tomorrow is Rebecca's wedding day

Proverbs 22:6  TLB

Teach a child to choose the right path, and when he is older, he will remain upon it.

Please allow me some freedom in today’s devotion as I want to share something that has been coming for a long time, and it has been hard to prepare for.  In fact there will not be a devotion on Tuesday due to this event.

Tomorrow our oldest child, Rebecca, will become Mrs. Josh Byrd.  I am not sure that I am ready for this to happen, but I am excited to share with each of you that I think Rebecca is ready.  She is an incredible young lady (and that is not just because I am her daddy).  I am so proud of her and honored to gain Josh as our son-in-law.

Julie and I waited almost four years for Jodie Rebecca Harrison to join our family.  That seemed like a long time to wait, but looking back it is obvious that these 19 years have flown by way too fast.  We’ve experienced life from so many different angles as well as celebrated milestones all along the way.

Our first difficult experience with Rebecca began before she was one year old when she had to have major surgery.  My first memory of her saying “da-da” was during a procedure before that surgery.  Wow, were those tough days.  Some years later Rebecca had to have another surgery to correct a problem with her jaw.  The surgery was a huge success, but those were more tough days for Rebecca, Julie and myself.  Together we have moved half way across the country and back and then hundreds of miles north.  We’ve gone through kindergarten, middle school and high school graduations.  We’ve helped her learn to walk, learn to drive and moved her to college.  But this next step seems a lot more permanent.

It was a little over 8 months ago that I got a text message from Rebecca asking if she could go out to dinner with a young man.  It was February 14th, Valentine’s Day.  I was at a celebration service for our Spanish ministry.  That night it even began to snow.  What was I thinking when I told her she could go out that first time with Josh?  My goodness, things have changed since then.

As most fathers would say, I suppose since I have never been here before, I don’t feel very ready for this day, yet I believe we are ready.  Notice the verse this devotion began with. 

Train your child.  While you have the opportunity and responsibility guide, teach, love, hug, share with, support, cry with, give to and so much, much more.  We have done that.  Now it is time to let God’s promise come true.  He can protect my Becca and guide her much better than we can now. 

I really am excited about this special day.  We have planned and talked about it for sometime, and it is time to experience it together.  We have prayed and continue to pray that God will seal Josh and Rebecca’s hearts together and to His heart.  Their future is bright. 

Rebecca, I am proud of you, and this day will be very special for you and Josh.  I will stop there because I am having problems seeing the screen due to my eyes watering.

Ephesians 5:31  NLT

As the Scriptures say, “A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.”