Several weeks earlier

“People say I am no good, and crazy as a loon, cause I get stoned in the morning and get drunk in the afternoon… Preacher man talking on TV, putting down my rock and roll, wanting me to send a donation because he is worried about my soul! He said Jesus walked on the water, and I know that is true! Sometimes I think that preacher man wants to do a little walking too” The Charlie Daniels song blared as we cruised down I84 headed back to Pasco, or the Tri-cities as the area is known.

Now days I am fond of calling the area “the tri”, it kind of reminds me of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Back then I pictured myself as an “esoteric warrior”, well versed in all kinds of weird occultic stuff. My faith was so strong in these practices that I could watch birds, and use their actions as a radar detector. When birds flew a certain way I could tell that the police were ahead. You may think that I am crazy (or was) but I am telling you the truth.

We were in the Tri, staying at the Red Lion in Richland. I think I liked the hotel chain probably because the name vibrated out to certain numerological value or it reminded me of the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Anyway it was probably January the 15^th, we were in the room and I was reading Joani’s grandmothers Bible. As I thumbed through the pages I noticed in the front of the bible there was a page for important dates and I examined it more thoroughly. I saw that Joani’s Grandparents were married on January 19^th 1930. I suddenly had a sense that Joani and I were to marry on the same date in 1988. I told her that we were supposed to get married next Tuesday. In some fashion she agreed, I called her Dad and we went to Fred Myer to buy a wedding ring. I called her Uncle Glenn, the preacher who informed me that he would let me know the next day. When I got off the phone I told Joani if he would not agree we could fly to Vegas and get it done on the 19^th.  Glenn true to his word called me the next day and agreed to perform the ceremony. I had told him about the date, he let me know of a small problem. The state of Washington requires a marriage license be purchased three days before the ceremony. He already had a solution, we would marry on the 19^th before God, and we would come back on the 22^nd and redo our vows to make it legal “for man”. We agreed and began a whirlwind of activity to prepare for the ceremony.

I told Glenn that we wanted to get married bare foot, so that we would be “grounded”. He refused so we went to Umatilla, and had a tribal craftsman make moccasins for us. I wrote our wedding vows. I don’t remember everything, but I took out the part about Joani “obeying” me and I began the vows with “Having bathed in the light” The following is a paragraph taken from ‘A tribute to my Mother in Law”

We were married January 19, 1988 in Joani’s uncle Glen’s church. Now if that was not a site to see. In the midst of this Pentecostal Holiness setting were the bride and groom. We were wearing beaver skin moccasins crafted by a Umatilla tribesman as a compromise. We wanted to be married barefoot to be in contact with “mother earth”. When Pastor Glen refused we simply added iconic lore.  We carried gemstones and other esoteric paraphernalia, our vows were full of new age doctrine, dreamed up in a mildly hallucinogenic state of mind. Describing the gamut of the ceremony would lead us on another path, but I will say we had it all. Hippie, new age seekers, the elite religious “remnant” and Bob and Eloise, hard drinking two fisted small town urban cowboys. God must have been chuckling that odd day.

I am fairly certain that God chuckles on a regular basis. Jesus exhorted us, that when anxious to observe the complexity and the detail of the design in nature. We worry about things while claiming a relationship with the Creator God. We claim redemption, and His love while behaving in a contrary way. (One of my mentors would have said “don’t shout me down because I’m preaching real good!”)

That day in 1988 I married this beautiful woman, and I began to understand grace.  I am still only beginning to understand grace, because I like you “see through a glass darkly”.  I can declare to you that I am a believer. I believe in the Christ, this Jesus who is the son of the living God. I believe in the resurrection, because He lives in my heart. I believe in miracles, I am one.