Joan & Kyle

All right, so we made it. We are standing right here because we got through this together. It's been a roller coaster of emotions, lots of hoops to jump through, but we did it, and we did it by doing what we do best, and that's staying positive. Getting to this point of our journey lets me know that we can conquer anything that comes our way. Nothing will stop us.

When we first started dating, we would talk and laugh for hours, and we'd never get bored, and I know that we'll be doing that 50 years down the road. You just have so much love for everyone, especially your friends and your family. The love for your mom is so beautiful, and your dad is looking down on you right now.

I have always believed in faith, and that with patience and an open heart, God will bring you what you were searching for when the time is right. We were always friends, then one night you gave me butterflies in my stomach, and that feeling never went away. You lifted me up when I needed you the most. You showed me what true, unconditional love was, and carried me through my hardest days, when I lost my dad and my auntie. My dad asked you to take care of me, and you asking for his blessing was one of the happiest days of his life.

By coming here today, Joan and Kyle, you have reached a crossroads in your lives. You're turning away from your yesterdays, and you're looking ahead to your tomorrows. It's no longer Joan's future. It's no longer Kyle's future.

The two people who should be here today, and are not, their presence is in you. There's an empty seat for both of them: one is our dad, and one is Kyle's dad. I've had a privilege over the last, oh, almost eight months now. When we spent Christmas together, you gave me your dad's Bible, and I've been reading it since Christmas. My dad was 75 years old, an older man, when he came to faith, so when I read his Bible I see a guy looking back over his life. I was reading it one morning and a piece of paper fell out, in the book of Malachi. He had written a note on it. He said, "This one gets me really bad." Then he put our names down, and said there was part of him that felt like he wasn't the best father he could have been, as he looked back over his life. Malachi ends with this: "So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith." My dad would tell you, as I think he told me as I'm reading it: don't make the mistake of not giving yourself completely to one another. That would be his advice.

Your dad underlined everything I could find about marriage and love in the New Testament. The part he underscored the most was the husband's responsibility. This is what the scripture says: "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies." Everything you do from here on in is for Joan. This is what your life is about. This is the life that you have now chosen, and commit to God in front of these people.