Thoughts on Tithing....

My hubby is in the process of writing another blog entry over at “The Christian Dollar” where he is now a regular contributor. (I’m very proud of him!!!) He’s writing an article on “Tithe, Give, Save, Live” at the moment, which is a phrase we hear our Pastor use on a regular basis from the pulpit… As I read through his draft of the article, we started to discuss tithing and how/why we are supposed to do it, and how could he fit all that info in his 800 word article. This inspired me to come up with a post here on our blog about tithing and what we as a couple, believe in regards to it.

We know that tithing was originally set up as a part of the Old Covenant, under Mosaic Law. The Israelite people were commanded by God to give a “tithe” (literally, a tenth) of all their income back to God. There were many laws and rules regarding every little detail of the tithe, and if that interests you a great amount, go and read through the books of the Law – Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and Numbers. Have fun! ;)

However we are no longer under the Law……

Way before the Law was ever instituted though, if you look in Genesis 14, it talks about Abraham giving a tithe of his goods to Melchizedek, the priest of the Most High God, after receiving those material blessings from God and a spoken blessing from Melchizedek. Also, in Genesis 18, Jacob promises God that he would give Him a tenth of all that he has for the rest of his life, if God will indeed bless him as He had promised to. These tithes were before the law, and were not done out of compulsion or in response to a commandment, but out of thanksgiving for blessings received or promises of blessings to come. These men walked with God and their tithing was an act of love for their God. They realized that walking with God faithfully yielded blessings in their lives, and they were thankful and never forgot the source of those blessings. Tithing and thanksgiving to the Source of their blessings and provision went hand in hand. (Deuteronomy 8:18 “And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.”)

I think that the example laid down by these men is a great foundation from which to look at tithing/giving in the New Covenant. Now, there is no specific “command” in the New Testament regarding tithing. Nowhere does it say, “Give God a tithe!” However, cheerfully giving financially and materially is mentioned throughout the New Testament. A good way to look at it would be to say that we as believers are “Blessed to be a Blessing”. We give to bless God and show thanksgiving to Him and also to be a blessing to those around us. We love God and we love others, and giving is just an expression of that.

We do give to our churches, both to provide income for our Pastors, which is biblical (see 1 Timothy 5:17-18, 1 Corinthians 9:14, and Galatians 6:6), and also to pay for the facilities that we use for church and various programs/outreaches we do. This is definitely the more practical side of giving. This is where most people will give their tithe - to their home church.

Beyond the tithe, we as believers are to give freely into other things as well. If we look in Acts at how the early church lived, we can see that they gave of their money and possessions freely to those believers who were in need. They took care of widows and orphans and made sure that none were in lack. They gave out of love, with a cheerful heart. I think 2 Corinthians 9:6-15 is another great example of how and why we give…. 

⁶ But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. ⁷ So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸ And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. ⁹ As it is written:

“He has dispersed abroad,
He has given to the poor;
His righteousness endures forever.”

¹⁰ Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, ¹¹ while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God. ¹² For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God, ¹³ while, through the proof of this ministry, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal sharing with them and all men, ¹⁴ and by their prayer for you, who long for you because of the exceeding grace of God in you. ¹⁵ Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! 

God is the source of our money, plain and simple. He asks us to give out of a cheerful heart to every good work. And as we are faithful with what He has given us and we sow bountifully, He is faithful to increase us so that we can in turn bless more people. I believe this is the heart and soul of giving under the New Covenant. We are the hands and feet of Jesus… we are His body here on the earth. If He wants to bless someone, how does He do it? Sure, He can and does, give favor to His people in the form of job promotions, unexpected checks in the mail, etc. But more often than not, He uses His people. He asks us to give of our money, and our time and effort as well, to others around us. His love pours through us to those around us and as they are blessed by our obedience to God, we are blessed more, because He sees we are faithful with little, so He pours out even more.

So why do we as Christians give: Firstly, we give to God (through our tithes in church) as an act of Thanksgiving for we know that all good things come from Him and He is the source of our finances and possessions. He has given us such amazing gifts and wonderful provision, so we give back a portion as an act of love. (This money takes care of our Pastors and churches.) Secondly, we give to those around us in order to be the hands and feet of Jesus and meet their needs and show them love. We give finances to missionaries, to outreach groups, to the family whose car just broke down and they can’t afford to fix it… We give to bring a smile to someone’s face after a terrible day… We give just to allow someone else feel what it’s like to be blessed by God. 

What about you? Does your family tithe or give on a regular basis? If so, why? If not, why? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

Merry Christmas Message!

Announcement!!

JC has joined the contributors over at The Christian Dollar.  This is a fantastic opportunity and a great site to be a part of!  The owner, John Frainee is an old friend from Bible College and I am excited to join him in the continuing discussions about Christians and Finances.

My first article is up! 4 Financial Dreams and How We’re Accomplishing Them

Check it out and join us in the comments!  More articles are on their way!

Christmas as a New Family

We are getting close to our first Christmas together.  It's been fun putting up the Christmas tree, talking about each other's family traditions, and just being together. 

Some of the things we've done:

• Put up the Christmas tree.  It's the fake tree that Brianna had from the past, so we didn't get to go out and hunt for one, but it's still nice.  For some reason she like tinsel on the tree...  Strange.
• Sat with the lights off except for the tree, sipping hot chocolate and listening to Christmas music.
• Finding some nice presents for each other and family.  I think half of them are homemade and I'm looking forward to giving them.
• We taught Children's Church on Sunday and did a special craft.  We painted ornaments!  It was a lot of fun and we enjoyed watching the kids enjoy themselves.
• Went and enjoyed time with family down in Linden and Three Hills.  Played Apples to Apples and was laughing so hard!

 What's coming up:

• New Life Church is doing a Christmas party out at Pioneer Ranch this Sunday.  I hear rumors of a feast and fun times.  I plan on setting up a Settlers of Catan game.  And maybe even doing some sort of card game.  Going to be a ton of fun!
• We have plans for a great Christmas Eve time, eating food, opening presents, maybe a Christmas Eve service.   
• Christmas Day is going to be a service at church, then we are going to have Fondue at her parent's.  Going to be a blast!

All in all it's going to be a good Christmas.

Why The Name?

When we first started this blog, we chose the odd title of "God, My Weird Spouse, and I."  That's a very strange title I know, but there's a reason behind it. 

This world, this culture has defined "normal" as people living together, having multiple partners, having affairs during marriage and having a divorce or two or three.  Normal is spending too much time working and not enough time with your wife and family.  Normal is kids with no fathers.  Normal is....  (you fill in the blank). 

We don't want to be normal.  We want to stand out against the gray and mediocrity of the world.  We want to stand for Christ, for a Biblical worldview, for a life lived in joy and abundance because of our relationship with God.  We want to stand for sex within marriage, for a strong sense of value in our spouse's eyes.  We want to stand for a marriage where we want to be together, to do life together, where conflict is managed and used to strengthen our union.  We want to stand for an open home and for open hearts to those struggling in our community.  In other words:  We want to be WEIRD!!!

It is definitely a journey and we have a long, long, long life ahead of us.  We invite you to walk alongside us and see how our weirdness pays off in the future.

Be aware of what your wife does

I have a friend who shared this article on Twitter.  Basically the author talks about not undoing what your wife has done throughout the day.

He uses the example of leaving clothes on the table after his wife has cleaned it over and over during the day.  Made me think about my marriage and what I do that could undo what Brianna has done.  The stuff on the table is definitely one thing.  Books and papers on the sofas is another.  Leaving my lunch stuff on the counter after making lunch.  Yeah, I do it.

I think the gist of the article is to remember to be proactive with your relationship with your wife.  It takes thought to make your wife feel special.  And she definitely deserves to be have her husband make her special!

Husbands:  What stuff do you do that can undo your wife's actions during the day?  Wives:  What can you gently talk to your husband about in this regard?

A Haunting Question....

Lately God has been talking to me about a few things... which is nothing new. I mean, He's always bringing things to my attention so that I continue to grow and mature, but I've had a constant nagging thought in my head for some time. And it's not my fault… really. It's Focus on the Family's fault! :)

Let me explain. A couple of months ago, our church College and Career group started watching Focus on the Family's "The Truth Project" - a set of 13 dvds (each an hour long) that deal with developing a Bible-based Christian worldview. We've watched the first 4 videos, but it is the first one that stays with me. The teacher on the dvds, Dr. Del Tackett, presented what he called a "haunting question":

"Do you really believe

that what you believe

is really real?"

Of course, any good little Christian instantly responds with a resounding "yes!". Of course, I really believe the Bible is true! Of course I really believe that God and everything about Him is true! Well, let me stop you for a moment and ask you,

"Do you really?"

Don't get me wrong, I am not by any means having a crisis of faith and doubting what I know to be true! I am however, asking us to pause and really search what's inside us and truly think about it. If we really believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God and that it is absolutely 100% true, why don't we act like it?

Why do we forget what His word says about sin and continue to live as though we're one with the world?

If we believe that Christ died so we could be free, why do we continue to wallow in bondage to our old lives?

If we truly believe that God's will for us is always best, why do we push against it and not completely surrender the moment He calls us?

If He said He would always be with us and never forsake us, why do we questions where He is in times of trouble?

If His Word states that every "good and perfect gift" comes from Him and that God does NOT tempt man (see James 1:12-14), why, when calamity and crisis and temptation strike, do we think God is causing it?

Why do we think that living in poverty is godly, when His Word makes it clear that God wants us blessed in every area of life?

If there is no possible temptation that can come against me that God cannot help me overcome, why do I succumb to the sin?

If God's Word says, "Do not Worry", "Do not Fear", why are we, as a Christian culture, consumed with them?

If we believe that the Word of God is true, why do we cut out the parts that we don't like?

If the Holy Spirit is a member of the Trinity and God (as a whole) is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, why don't we truly allow Him to move in our lives and churches? If we know that God is completely good and holy, why is that part of God scary?

If God's Word says He will provide for us, why do we immediately freak out when that unexpected bill comes in the mail?

If we truly believe that "With God all things are possible", why do we doubt His ability?

So how do we remedy this? How do we go from this flesh-minded mentality, which we all have, to where we know we're supposed to be - having the mind of Christ? How do we go from uncertainty to unshakable faith?

Now I know none of us are perfect and we all struggle with acting on and walking in God's Word. It is only through the process of spending time with God, through His Word, in prayer, in church, etc, that we grow into more mature believers, and as such, our faith grows too. As we spend more time with God, in His Word, in His Presence, we come to know that He is who He says He is.

He is to be fully trusted.

He is only Good.

He is Compassionate and Merciful and will always forgive us.

He desires only the best for us.

He protects us.

He is Holy.

He is Love.

He is Faithful.

He is All-Knowing, All-Powerful, and Ever-Present…. just to name a few.

The more we seek His face, the more we know Him and His glory, and the more our faith and dependency on Him grows, we get to the point where we can say that we absolutely "really believe that what we believe is really real!" because our lives and our walk with Christ will show it. The closer we walk with Him, the more we end up living like him, and then the doubts and fears in our hearts will begin to fade. I love 2 Corinthians 3:17-18, "¹⁷ Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. ¹⁸ But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord." The more we see God, the more we become like Him. As we are changed into His image, it affects our countenance, our attitudes, our perspectives, our beliefs, our faith... our LIFE!

If we examine our own hearts and ask ourselves that "haunting question", I think we would all agree that there are some areas where we need to grow. I know I sure do! So let's take this as a challenge and let's press into the things of God with a renewed zeal! Let's seek the face of God and put Him first in our lives and let's see the changes He makes in us. Let's watch as our lives begin to truly reflect that we do really believe that what we believe is real, because we're living it!!!

How To Make Your Wife Happy

Okay, so men usually agree that women are mysteries, and are very difficult to figure out.  There are so many differences that it doesn't seem like we really can connect and make our wives happy.  If you're like me, you hate to see your wife upset.  Plus, the old addage, Happy Wife, Happy Life, holds true, right?

First off, know that you aren't responsible for your wife's happiness, and the reverse holds true as well.  If you're struggling with feeling grumpy and depressed, look at yourself first and figure out why that's happening and why that is affecting you and your family.  One thing I've learned, it's not my wife's responsibility to keep me spiritually or even emotionally fed.  I have to know myself and my identity in Christ before I can be the husband I need to be.

We, as husbands, also need to realize that our wives are made so different than us.  Even if their primary love language isn't words of affirmation (yes, I did read The Five Love Languages), they still need your attention and the time you talk and listen to them.  Their minds and their hearts are relational based and if you take the time to listen and be part of their struggles and triumphs, you will find their love grows.

Some of the things I've found with Brianna that tend to bring us closer together:

• Our late night conversations.  We can spend hours snuggled in bed talking about everything under the sun.  From our dreams of the future, to current struggles, to even theological discussions, we cover a lot of topics.  I take the time to listen to her viewpoint, repeat it back to her if I don't get it, and to accept her view on things.
• Time.  Setting aside the time to spend with Brianna has been very important.  Take this weekend for instance.  We have church Saturday night and Sunday morning, and every other Sunday evening a college/career type group, so our weekends are very busy.  This Sunday afternoon and evening, we had nothing happening.  All of a sudden my sister-in-law calls and wants to play Settlers of Catan with us.  Normally we would jump on that; we love that game!  However, with how busy the weekend was, we needed the time to just be with each other.  Thus, we said no.  Now, we still want to play that game and will make the time to do so, we just needed that specific time together with each other.
• The little things.  My mother will attest that I don't like doing dishes.  Definitely not my favorite job in the world.  Yet, there are times that I do them.  Not because I love dishes, but because I love my wife and want to serve her.  Same with any chore around the house.  You may not do them regularly, but to be deliberate about serving your wife makes her feel like a queen!  Also, my wife loves head massages and I know I'm making her happy with that.  
• And I almost forgot:  Prayer.  We pray together every night and it connects us with each other and with God.  Something about being thankful, putting our faith together, and lifting our lives up to God is a huge encourager to our marriage.

I think my biggest piece of advice is to remember Ephesians 5:25-33.

²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, ²⁶that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, ²⁷so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.^{[a] 28}In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, ³⁰because we are members of his body. ³¹ "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh." ³²This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. ³³However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

 I think this passage bears a lot of thinking about and learning to apply it to your life.  It's huge to think that you take care of yourself, so you need to take care of your wife in the same way.  And also, we are little Christs, made in His image, and we can act like it.   

Your wife deserves a loving and caring husband.  She is a priceless jewel that needs your love and protection.  You are able to love her well!!

Wives: what do your husbands do that make you happy and loved?  Husbands:  what can you do to speak and care for your wife? 

The Love and Respect Experience - Review

After talking about books, I now offer you a review of a book.  The Love & Respect Experience: A Husband-Friendly Devotional that Wives Truly Love by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs. 

This is a devotional, divided into 52 small chapters, with each chapter ending with a Prayer topic and an Action to do with your spouse.  Each chapter deals with a topic common to marriage. I wanted to sit down and read the whole thing through, but since it is a devotional, that didn't seem right to me.  What I did then was to read the introduction and then bounced around the different chapters.

Dr. Eggerichs is know for talking about how men need Respect and how women need Love.  Men and women are made different, looking at the world through different eyes, but if we can learn how to meet each other's needs, our marriages will work better.

A few things popped out at me in my reading:

• Goodwill.  Our marriages need to be based on goodwill.  We need to have the intention, the purpose in our marriage to do good to our spouse.  If a disagreement happens, don't immediately think that they intended that purposefully or maliciously - give them the goodwill benefit of the doubt.  
• Money problems can dig deep and reveal our faults - how mature or immature we are.  We need to deal with the problems together, putting aside frustrations and anger; instead communicate and work through the issue together.  Show love and respect in how we handle money.
• The title of chapter 24 is "It's Hard to be Negative While Being Thankful."  He goes on to describe a tough time in their lives dealing with a son's broken leg and dream and how his wife learned to be thankful even during that hard time.  Developing a habit of thanksgiving drives the negative out - you see others in a more positive light.

All in all, I think this has potential to be a really good devotional.  It's definitely made me want to read the book these concepts come from (Love and Respect by the same author). I look forward to exploring this devotional with my wife.

Finally - a food blog post! :)

Monday marked our three-month anniversary! These past three months have gone by so quickly... yikes! We wanted to celebrate by having a nice dinner together, and since the budget is tight in the Reagan house, we decided to forgo a fancy restaurant and be creative!

JC has been telling me for months about this apple pie recipe from his great-grandma... but he hadn’t made it yet, so all I could do was imagine how yummy this pie supposedly was. On Monday he finally made it! And I have decreed that it is not to be called Apple Pie... it’s new name is “Wonderful Pie”. I was very impressed! Not only did it look really good with the cinnamon and sugar dusted on top, it also had a cute message cut into the crust: JC + Bree. Needless to say, the pie was a huge hit and we both ate two pieces that night. :)

One of my family’s favorite special dinners is Chicken Neptune with Stuffed Potatoes. My Mom had made it one night for dinner during one of JC’s visits back when we were dating and he seemed to like it, so I figured that would make a good fancy dinner.

Stuffed Potatoes

I love making stuffed potatoes! They’re soooo easy to make, they taste awesome, and they look like you worked really hard on them, even though you didn't. Here’s the recipe: (I use the term “recipe” loosely... you can pretty much add whatever you want)

• Bake large potatoes at about 400 degrees F for around an hour, until the potatoes are nice and soft inside when you poke them with a fork. Make sure you do NOT wrap the potatoes in tin foil, as that will leave the skin soft, which will make them fall apart later on.
• Cut off the top 1/3 of the potatoes lengthwise.
• Scoop out the inside of the potatoes and put into a mixing bowl.
• Add whatever you want to the potatoes... I usually add any combination of butter, sour cream, cream cheese, cheddar cheese, green onions, bacon bits, etc. This time I added butter, sour cream and parmesan cheese.
• Mash or whip all of the added stuff with the potatoes until it’s nice and smooth with no lumps.
• Scoop the potato mix back into the potato skins and bake in the oven at about 400 again for 20-30 mins.

- Enjoy!

   Chicken Neptune

Chicken Neptune is really easy too! Simply bbq chicken breasts. Top the chicken breasts with asparagus, crab meat, and hollandaise sauce. It sounds weird, but it tastes really yummy. (My mom used to order this every time we went out for dinner to a nice restaurant and it quickly became her favorite!) The store-bought hollandaise sauce mix works fine, but if you have a recipe for homemade, it’s even better! 

You can cook the asparagus however you would like, but my sister found a delicious way to do it and now we cannot go back to simply steaming it. 

• Heat about 4 tbsp of olive oil on medium heat in a frying pan.
• Once the oil is hot (and starting to smoke a little bit), add the asparagus to it. Be careful, the oil will spatter.
• Lightly salt and pepper the asparagus and quickly put a lid over the pan, or else you’ll have oil spattered all over your stove.
• Using tongs, turn the asparagus every minute. It will cook very quickly. Usually it only takes about 5 minutes or so for them to be done.
• The outside will get slightly crispy and a little bit browned from the hot oil, but the flavor is great! I usually hate asparagus, but when it is prepared this way, I don’t mind eating it.

Well, that was our anniversary dinner! Hmm, my first blog post about food.... I should do this more often!

Enjoy the picture! And yes, we were drinking orange juice out of goblets... it looked more fancy. :D

Moving Pictures vs. The Written Word

I used to be quite the reader.  I read voraciously through out my teen years.  Novels mostly, Sci-fi and fantasy were quite high up on the list.  I also liked mysteries, westerns, and the Christian novel.  Basically if it told a story, I liked it.

Then I went to college.  There, reading consisted of textbooks, textbooks, research, and, yes, more textbooks.   Since I had to read every word in order to comprehend it, I would spend hours in the library, at Sharis, in the park and anywhere I could find a comfortable chair, reading my books.  Usually I'd be ahead in my reading (learned a lot about scheduling and time management back then), but still, my brain would feel stretched and fried by the end of the evening.

My recreation of choice changed from reading a novel to watching movies.  Springfield has a lovely $1.50 theater where it was quite easy to see movies for cheap.  Most Friday nights would find me and my friends watching the latest action film or comedy or whatever piqued our interest at that time.  It was common to hit the theater and meet people you hadn't seen for awhile there.  Almost a social networking site without being on the internet and 100s of miles apart.

All that to say is that I've slowly gotten back into reading novels.  However, I'm finding it more difficult to be sucked in.  I just picked up a book that my wife had, and started reading, yet, even through the first chapter and I wanted to set it down and go do something else.  That either means that Francine Rivers isn't as engaging an author as I remember or that I lost my focus...  hmmmm...

The other thing I've noticed in my reading habits is that I go through cycles.  I've been trying to read a lot of non-fiction, uplifting and educational books lately.  Some grab me, make me interested in seeing how the author expounds on his point, others leave me bored and wanting more.  Again, is this the author's fault or is it my lack of focus?

Or is it that explosions have become much more interesting than the written word?

I hope not.  The worlds that books open up are myriad and filled with a variety of creatures and thoughts.  I want to explore them for the rest of my life.

Being thankful

Lisa, my friend from Eugene has bee talking about thankfulness, and has been writing a post a day this month about what she's thankful for.  (Check out her blog!)  It makes me think about how life tends to run by and we take so many things for granted.

Take technology for instance:  I'm writing this blog on my laptop with my blackberry sitting next to me.  I have an ipod plugged into a player (currently listening to Tim Hughes) sitting across from me.  I have the ability to be connected to so many different people over so many different ways.  It amazes me that I can talk to people in the States, in Taiwan, and all over the world through the Internet.  We are truly blessed to have technology like this.

And what about the basics?  Shelter, clothing, food.  I just ate leftover taco salad, munching on some grapes, and we have a full fridge and stuff in the freezer,  My apartment is warm, despite the cold snow outside and I can put on a jacket if I'm slightly chilled (fighting turning the heat on).  I have a table to eat on, set my computer, and play games on.  Wow, am I thankful for this!!

We come to the relationships around us.  I am totally blessed to be married to a woman of God, someone who listens to me, gets my humor, and who is sharing life with me!  Her family is a blessing and so are the people here in Rocky.  I am blessed by being in a church family that loves me and who are strong in their faith!  I am also blessed that I have so many friends over all the world. 

So yeah, I have a lot to be thankful for.  It's a big deal to look at our lives and not focus on the negatives or the pain, but to see how God has blessed us.  He gives us so much! 

What things do you take for granted?  What can you look at and start thanking God for?

Midnight Financial Musings

I can't sleep.  And what does JC do when he can't sleep?  He heads over to The Christian Dollar to read through the archives.  Lo and behold he stumbles upon this article about spending the previous month's income for the next month. This starts him thinking about budgeting and how it's working.

A little over a month and a half ago, I posted about our first budget, and how we were taking each dollar and giving it a name and purpose.  We started out budgeting from what we had from August's income.  Then, the next month, we budgeted from September's income.  Now, looking at the budget for November, we are going to be using October's income.  Make's sense, right?

I think one of the reasons that this system is working for us, is that I like to see things in concrete terms.  I like knowing that I have so many apples, so many bananas, and so many dollars.  That allows me to parcel out my budget, knowing that I have exactly this amount of money for this amount of expenses.  What's funny about this is that not too long ago I was very undisciplined with my money.  I had a vague idea of where it was going and what it needed to do, but I would impulse buy and that occasionally had me skating along a cliff.

Now that Brianna and I are married, the accountability and the goals we have set makes it a lot easier to keep to a budget.  Plus I also have a renewed sense of stewardship.  The money we have is not our own and I want to treat this gift with the diligence it deserves.

And part of that is spending last month's income in this month's budget.

How do you set up your budget?  How do you look at your money?  Is it concrete or vague?

Inspiration

A friend of mine shared this news story on Facebook.

From the article: "A devoted Iowa couple married for 72 years died holding hands in the hospital last week, exactly one hour apart.
The passing reflected the nature of their marriage, where, "As a rule, everything was done together," said the couple's daughter Donna Sheets, 71."

Married 72 years and they die together

I have been thinking a lot about longevity in my marriage lately.  That's why we talked about our foundation and what we're trying to do in order to build a strong and lasting marriage.  Then I read about this couple and how they lasted and how they did everything together.  It inspires me. 

So what causes a marriage to last?  From reading this article, a lot of it is being together and truly going through life as one, as a unit.  It means making decisions together, talking about everything, and being honest. 

I want to look back at 90 years of age and see my life with Brianna stretch out behind me.  I want to look and see my bride beside me and know that I absolutely love her and spent a good life together with her.

What about you?  Do you know anyone who has had a long and happy marriage?  What have you learned from them?  Care to tell us about it?

It's a steep learning curve....

A few things that I’ve learned in marriage so far: (hmm, for being married only 2 months, it’s kinda long... obviously this is a very steep learning curve) : )

- Respect! I have definitely learned the immense value in respecting JC. I love Ephesians 5:33 in the Amplified Bible: However, let each man of you [without exception] love his wife as [being in a sense] his very own self; and let the wife see that she respects and reverences her husband [ that she notices him, regards him, honors him, prefers him, venerates, and esteems him; and that she defers to him, praises him, and loves and admires him exceedingly]. All of those acts have such an impact on my hubby. When I tell him “You’re so awesome!” or “I’m married to the world’s most handsome man”, or “You make me smile honey! You’re the best!”, or “I’m so proud of you, you did such an awesome job!” his face lights up and I can tell how much it means to him. It doesn’t stop there either... I need to show respect in how I act too. I need to listen to him when he shares his thoughts and ideas and see the value and wisdom in them. I need to see him as the best guy in the world! I do these things because I love my hubby very much, and this is one way that I can express that love to him. Guys respond to respect from their wives... there’s a reason God made sure it was written in the Bible!

- Sense of Humor. I have always thought that being able to have a good sense of humor is a blessing in any situation, good or bad, but I have definitely learned the immense value of it in marriage. We’ve only been married for 2 months and I’ve already seen how important it is! I can only imagine the benefits we’ll gain in the future!!! JC and I both share a silly sense of humor and it seems like we’re constantly laughing with each other. Not only does it eliminate (or at least decrease) stress in a situation, it definitely makes both of us feel good. And it makes us feel closer together to enjoy a good laugh together.

- How to “Fight” Nice. So, it has been 2 months, and we still have not had a fight... and not for lack of opportunity! I can attribute this to the two of us reading “Before You Plan Your Wedding, Plan Your Marriage” by Greg and Erin Smalley... and actually taking their advice to heart. There are lots of things that come up, almost every day, that could become a big issue or even a fight, but we’ve both really strived to stop and check our own hearts and attitudes before moving forward. We’re trying to learn to “respond” to each other and not “react”. Pausing and taking a breath before speaking, doing our best to hear the other one out, trying to find solutions that make us both happy, and being willing to apologize when the other one feels like their “buttons” got pushed, etc. When we do this, I feel like he respects my feelings, cares about my heart, and really does want to find answers that make both of us happy. I’m sure someday we will mess up and our great intentions will be forgotten momentarily, but we’ll do our best to forgive, move on, and do better the next time.

- How to Properly Organize: I write this with a certain amount of tongue-in-cheek, seeing as I can be just as picky about how some things are done and organized, but I have never been quite as precise as he can be. In my world, things like books and DVDs get organized based on what looks pretty... i.e: all the colourful covers together, all the dark colored ones together, short books here, and tall books over there, etc. : ) In JC’s world, these things must be alphabetized. Now, while I do think that alphabetization (is that really a word?) is fine, it has no room for making things look “pretty”. The tall, short, thick, thin, colored, and color-less books are just all mingled together. Yes, I do realize that it makes more sense to do this because it makes it easy to find a book... but what about “pretty”???? :D (Every time JC asks me why I do something a certain way and I use the word “pretty” in my explanation, he just shakes his head.) : ) I have also discovered how JC organizes his clothes. They must be hung up according to type of shirt as well as color/pattern. In his world, you simply cannot put a blue dress shirt next to a grey turtleneck!!! In my world, things get hung up wherever there happens to be room. There is no rhyme or reason at all.

- Most of all I've learned how much this man means to me. It has only been 2 months, but I already feel like he is absolutely a part of me and there is no way I could ever go back to being without him. He is my greatest blessing and I am so thankful for him! God is good to me!

On the lighter side:... After being married for a little bit now, I have a pretty decent idea of who/what JC is... and now I have this movie playing in my head about what happened when God made him. (Yes, I realize that this is absolutely not biblical... but it is funny, at least to me, and I think it explains a bit of why he is the way he is.) Basically, I picture God standing at a table, with a big bowl in front of him and a bunch of huge super-sized containers that look like spice jars spread out over the whole table. He takes one jar labelled “tall” and pours some in, another labelled “handsome” and pours a generous amount in... on and on it goes... half a cup of “godly character” and several heaping couple tablespoons of “very smart”... a couple tablespoons of ”sci-fi nerd”, a ¼ cup of “hates to wash dishes” and a good dash of “great husband”... (hmm, make that several quarts there on that last one... dash doesn’t even begin to cover it) And then God picks up the jar of “Pest” and goes to shake just a little bit into the bowl, but all of a sudden, disaster strikes! The little shaker top part comes off completely and the whole jar pours in.... a good gallon of the stuff. God pauses and looks at the bowl, and a mischievous smile comes to his face. He pulls out the shaker top from under the pile of “Pest” in the bowl, puts it back on, and continues to mix it all together, not bothering to take any out...

I think that pretty much describes my hubby. I mean, he’s got lots of personality quirks and attributes, but the one I’m learning the most about is the “pest” side... the weird sense of humor and silliness, the constant need to tickle me or poke me, the strange little idiosyncrasies that cause me to sometimes just smile and shake my head. I have discovered that JC is the biggest pest when it is around 10 pm and I’m trying to sleep. I’ll turn over and get all comfy and almost drift off and then “OOGA BOOGA!” Why he likes these words, I don’t know... but he seems to enjoy using them as some sort of precursor to starting to tickle me and/or make silly noises or jokes... A part of my brain immediately feels irritated – I was almost asleep for goodness’ sake! But then the silly part takes over (within about 0.5 seconds) and before long I have the giggles and am no longer able to sleep even if I wanted to. I love it!

And if any of you reading this happen to be thinking right now “Pest? Really? I don’t see that in him...” then you obviously haven’t spent nearly enough time with this man. :D

But I love it! The pesky-ness is great! It makes for TONS of laughs and smiles.... the only downside is learning to live with sore smile muscles and aching sides from an overdose of laughter.

Thanksgiving - in October?

One of the new things this American has to get used to in the land of the Canuck is Thanksgiving in October on a Monday! *insert confused look*

Brianna and I are hosting Thanksgiving, so we have the turkey roasting, the taters started, and the feast well in hand.  The smells are wafting through our basement apartment and are making me hungry!  The weather is slightly crisp and we went for a quick walk.  It has definitely set the mood and drawn me to thinking about what I'm thankful for.

1. I have to be thankful for my walk with God first and foremost!  I've been walking closer and closer with Him through the last few months and am amazed at who He is and the way He works in my life!  We have been seeing His provision and His promises come through in our lives!
2. The second is my wife! Never would have imagined the way she makes me feel!  She's such a blessing to me and makes me feel like a man!  *grins*  Her smiles, her voice, and the looks she gives me, make me realize what a treasure I have.  
3. Having a good extended family.  I am very thankful for my wife's family and the relationship I now have with them.  Looking so forward to many, many, many years of fun and laughter.
4. The church family we're in.  They have embraced me as Brianna's husband and I have become good friends and a part of this church!  I love you all!
5. And the simple things:  a roof over my head; running vehicles; food and water; cothes.  All these things we take for granted - I find myself being extremely grateful for.

How about you?  What are the things you are thankful for?

A few things I have learned in Marriage

Our two month anniversary is quickly approaching and so I thought I'd sit down and talk a bit about things I have learned about marriage in this short time.

• The first is the "yes, dear."  This is the best answer for pretty much any request.  "Put the toilet seat cover down!"  "Yes, dear."  "Vacuum the crumbs up!"  "Yes, dear."  Yeah, you get the picture.  *grins*
• In actuality, being willing to help Brianna out has kept our relationship open.  She feels secure when she knows that I can help her out around the house.  Take last night for instance:  We were getting ready for people to come over and I looked up at the clock and saw that it was getting close.  I shut the laptop down and started putting away dishes, clearing the tables, and various other tidying things.  She later thanked me for my help.  Made me feel like a million bucks to be able to serve my wife that way.
• Listening.  Yes, the thing that guys have difficulty with.  I have to be willing to set my book aside or my laptop, or whatever I'm working on, to listen to my wife's concerns and even just listen to what she has done in the day.  I have been intentional to greet her with a kiss and listen to the overview of the day.  This has set the tone for the rest of the evening and is a good way to acknowledge her place in my life.
• Talking.  Yep, I do talk to my wife.  I tell her about my day, about my dreams, about what God is doing in me and just about life in general.  
• Praying.  One of my favorite things is when we've settled down in bed and are just about ready to sleep.  We make a point to lie the events of the day before God.  We pray for people, we pray for needs, and we pray for our needs and marriage.  It is the best thing we have done and we intend on doing it for the rest of our lives!

Life has changed and I have had to learn to purposefully change the way I look at things.  I have to think about Brianna, before I think about myself.  This has been the best challenge I have ever had and it is a wonderful growing experience!  Yes, the marriage has barely started, but I know that I am married to the best woman that I will ever know!  The years ahead are going to be a challenge, but I know that as long as we base our marriage in God and spend the time necessary to feed and water it, that we will grow roots and branches that are strong and mighty!

How about you?  What have you learned in your marriage?  What has challenged you?

Baby Gabriel brings the Weirdness out

We went down to Brianna's Grandparents yesterday.  Becky and Gabriel were with us.  I got to spend some quality time with the cute baby!

Routine has struck!

My mind has been a bit blank as to what to write about, so I decided to describe a basic day in the life of the Reagan's.

Life has sort of settled into a routine:

• We try to pray before we get out of bed
• Brianna gets up and starts getting ready for work
• Since I'm blind in the morning and have a limited amount of contact time, I doze for awhile.
• Brianna leaves
• I get up, put contacts in, have breakfast, and gather my stuff together
• Head out for prayer at church (BTW, having prayer everyday for an hour at church is fantastic!)
• Spend the next few hours helping out at the church, talking with Kyle and Pastor, hanging out with people, etc.
• Head home and try to tidy up a little (doesn't happen every day, but I do try)
• Brianna gets home, we debrief a bit about the day
• Have dinner (Brianna's been making it usually, but I contribute once in awhile)
• Then we enjoy the evening
• We really try to get to bed at 9 so that our conversation and prayer isn't too late.
• Sleep
• Rinse and Repeat

Since we're becoming more involved at church our weekends consist of relaxing and chores Saturday morning and afternoon, church in the evening, then church again in the morning.  Every other Sunday eve, we're involved in the college/career group watching The Truth Project.  

Yeah, it's nice to have a routine and get to build our relationship together.

What kind of routines do you have in your marriage?  What would you change or not change?

The Reagan's and Their First Budget

Budget.  What is a budget?  I think the simplest way to describe it is that it's a way to designate where your money goes.  Think of it as a group of buckets, each one with a bright label on it.  Tithe, Rent, Food, and various other categories are lined up on the porch.  It's our decision now how much of our bag of loot goes into each bucket.  Then, that bucket get taken to the landlord, the grocery store, the cell phone, and spent. No more than what is in that particular bucket gets spent.

Brianna and I had the privilege of sitting down last week with our particular bag of loot (last month's income) and divide it up into the different buckets.  Surprisingly it was actually fun to talk about our money and what we wanted to do with it.  We had been discussing, for some time, about getting out of debt and that we needed to have a budget to be able to do this.  We were prepared to sit down and divide out our categories, our buckets.

We set out the tithe first, then the necessary bills and the food.  Then we were able to work on the misc. categories.  Amazing how powerful giving each dollar a purpose made us feel!  Especially when we did it together.  We then withdrew what cash we needed for the envelope system, and made our envelopes. 

Already this week it's become evident that we think more about our money when we have to go to the envelope and make the withdrawal.  I am a big fan of cash now!!

One of the subjects we discussed, was that the categories can be fluid.  We don't have to put the same amount in clothes every month, or even contribute to that category every month.  That gives us a better flexibility to use our money.

One of the most important things we are doing is that we are recognizing that this is not our money.  This money is God's and we are stewards.  We need to be smart with what we have, and He will reward us.  We are blessed in order to be a blessing!

What sort of things do you do to keep on a budget?  Do you have a frivolous category? Where do you save money?

Foundation

How do you build a house?  Do you start with a roof, a pile of shingles?  Or do you throw a bunch of wood and nails into the air and expect a three bedroom house to magically appear?

No.  A house is built on a foundation.  The frame goes up, the sides are put on, wiring and plumbing, drywall, all go on in the right order.

It's the same with a marriage.  Foundation matters.  What makes a good foundation for a marriage?


A relationship with God is the most stable foundation there is.  A relationship where you are spending time with Him, reading His word and each spouse is individually developing their personal time with Him.  Then you bring Him into communion with both of you.


What does this look like?  Well, in our marriage, we have been purposeful in setting time for prayer and time reading the Word.  Each morning we cover the day in prayer, giving the cares and the worries of the day to Him.  We each pray for the other, pray for protection and love to be with the other one.  We are also trying to be consistent in reading a chapter from the Bible during breakfast and discussing that.  Then, after the day has ended and we are in bed, talking about the day, we try to have an extended prayer time.  That's where we pray for the issues of the day, the family and friends that come to mind, and we praise God!


I realize that we are just married and that we haven't had the struggles yet that can plague marriage.  I realize that, but Brianna and I have set our faces to the future and we have decided that with God as our foundation, we can deal with anything.  It's important to deal with our individual selves, our own issues, but then to realize that we are one and that we need to discuss what's going on with each of us.


That leads to communication and that will be a later post.



So my challenge today to you is to look at your foundation and if there's cracks, start to deal with them.  Give your marriage to God.  Give your life to God.  Give your spouse to God.  Keep Him as the center.

The Lake Ate My Glasses!!

Let me paint you a picture of a relaxing and lovely weekend, spending time at the lake with my wife.  This was the first time we were able to stay together for a few days out there.  There weren't a lot of people around and the conversations and the fun we had was special.

But then we come to Saturday afternoon.  I, (JC) decided to brave the lake and actually swim.  I wasn't wearing my contacts because I don't have goggles yet.  Thus I was wearing glasses.  Swimming out to the dock wasn't too bad.  The motions came back to me and even though I was tired, I felt good about it.  Sitting on the dock, goofing off with some kids and my wife, I was having fun.

Then, I decided to go back into the water.  Thinking I was able to slide off the dock gently, I sat down and pushed off.  Yeah, gently was not the way I exited that floating piece of wood.  I went under.  I came up, shaking my head.  I heard my wife yell something about glasses and then they sunk!

I felt a decidedly sad sense of loss.  And even after Brianna made a valiant effort to find them with her snorkel gear, they were gone forever. 

I have heard tales of giant pike in this lake.  Makes me wonder if my glasses are now being used on one of the ancient scholarly fish...

"Before You Plan Your Wedding, Plan Your Marriage" Review

Greg and Erin Smalley are relationship speakers who have written this book with the engaged couple in mind. The writing style is very conversational, telling stories about how their engagement and marriage worked, giving good examples of how not to solve problems as well as how to solve those problems.

We took a long time working through this book, just because we wanted to read it aloud to one another. In the middle of wedding planning was both a good time and a bad time to try to read this book. A good time because we were dealing with some of the examples they gave. A bad time because we were simply too busy, especially the last week, to finish it. That said, we did get most of the book done before the wedding and just now finished it up.

A few of the points that I pulled from the book:

• Make a safe place. Don't be harsh to one another and cause walls to go up. If you are in a safe place relationally, that allows you to hold your heart out and trust the other person.
• Know yourself and deal with your own problems. Don't expect your spouse to solve your issues. You have a responsibility to yourself and to your spouse to be healthy, both emotionally and spiritually.
• We all have buttons that get pushed. Get to know what your buttons are and why they hurt. Deal with it and don't get caught in a fear dance. Fear dancing is basically entering into a conflict and letting your buttons get pushed and then you push the other person's and the dance goes on.
  
• Find ways to be a team and make decisions in a win-win way. What does a win look like for you in this situation? Sorta a compromise but not in a one person losing type of a way.

A lot of this book promoted good discussion between Brianna and I. I have good memories of reading a section in the car and then discussing the topic for many a mile. I definitely recommend this as a conversation starter. And it's a good communication building tool to read it out loud to each other. I would recommend this for both engaged couples and those who are already married! There are concepts in here that would benefit all couples.

Five Stars!

All settled!!!

It feels so wonderful to finally be settled in our little place! My house is clean (mostly... the bathroom still needs some attention) and I am organized and all unpacked. Yahoo!!! This little basement suite definitely feels like home! It has been fairly busy the last couple days... busy but fun though. I've gone grocery shopping several times, organized and cleaned the bedroom, kitchen, living room, unpacked boxes and boxes of stuff, and done about 5 loads of laundry. I've also spent lots of time snuggling with my hubby on the couch and we did sleep in til 10:30 this morning... so I wasn't that terribly busy. :)

I've had the most fun making use of my new kitchen! I've always shared a kitchen with Mom and Becky, which is fun... (cooking with Mom is still one my favorite things to do) but there is something that just feels really good about organizing it exactly how I want and not having to bump into someone else every couple seconds. (If JC comes into the kitchen I do usually end up bumping into him, but for some reason I don't mind at all) :) I think JC is also really enjoying the fact that I like my kitchen, cause I keep making him treats... Carrot cake with cream cheese icing, chocolate chip cookies, homemade salsa, waffles with raspberry sauce, veggie and cheese omelets, roasted lime and basil potatoes, and there is currently a pot of Hungarian goulash simmering on the stove as we speak. This kitchen is definitely encouraging my creative side! :)

Oh, on a side note, in response to Lisa's request, here is my recipe for roasted basil and lime potatoes: (I never have used a recipe for this, it's always just whatever amount looks right to me, but these are just the amounts I ended up using yesterday... feel free to modify as you like :)

7 c. diced potatoes (I usually do pieces about 1/2" to 1"... somewhere in that range)
1/3 c. chopped fresh basil (can use more if you want)
Juice from 2 limes
4 garlic cloves, finely minced.
4 tbsp. olive oil
Pour the olive oil over the diced potatoes and stir until they're coated. Add the basil, lime and garlic and stir well. I sometimes sprinkle a little bit of sea salt on top too. Bake for about 45 minutes at 400 degrees or until the potatoes are tender. I put the broiler on after that for about 15 minutes, stirring the potatoes every 5 mins, just to make them a bit crisp. You can roast the potatoes normally and then just add the lime and basil before you serve them, but I find the potatoes absorb more of the flavor if you roast them in the lime and basil.


Now that we're all settled, we have one more day and then it's back to normal life again. I am not looking forward to going back to work after 2.5 weeks of holidays, but I am somewhat wanting the routine that my workweek brings. We'll get to see how we both handle "normal" life as a married couple. It will definitely be different!

Well, my wonderful man is sitting on the couch looking very handsome and irresistible... I think it's time to go join him! :D

Shopping

I woke up the other day expecting a nice quiet morning, maybe a little shopping in town, and some snuggle time with my honey. Instead I was subjected to a ritual that baffles every man's mind. That is the all day Shopping Trip!! (Cue ominous drums here).

We had been blessed by a substantial amount of money from our wedding. We had a list of rather large items that were needed for our apartment.

The first stop was a furniture warehouse. This wasn't too bad. We made our decisions fairly fast and I had a nice place to relax while waiting for the details to be made. Hey, I can handle this!

The second stop consisted of checking out a couple stores to see if they had pantries or microwave carts... They didn't. My feet hurt. Oh boy.

Third stop was Home Depot! Now this is a place I can handle. The pantry and the cube shelf were found here. Okay, nice...

Fourth stop was Walmart and we spent a lot of time here looking for what we needed. Did you know that a BBQ box can balance on the top of a cart? We also found the rest of the big items here for decent prices. Tiring out, but satisfied. The back of the Caliber is filling up...

The last stop, the place that Brianna claims brings happiness to a woman's shopping soul: Bed, Bath and Beyond!! My very masculinity quakes as I enter this store... (Add some mournful wind instruments to the drums). We spent the rest of the afternoon here, getting most of what we wanted from what was left on the registry (neat thing is that we get 10% off for a year - so gift cards go a long way...). More nice knives, a duvet cover and set, pillows, and many other things that began to blur together.

Finally, the money is spent, the car is stuffed to the brim (thanks to my Dad for showing me over the years how to pack a vehicle), and we return to home!

Now, I have to admit that while it was a long day and I was dragging my feet, I did have fun. Getting to see the blessings from others take a more tangible form was extremely cool. I survived the intense shopping day and I still love my wife!

Just don't ask me to spend that much again.... *grins*

Honeymoon!

Well, the honeymoon is over, but it was an absolutely awesome week! We got to spend the wedding night at the Prairie Creek Inn, a gorgeous little 4.5 star B&B just outside of Rocky... a very much appreciated and secret wedding gift from my parents. It was wonderful! We left from there and traveled onto Canmore for a whole week in a beautiful condo with an awesome mountain view. We spent a lot of time relaxing and enjoying ourselves and seeing the sights Banff has to offer.

My favorite day was definitely Wednesday. We were both fully awake at 5 am (getting used to having someone else in your bed makes for weird sleeping patterns) and JC had the idea to quickly get ready and go and watch the sunrise from the top of Mt. Norquay in Banff. I definitely did NOT like the idea at first... my bed was waaaay too warm and comfy to want to leave it for the top of a mountain at that ungodly hour of the morning, but I figured I would agree to be spontaneous and just do it. We quickly left the condo, travel mugs of coffee in hand, and made the drive to the top of the mountain just in time. It was beautiful! I'm glad JC persuaded me to go!

One thing I have discovered is that JC likes to do things that stretch me and take me out of my comfort zone.... like Friday evening for instance. JC loves trying strange new food, especially anything ethnic. Needless to say, 99% of the time, I do not! He is fully willing to try just about anything, while I will order the same thing off of a menu 6 times before I branch out to try something new. So Friday evening he wants to go out for sushi. *insert intensely grossed out face here* I did not relish the idea of eating raw fish at all while he was excitedly anticipating it all day long. Ok, so I figured I'd allow myself to be stretched and try to be brave, so I put a smile on my face and went with him to this little sushi place in Canmore. (My stomach was already feeling gross by the time we got there... its amazing what your brain can do when you're imagining horrible things) We ordered a bunch of stuff to try, some Miso soup (which was actually very good), assorted tempura (fairly decent), seaweed salad (ewwwww... tasted like tangy strings of chewy slime) and of course, sushi. I bravely ate one California Roll and I had a bite of his BBQ Eel wrapped in seaweed thing. I actually survived! Did I like either of them? Nope! But I did manage to at least chew and swallow them. They weren't too awful and if I had to, I could probably eat them again, but not of my own free will. So, score one for JC being able to make me eat something weird and step out of my comfort zone. Hmm, 5 days of married life and he is already stretching me.... this could be interesting.

Although, now he's the one who gets to be stretched when he opens his closet every morning and sees 60% of it occupied by my clothes and shoes.... not to mention the girly stuff he sees every time he opens a drawer in the bathroom. Bwahahaha! :D

The Beginning

The day had come! JC stood at the altar watching for his bride to come in. He bounces a little as the anticipation builds! This moment had been waited for and thought about for many days, weeks, months... No backing out now, even if he wanted to. This was it! The thoughts that had been going through his mind came back to him... Could he do this? Could he step up and be the leader, the man of this marriage? Could he take that responsibility? And, since those thoughts had been laid to rest in Christ, he knew he could. Even when mistakes are made, he knows that he can rest in Christ and the identity as a son of God.

There she is! Bright and shining! The ivory dress is absolutely beautiful, but pales in comparison to her eyes and her smile!

The ceremony goes on, and JC pledges his love to Brianna. They both state their faith, that Jesus is the foundation of their marriage. The ring is given as a circle of love and not a shackle. The vows bind them together under God. John (JC's Dad) blesses them and gives them a quarterstaff as both a symbol of JC's place as a protector and that God is the one to give him, give them strength.

Unity is pledged by the pouring of the sand. They are now one and to pull them apart won't work. JC and Brianna then take their first Communion together, reminding them of Jesus' sacrifice and the redemption found in Him. He is their Rock and their Foundation.

It's time now and they are presented as Mr. and Mrs. JC Reagan!!!

This is the beginning of a new and exciting journey!