Congratulations Samuel & Dominique Scotti

Congratulations Samuel & Dominique Scotti

Last May, Corinne and I celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary and though I am much too young to have been married that long, looking back the time has flown by so fast and has left me reeling in its wake. But what has made the quick passing even more imprinted on my mind was my son Samuel getting married earlier this month. I know some of you may be surprised to hear that Samuel is now married. Well, so were Corinne and I when he told us his plans
only a few short months ago.

There was a lot involved to make this all happen in such a short period of time. Not only the invitations, location, and all the other planning, but we also had to fly Dominique out from Missouri, Samuel from North Carolina and
Jordan from Louisiana only a day before the wedding so they could be married here in California. In all this, I realized that your kids may move away, but they never move out of your life or your heart and there was nothing
that could have prepared me for standing in front of my son and asking him, "Do you, Samuel, take Dominique to be your wife?" I was so thrilled.

With them both being in the military and knowing that they will be separated from each other for long periods of time, there is obviously going to be more stress involved for them than you would normally have in a new marriage
and everyone from staff sergeants to grandmothers has talked to them about it. But something we have recognized through all this is that there are no guarantees one way or the other. I mean, I know couples who were married and
had kids (not necessarily in that order), both before they admittedly were ready and they are doing wonderfully well and have been for years, but I also know couples who "kissed dating goodbye", waited for the "perfect"
person, did things "by the book" so to speak, and their marriage has ended tragically, not to mention those who have lost the love of their life to disease or some sort of misfortune. Bottom line is we just don't know what
the future holds for any of us. So what can you do? Well, Jude tells us to keep ourselves in the love of God as we wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring us to eternal life. There is something about God's love that
is gripping, refining, and healing. Paul even spoke in Philippians 3 of how he was pressing on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of him.
I shared this thought with my son that day as I told him of how he took hold of my life when he was born, that because of him, I knew I could not let him grow up without a dad like I had done. That because of him there was something that gripped my life and said "you can't quit, no matter what", that because of him, love took hold of me and changed not only my life, but me for the better. I believe that love for God does this in us as well and it can touch the very core of our being and that this love is able to change us better than any rules, regulations or law ever could.
So my advice for all of us is that found in Jude. Keep yourself in the love of God.