I'm still trying to convince myself it's not a dream that I will soon be marrying the most wonderful woman in the world. After going to see the Broadway version of "White Christmas" in downtown Raleigh on Wednesday night, Elizabeth and I went for a walk in Moore Square where I asked her to be my wife. Wonder of wonders, she said yes!

Through the whole courtship process, I've come to realize my dependence on God's leading. There is so much that I am incapable of doing on my own, and so much I don't know how to handle or what to do, but with God leading and depending on Him for strength, he hasn't led us astray. To the contrary, he has proven himself dependable and faithful from the very beginning.

Unless the LORD builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.
It is in vain that you rise up early
and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil;
for he gives to his beloved sleep.

Psalm 127:1-2 (ESV)

And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

Joshua 24:15 (ESV)

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.

Matthew 7:24-25 (ESV)

Here are some pictures from the happiest day of my life so far:

I still haven't decided who I will support as a presidential candidate for the 2008 election. In the past few weeks as Mike Huckabee has been seeing a huge surge in popularity, I've started reading more about him and listening to several of his speeches. One thing I can say about Huckabee that this guy is solid. Check out these quotes I've pulled from some of his speeches:

"My personal relationship with God is through Jesus Christ in a personal way. There is no group plan going to heaven. I'm not going to heaven because I'm an American. I'm not going to heaven because I'm a member of a particular denomination. I'm not going to heaven because I'm white or because I'm male. I'm going to heaven because of Jesus Christ's death on a cross and my personal acceptance of my sin and his death on the cross as substitution for my own death."

"We [Americans] don't understand that the nature of man is not that he's basically good, it's that he's basically selfish. We have a sin nature, not a God nature. We have a God who made us, but we come into this world broken. We come into this world with a self-centeredness that only grace can fix."

"This is a true story. My son made a chocolate cake and put a cup of salt in the cake. If you don't think that will ruin a cake, go home and make yourself one. You won't eat it, but if you have cows around, they'll lick on it for a week. Now, here's what my son did. He didn't understand what "a dash" meant. Nobody had ever defined for him the term, so he made up his own definition. It was not lack of sincerity, it was not lack of effort, it was not even a lack of an honorable and noble purpose, it was that he had redefined the terms, and in so doing, instead of creating a cake he created a disaster."

"I don't understand how people can tell us that we shouldn't change the constitution to affirm that marriage means one man, one woman, for life, but those very people would allow us to change the Word of the living God so that marriage wouldn't mean one man, one woman, for life. Help me to understand the logic behind that argument."

"If your pulpit is not trying to move our societal norms to the norms of the Scripture, but trying to move the Scriptural norms to the norms of society then somehow we've got it all wrong. It is not the purpose of the church to find ways to become increasingly popular, it is important that the church remain ever unceasingly principled."

"I'm not a republican because I like politics, I'm a republican because it's the only place I could go where I could affirm and be affirmed that life is a gift from the almighty God that begins at conception and we have a moral obligation to protect it so long as God gives it breath and life and we do not have the right to take it artificially. ... Let me be clear, if the party to which I am currently a member decides that it no longer believes the things that matter most, that are eternal, that have longer lasting value than the politics of the next election, then I'll have to keep looking and find some other place, or be alone. But being alone in principle is better than being alone in a crowded room where nobody believes in anything or stands for anything."

"[We've moved from] a time when teachers carried paddles and ruled the halls to now where kids carry guns and the teachers are afraid. And yes, I do believe that the old fashioned ways of dicipline are good ones. I was the recipient of quite a few. I tell people that my father was the most patriotic man I think I ever knew. Utter patriotism. He laid on the stripes, I saw stars. True american patriotism. I shudder to think what would have happened had he not given me some clear guidelines to live by."

"I think that those of us who have observed homeschooling ... have come to realize that the government has intervened and interfered way too much and that we need to go back to the idea that if it's working well, leave it alone and let it breathe."

Not the labor of my hands
Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.

Rock of Ages (Au­gus­tus M. Top­la­dy)

Now incline me to repent,
Let me now my sins lament,
Now my foul revolt deplore,
Weep, believe, and sin no more.

Depth of Mercy (Charles Wes­ley)

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

It is Well With My Soul (Ho­ra­tio G. Spaf­ford)

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh may I then in Him be found.
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.

The Solid Rock (Edward Mote)

When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation,
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart.
Then I shall bow, in humble adoration,
And then proclaim: "My God, how great Thou art!"

How Great Thou Art (Carl Gustaf Boberg)

Reformation day (see wikipedia) is coming up on October 31, which is the day Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church doors in Whittenburg. In honor of this, I thought I'd pass along a great YouTube video called the Reformation Polka. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WU0f_qJLkLg