I Do, I DO!!

This is the wedding season. Dear young friends were married April 10 in a beautiful ceremony, another couple will wed this next weekend, my own son Jacob and his beautiful bride-to-be Jessica will take the plunge May 22, and then more this summer. As I prepare for all these promises, I have thought how in a world where commitments are increasingly short-term, the words "for better or worse, as long as we both shall live" sound beautiful, but realistically unlikely to most people. We push those thoughts to the back of our minds in the midst of the celebration. But as we look at broken promises on all levels, not just marriage, we wonder, "Does anyone keep promises anymore?"

Yes, some people still make and keep promises. They choose not to quit when the going gets rough because they promised to see it through. They stick to causes that seem lost. They hold on to a love that seems sadly cold. They stay with people who have become royal pains in the neck. They are brave enough to make a promise, and have enough integrity to keep the promise they have made. Lewis Smede challenges me when he says, "If you have a ship you will not desert, if you have people you will not forsake, if you have causes you cannot abandon, then you are like God."

See, when a person makes a promise, that person reaches out into the unpredictable and unertain future and makes one thing certain: I WILL BE THERE.  I will be there even when it costs me more than I want to pay. In a world where most things seem out of my control, when I make a promise like this, I control at least one thing: I will be there no matter what the circumstances turn out to be. Smedes says, "When you make a promise, you take a hand in creating your own future."

This spring and summer is a great time to reflect on the promises we have made to God, to people, to the church--and to focus our energy on keeping them. There is nothing more fulfilling than working with God to keep your commitments, and receiving the reward that comes from being a keeper of covenants, a person like God.

I promise. Better than that, it is HIS promise.