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Do you consider your family blessed of God? Occasionally I get requests from total strangers to perform a wedding ceremony for them. There was a time in my ministry that I grudgingly handled such requests. I wondered why they would turn to the church for their wedding when they weren't "church people." Today, I gladly honor such requests, knowing that even people that aren't Christians want a blessing on their marriage. And I also know that talking to couples in preparation for their wedding day is a wonderful opportunity for me to present the gospel. Over the years, I've seen several couples come to faith in Christ as I explained the significance of what they were asking me to do-give them a Christian blessing.

Recently I performed a ceremony for a couple that is forever etched on my heart. Though I didn't ask their age, it was obvious to me that they were in the twilight years of their lives. When Burt called me from his home in Northern California to ask me to do the ceremony, he told me that a mutual friend, a pastor referred him to me. We sat a date for the ceremony and he and his bride to be stopped by my office the day before they were to be married. That's when they told me their remarkable story.

When they were very young, they stood barefoot on a beach along the Central Coast of California pledging their undying, eternal love to one another. They had their own unofficial wedding ceremony I guess you might say. Because of circumstances that they didn't elaborate on, they got separated and went on with their lives. Both married. Both divorced. They lost touch with one another, but that didn't mean they didn't think about one another. For years, after dinner, Gloria would dial information all over the state of California trying to locate Burt. What she didn't know is that Burt had an unlisted number. For years-I'm not sure how many, but I think it was more than 20, Gloria called directory assistance looking for Burt. She never gave up.

An hour after Burt got his first listed number in years for a FAX machine, the phone line rang, but the FAX machine didn't pick up, so Burt picked it up, thinking it was the telephone company testing the line-it wasn't, it was Gloria. They talked for hours, rekindling their friendship. Burt promised to drive down to see 

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