.

Well, I suppose they are getting nervous because it is now 5 minutes before the ceremony begins.