Welcome to the wedding banquet
Tara, Connie and Kristen have been creating a magical wonderland on our lawn for Talia and Joe’s wedding banquet. I’ll welcome our guests to the banquet with some words that we hope will set the mood. If you’re there, you’ll hear me say something like this: “Karen and I want to welcome you to a party we’ve dreamed about for years. We serve an extravagant God who wants to love us extravagantly. When he wants to capture our imaginations and tell us about a kingdom we struggle to see, he compares it to a wedding banquet. He paints a fantastic picture.
Yet we were born into a world that is often harsh. Our dreams flicker like the candles around us tonight; they’re easily snuffed out.
All her life, my first-born child, Talia, held the fragile, flickering dream of a husband who would love her and share a life of adventure, romance and laughter with her.
More times than I can count, she would walk into my office and ask, “Daddy, who am I going to marry?” Or she’d say, “Daddy, are you praying for my husband?”
She knew that God had put the dream in her heart; she just needed help believing it. And sometimes she would cry herself to sleep just fighting for this dream.
Tonight we are here because we are loved by an extravagant God who gives us impossible dreams and then makes them come true. Joe is Talia’s knight in shining armor who drove four days across an entire continent because he held the same flickering dream of a love relationship worthy of the poetry in his heart.
Tonight our extravagant God has plunged us into the middle of the story of a glittering kingdom. We may have thought it only existed in the realm of words, but here we see that it’s a reality. God is inviting us to enter a dream come true and walk around in it and even dance in it.”
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Congratulations again! This is beautiful and gives me another outlook on this divine romance I have with Jesus. May Joe and Talia have the most wonderful day full of joy in the gifts God has given to them
Congratulations once again Seth.
How I wished we were there in Gainesville at this moment but our hearts unite with yours and your household’s on this great day. May Talia and Joe’s wedding be that cornerstone event in the life of someone today pointing him or her to THE FATHER’S BANQUET. Amen.
loads of Love.
I hope tissues are part of the decor in the magical wonderland. This is beautiful Seth… almost
like something that’s been preparing to be said for a lifetime. Blessings!
OH, Seth,
How beautifully stated and a lovely reminder of the day where we will share in the “marriage supper of the lamb”…Blessings on you all this day as you continue to mentor the “many sons” God has brought your way….Much love to all the Barnes…..
i love this post. thanks seth.
and it’s hard to believe that tent is sitting in the very same field that we all started our Race sleeping in. HA. amazing. love and blessings to you and the family this weekend.
Thats beautiful Seth.I wish I could be there to share in the celebrations.A wonderful reminder ofour heavenly fathers love for us.Every Blessing to you all.
Beautifully put, Seth. Wishing you guys the best of everything good for a fantastic wedding celebration. Much much love from us across The Pond xx
This was a beautiful read. & encouraging! 😉 Many blessings to the Barnes/Bunting Family this weekend!
Well Seth, now that you won’t have to be praying for Talia’s husband to come anymore, you can pray for mine instead. 🙂
Simply beautiful and wonderful. Blessings to all!
Thank you all – it was the most incredible wedding I’ve ever been to. More in the next post.
Yep – you did a great job of delivery in the real setting too. Marcia and I were so happy for your whole family. It was a blessing to be a part of it. We had fun!