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Showing posts with label wedding day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wedding day. Show all posts

Sunday, September 26, 2010

My perfect day

about ten years ago i first heard this question: Describe your perfect day.
The Turkey Stint team discussed it. The most fun & memorable answer was given by sheila Settle who mentioned riding 4-wheelers, then realizing they were late for the ball and having a big dance party.

The one thing i certainly would not want is a dance party. That ruins any day for me.

i like asking this question. A lot of people may mention specific restaurants, others would have a lot of time alone. There could be dance parties or games... i don't know.

What would your perfect day be?


I used to say the day would go like this

Wake up in the morning and play basketball with a bunch of my good friends (And some random people) for a good couple hours… (roughly 9-11ish
Then go eat lunch with those folks + have a lot of other good friends join me (girls could be at both of course- though maybe more guys at basketball). For lunch we’d have waffles and some other good eats (rougly 11ish-1ish)
Take a nice long shower, and maybe watch some sportscenter – it’d be 2:30
Then I’d meet my significant other- whoever that may be- and spend time with her and go spend time with God together. Read some Bilbe, journal, talk together, pray together, maybe read part of a book
Then around 6 meet up with a bunch of friends for a Cook-out I guess : grilled burgers- even better Bleu cheese on the burger… maybe some BBQ stuff too… and cake, brownies, cookies, all that good stuff…A lot more friends would be there too- all sorts of friends  and like lunch (which I forgot to mention) good conversation. Fun conversation, lots of laughs. And also a lot of DEEP conversation, a lot of talking about God, Jesus, Bible, deep theology, and life issues. Some small group convos, maybe some one-one type stuff too. A lot of smiles, a lot of laughs, a lot of encouragement, edfiication & challenge.
Then there would be a great time of worship & prayer and perhaps a talk from God’s Word… followed by discussion and more prayer and more singing.
(I’m think 6-8 for the dinner part 8-10 for Worship,prayer, talk part, then an extra hour for more prayer, worship, talking)
Then we’d finish the night with some tv shows (at the point I would have first said this: Seinfeld & Simpsons + friends, maybe Cosby – now, I’d add scrubs, maybe 30 Rock, that 70’s show, maybe Sportscenter)… with some pizza- deep dish pizza even better.
People would head home, I’d walk my girl home, I’d come back, spend a good chunk of time journaling, then fall asleep.


I’ve changed that a few times, but pretty similar most of the time.
I kinda realized that was pretty much every weekend for my last 2 years of college  minus the girlfriend part (which maybe why there is just a little time with her in there).

Or it could be like Christmas Conference or fall retreat I suppose.

My Saturdays certainly started that way. Sunday mornings were kinda like that with church. Friday night we did have some prayer & praise nights that were pretty good.
Yeah, I had a pretty good life in College.

Later I said: maybe the best I could get now- my best day in fact would be: My wedding day! All my friends together. With my wife. Worship, good conversation…

Well, the wedding day was pretty good: after all, we got married.
No time for basketball… we did take a lot of pictures + there were a bunch of people I wasn’t too close too, people we hired who didn’t fulfill their bargains and a lot of stress… but it was still pretty good, even if we didn’t get the food we wanted all day long and several friends didn’t show up.

We had a great worship set, a talk, edifying conversation & encouragement of some sort – though not a lot of deep conversations- a lot of friends, some good food- and most importantly: my wife!

The key components to my perfect day:
1.     Good friends (family too)
2.     Worship in singing
3.     Feeling intimacy with God: through song, through prayer
4.     Time alone with God
5.     My significant other
6.     Good food
7.     Fun
8.     Laughter
9.     Deep conversation
10. And usually sports.

I added one component later- when I planned my last birthday as a single: serving others, blessing others instead of myself.
I like that.

A couple years ago : birthday 32 I did that. I invited everyone over and threw a party. I think years of parties not going the way I hoped, influenced that. But also a going away party too… and really, yeah, even though saw how expensive it was, I saw it as a huge blessing to bless others.

So that bday, I invited people over for games like corhole and catch or whatever, but not many came. The evening was mostly just filled with conversation and some silly games over dinner- though not a whole lot. Mostly conversation- as I made pizza and pulled pork sandwhiches for everyone. Then we had a wrship time. A few songs… then I opened it up for sharing and asked people to bless me, by sharing things God had been doing. That was pretty cool. And I may have even asked for prayer requests. Then we sang some more and prayed together. That was what I wanted on my birthday. To come together and celebrate God, not me.
After that, a few people stuck around talked and watched some friends episodes and ate some more.
Oh and in the morning, I did spend some time with God… and since some ppl came over early, there was some good conversation going on too.


So, now… yeah, maybe I need a couple days since I’m older… and married… and my friends are all different places, so… whatever.

But yeah…
I would want some intimate moments with my wife
- and that would be after a good sleep, and before… and I guess during breakfast- waffles (or doughnuts)
A nice hour long massage
A good shower
Lunch out with a bunch of friends – maybe Skyline Chilli or a Bleu Cheese burger or Weber Grill- yeah Weber Grill sounds good. (12-2:30)
Then a good chunk of time alone at a bookstore – reading books and the Bible, but probably mostly journaling (with a nice refreshing drink). Then some time talking with Soo about stuff (2:30-6)
Then dinner with friends – maybe pizza (Deep dish, bbq chik, pepperoni) and cake… also cookies, brownies…
Again both lunch & dinner should be good conversation: about God, Jesus, the Word, etc + a lot of stories and jokes and laughter.
Then around 8-10+ have a worship time with prayer and maybe sharing, maybe a talk – but maybe more people sharing encouraging things from the Word and from stories God is doing… followed by more worship, prayer & discussion – til 11…. Yes then maybe a movie or tv shows til about 1….
Everyone would leave, I would talk with Soo, watch sportscenter, journal, thank everyone on twitter, and spend more time with Soo before bed.

Time with God, time with Soo, time with friends, time alone, time talking, good conversation, fun, laughter, maybe some sports, good food, worship & prayer... this makes a perfect day

Monday, April 26, 2010

Our wedding playlist

i used to refer to it as a soundtrack, now it is a playlist

i always feel like music conveys so much emotion and meaning. And i think it is a big part of my life... so we picked out some meaningful and fun songs out


1. Canon in D
2. Be Thou my Vision ~ Ginny Owens (Processional)
3. Sing to the King ~ Passion
4. O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing ~ David Crowder band
5. Center ~ Charlie Hall
6. Beloved ~ Tenth Avenue North (Communion)
7. How Great is our God ~ Chris Tomlin
8. Stolen ~ dashboard Confessional (Recessional)
9. You make my dreams come true ~ Hall & Oates (entrance)
10. Can't help falling in love with you ~ Ingrid Michaelson (first dance)
11. All the Words ~ Kutless (slideshow)
12. You & Me ~ lifehouse (slideshow)
bonus
13. Forever ~ Chris Brown
14. Zhu Wo Jingbai Ni
15. How He loves us ~ David Crowder band


notes
• We wanted the wedding to be a worship service. We had 3 worship songs + one more after communion
• “Sing to the King” fit with passage we used from Revelation 19
• “O for a thousand tongues to sing” has become the title of our newsletter. We wanted a theme of the world for our wedding. Didn’t happen so much, but still, both Soo & I have huge passion for the nations to be reached for Christ
• “Center” is an amazing prayer and what we hope for our lives- that Christ would be center
• “Stolen” is one of my favorite songs, I love the rhythm and beat and everything… plus the whole emo/indie thing
• Our first dance song wasn’t that hard to choose. I’d often sing it to Soo… cuz we kinda quickly rushed into things- or at least moved faily quickly. And again using an Indie Artist like Ingrid was great
• “Beloved” was a song I really wanted and it was perfect for communion. I hope people saw the connection between Christ & the church to a marriage relationship. I know it helped me and helps me to understand His love. Plus Tenth Avenue North is one of our favorite bands!
• I probably could have picked several songs from the 500 days of summer soundtrack…
• How He loves us has been a theme for our marriage life…

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Our wedding vows

In honor of pour 3 month anniversay, i thought i would post our wedding vows.
We really hope it points others to Christ... but mostly ourselves to Christ and honors HIM!


I Matt take you Soo to be my lawfully wedded wife.
You are a gift from God, His provision for me. I am so thankful for you.
I like you.
And I love you.
I will
by the power of the Holy Spirit
make it my aim to point you to Christ, reflect Christ to you
and love you as Christ loves the church.
I will choose to love & honor you more than myself, considering your needs & wants more than my own.
As Christ came to serve and not to be served, I will serve & love you for our lifetime together.
I will seek to know you and understand you, care for you and protect you.
In sickness & health,
In moment of conflict
And moments of joy
I will always love you.
I will never divorce you
I will believe the best in you
And I will resolve conflicts quickly
I will admit when I need help and when I have sinned against you
I will be completely honest with you at all times
And I give you permission to remind me of these vows
I ask for grace from you and offer grace to you no matter what.
I will have fun with you, enjoy your company and take you on dates
However I won’t demand you to satisfy what only God can satisfy.
Above all, I commit to walk with God, experience Christ & depend on the Holy Spirit and help you to do the same
You will come before anything or anyone else,
Even if others don’t understand or if it ruins my plans
You will be #1
I commit all these things to you As long as we both shall live.
I love you. I cherish you.
I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you


I Soo take you Matt to be my lawfully wedded husband. I love the way God designed you and brought you to have a personal and intimate relationship with Himself. You are a wonderful man and I will respect and affirm my love to you as I support you and trust you. I will build fun memories with you as we journey this life together and comfort and encourage you in joyful or sad times. I will point you towards Christ for as long as I live and serve you as Christ came not to be served but to serve. I will be confident in you as you are confident in Christ I will not demand you to satisfy what only God can satisfy
I will seek to know you and understand you care for you and protect you
In sickness and in health
In moments of conflict and in moments of joy
I will always love you
I will never divorce you
I will believe the best in you
And I will resolve conflicts quickly
I will admit when I need help and when I have sinned against you
I will be completely honest with you at all times
And I give you permission to remind me of these vows
I ask for grace from you and offer grace to you no matter what
Above all I commit to walk with God experience Christ and depend on the Holy Spirit and help you to do the same.
You will come before anything or anyone else even if others don’t understand or it ruins my plans
I will respect your leadership
I will be your number one fan.
I commit all these things to you as long as we both shall live.
I love you.
I’m so glad I’m marrying you!




And now bullet points
• I took inspration from many friends as we planned our wedding and our vows. Thanks to Clint & Sung, Ken & Jenny, Shane Stec & Shane Ferguson and many others…

• A while back, my ATL Robin told me STINT was good preparation for marriage. Those who have been on teams with me in EA may recognize some ideas in our vows- basically directly out of our team covenants: resolve conflict quickly, believe the best, walk with God…of course a lot of it is Biblical principles!

• Like a Team Covenant, I hope Soo & I will review this often: we even put in our vows that we can remind each other of our commitment to one another. We’ve already renewed it twice, and I hope we look at it at least once a year if not more

• We made point to say by the power of the Holy Spirit: for we know - even though we like each other & love each other deeply- we need God to make this marriage work!

• And we also give each other grace

• Some may object of me calling Soo #1 as God is #1. But I don’t consider God a priority, I consider Him my living breath (this is a whole other blog)

• Still, we emphasized only God can satisfy us

• Our vows are very similar, but one thing where it diverges is the emphasis on love toward Soo and respect & affirmation toward me

• We truly hope we can show Christ to each other & experience Christ from each other!

Married life has been good. i love my Soo, and i am so thankful for her!