Michigan Camp Meeting 2017

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Michigan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Marriage Heart to Heart

Alane Waters

Tom Waters

1. An Enduring Commitment

2. Please Understand Me

3. Malfunction to Miracles

4. For Our Love

So today we're going to be talking about moving from malfunction or in our case malfunctions plural, we had plenty of them, from malfunctions to miracles.

Those miracles we have had the privilege not just to read about them in other people's story but over the years God has given us the privilege and opportunity to work with scores of couples that God has done miracles in their marriage and he can do it for any of us, okay?

He's had to do plenty in our marriage, that's for sure.

So we want to take you back to 2 months before we were married.

So we've been married 37 years, so that's going back a while.

Just like coming here to What used to be Cedar Lake Academy I was here in school 42 years ago as a senior that's going back a ways 1 1 young pastor here who a friend of ours who has been a longtime friend introduced us to he said wow that's going back to the dinosaur age.

After he walked away, she said, he hasn't learned to be discreet yet.

You know, a lot of you, well, some of you haven't, you know, weren't even around then at that time.

So we're going back to 2 months before our wedding, and 1 of my associates in radiology was getting married.

So he was getting married a couple months ahead of us.

And so he invited me to be a groomsman in his wedding and to sing for their wedding and do a few other things.

And so I said, well, let me talk to my fiancé.

Because again, the default mode for most guys is just to right off the cuff to say, well, sure, I'll be in your wedding.

I said, I don't know anybody in Lowell's wedding.

You're not going to know anybody else either and it's going to be a quick weekend.

This is what they want me to do so I'm going to be busy through the entire weekend.

The other thing he told me is that the wedding was going to take place in Boston.

So we were living in Illinois, so you all know that Boston's a bit of a distance from Illinois, so that's okay.

I mean, it's just a quick weekend, right?

And we're all excited about our upcoming wedding so we're thinking about all the people that are coming in to help us out so sure he said, yeah, I'll go, I'll be happy to be a groomsman and sing and whatever else I can do to help.

Well, as we talked about it, both of us have come from the background where our mothers, particularly, were very good savers financially, which proved to be a blessing.

And finances has never been an issue for us in marriage like it is for many people, which has been another blessing.

So I said to her, you know, we don't know anybody there, I'm going to be busy the whole weekend, so maybe it would just be better to save our money and you stay at home.

I didn't get any moans or groans on that.

I mean, it's just going to be really quick And so, you know, a few hundred dollars in a plane fare, that's significant, right?

So anyway, I said, yeah, I think that's all right.

And I figured there'd be plenty for me to do at home, getting everything set up, because we were going to be newlyweds, and I'm sure there's a lot of things that could still be put around the house where they needed to find a permanent spot.

That was great for both of our mentality for saving.

And then as things unfolded It turned into a longer weekend.

So in order to get there in time for the rehearsal, he had to leave on Thursday instead of Friday.

And instead of the wedding being on Sunday morning, it was on Sunday evening, therefore he couldn't come home till Monday.

So the short weekend turned out to be 5 days.

And that was okay because now the tickets bought and, you know, I can work Thursday and Friday and Monday.

And I can remember, that was the last conversation we had after we booked the ticket.

And now it's Thursday morning and we are driving to O'Hare Airport.

This is a long time ago when you could actually go all the way to the door of the airplane.

Many of you are old enough to remember that, right?

And so I am thinking, he's driving of course, I'm going to drop him off, but he's driving himself there.

And I am thinking as we're coming into the airport that we're going to go into short-term parking so that I can go into the airport with him and go all the way to the gate.

And because we're so in love, we're going to sit together until he has to get on that plane.

I was totally unaware of this malfunction at the time.

But as I drove up, being the efficient person that I was and try to be, although my efficiency has turned more towards gospel efficiency, not just my efficiency, but I pulled up and I went right past short-term parking and ended up in front of ticketing.

And I immediately got out of the car, got my suitcase out.

You know, so I got out of the car and he said, I love you.

He gave me a kiss and he walked through the door and that was the end.

I never knew I did a malfunction on that until later as the story unfolds.

But I flew off to Boston and my dear wife.

I couldn't wait to get home because, okay, this is a long time ago.

There was probably not a thought of a cell phone back in that day.

Oh, they were tracking devices in the military, I think, at that time.

We should have tuned into the military then.

But anyway, so I was looking forward to going home and waiting in the evening because I wanted to hear how things were going.

He got there, where he's staying, who he's staying with, how things are rolling out.

So it's Friday morning and I'm going to work and I'm starting to feel a little bit bad because I didn't hear from him and I thought like every good wife does, we put the best construction on, don't we?

I want to put that little phrase at the beginning.

That's a very important little phrase, at the beginning.

So I'm thinking, oh, my husband, he is reserved, and he's a little bit shy and doesn't like to inconvenience people, so he doesn't know these people.

He probably doesn't even know where their phone is.

He's probably too a little bit shy or hesitant to ask if he can borrow the phone because not only did they not have cell phones, but if you made long distance calls in those days, you had to pay for it, showed up on your bill, right?

And so anyway, I always had all these great reasons.

And they were actually pretty close too on those reasons.

So Friday I worked all day, and I'm thinking all day what he's doing, right?

I'm envisioning, okay, he's meeting up with his friend, They're getting ready to do the rehearsal all these you know pre wedding We had just been married 2 months before I know all the things that happened before the wedding and I'm envisioning all these things happen Rolling out on Friday, and I can't wait to get home so that he will call me and tell me all about what's going on.

All those things that she said were true.

I mean, I am much more reserved, which people sometimes have a hard time believing that, because, okay, so you're up front talking to people, but I can tell you that that's not my favorite place to be.

But I am more reserved and it was difficult.

I didn't know where their phone was and it is a place, you know, it's in the days where phones were on walls, connected, no privacy.

Series

Marriage Heart to Heart

3. Malfunction to Miracles

Transcript

Parent Series

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Seminars

Family in End-Time Perspective

51m

Marriage Heart to Heart

2. Please Understand Me

1h 7m

Relationships and Family Life

My ‘Single’ Desire

1h 24m

Why Jesus Can’t be Your Boyfriend

59m

Relationship Revival

3. Safety First

1h 4m

Restoring the Home

03 Biblical Principles for Marriage

1h 4m

You Can Love Again

1 - You Can Love Again

57m

Relationship Revival

2. Loving Out Loud

1h 11m

You Can Love Again

6 - Let’s Communicate

55m

The Sacred Circle

The Sacred Circle: Godly Love in the Home

51m

Making a House a Home

02 Becoming One

1h 1m

Institutional Farming

Interns, U-turns and Returns

1h 6m

Sound Doctrine