Today in about three hours two of my friends will be getting married (Preston and Ashley are their names for those of you taking notes). I have known Preston since my junior year of high school when he started (and I was pretty much there from the beginning) One-on-One, I guess you would call it a small group, but it grew to about 40-50 people during its peak. It was at One-on-One that I met Ashley (she didn't go to high school with us). I didn't ever know Ashley that well, she hung out with a group of girls from my school when she came to O-on-O and didn't really get to know her until the last couple of years. Preston on the other hand I have known well on and off since my junior year, we spent many hours together in high school mainly due to O-on-O, then I went off to college away from Tulsa for a year, then I came back to go to Oral Roberts University where Preston attended. We have had many of the same classes together being as we were the same year and in the same school. About 8 months ago he invited me to help him start a new community at his church called Saturday Night and needless to say, but I'm saying it, I said yes. We have become even better friends through the experiences that we have had at Saturday Night and I wouldn't change the experiences we have had for the world. I enjoy having them both (you both if you are reading this) in my life.

This portion is actually written to them.

Preston and Ashley, May your life be filled with hope. From personal experience I know that marriage is so much more and so much different than I could have imagined, in other words it has been really hard for me. But, under all of my pain there has been a dormant hope that has carried me through. I love my wife, just like I know you both love each other, and sometimes all that we have is love, and please don't read happiness. Although I have had these struggles in my first year of marriage I would not trade them because I now love my wife more. It is a hard thing for me to grasp, but somehow when we struggle we either give up or we become better for it. I don't know if I was ready to get married when I did, but if I wasn't I am glad that I was too naive to realize that I wasn't ready. Sometimes we are never going to have all the answers and we just have to do it and hope and pray, struggle and grow. I pray that when you go through the hard times you remember to hope and don't forget that if it doesn't break you, it will only make you stronger. May your love for each other be deep and long and wide. And may you live your life to the full.