My roommate of the past 9 months was so gracious in allowing me to be a groomsmen at his wedding today. I knew one of the other groomsmen very well. Two of them I met but very short and vaguely. The other two I had not met at all. The fun that we had was unprecedented.

It always amazes me how much fun I have when I hang out with solid, Christian guys. No pressure to drink, no pressure to smoke, and no stories about the last time we "got some."

Thursday night was the bachelor party, and listen to this. The seven of us guys, half of us or so being "of age," went out to eat, where the best man actually had the groom drink an irish car bomb. We then proceeded to go bowling. That was it. One of the guys even spoke up at dinner when most of us (including me) were talking about a crass subject, and props to him for that. We played 2 games of cosmic bowling and that was basically it, but man, it was fun.

After the wedding rehearsal last night we all went out to where the reception was being held and had dinner. It was a local church camp and the bridesmaids and groomsmen all spent the night out there in the cabins, by ourselves. Dinner was destroyed and all of us groomsmen just ran around doing the most random stuff. We grabbed weapons, which consisted of wooden planks, a chair, a kickball, and a dartboard. We ran from the bridesmaids and all hid behind the dartboard to shield ourselves. No one even thought of bringing alcohol. It was pure fun.

Of course, we did end up hanging out and talking with the bridesmaids, but there was no talk between us of "so-and-so blah blah guy talk about hott girls blah blah." It was clean fun.

And today was so great. The bride and groom provided us with gifts of 5 hour energy, aviators, sweat bands and rock star (for the dance at the reception). The groomsmen formed a worship band to begin the wedding ceremony and I LOVED playing with all those guys. We took ridiculous pictures. We watched close friends of ours give their lives to each other and Jesus. We ripped up the dance floor to Backstreet Boys.

I'm rambling. I needed the gratuitous amounts of pure clean fun I had this weekend. I feel so spiritually rejuvenated and we honestly didn't even have a bunch of deep talks about our faith. We did talk about some things here and there, but for the most part we just did stupid stuff. So if you were involved in the wedding, and you're reading this, thank you SO much for such an incredibly awesome time. We groomsmen should definitely see more of each other!

Acts 2:44

Cohabitation Conundrum?

I've talked a lot about this with friends of mine recently, and quite a few friends at that. Specifically about 2 close friends of mine that JUST got married. I mean that very literally, as I was ripping up the dance floor at the reception about 2 to 3 hours ago.

These friends are a Christian couple. Looking to serve the LORD and have Jesus at the center of their lives and the basis for their relationship. When talking to other close friends of mine about it (I lived with the groom for the past 9 months), I had many question the fact that they were not living together. I got plenty of "well, they don't want to try it out and see if it works?" or "wait, they haven't slept together yet and they're getting married?!" etc. As we all know, sex before marriage is not okay with God. I would expect nothing less of my newly wed friends and they handled the situation perfectly.

Even so, I thought it'd be a good idea to spill some facts about this subject, considering most arguments against Christian views are "there are no facts." Here's some SECULAR facts:

"65 percent of altar-bound men and women live together before getting married."
--Bride's Magazine

"Research indicates that people who live together prior to getting married are more likely to have marriages that end in divorce."
--The Boston Herald

"A recent study on cohabitation concluded that after five to seven years, only 21 percent of unmarried couples were still living together."
--The Boston Herald

Now, those stats speak for themselves and I'm honestly not trying to get on a soapbox and jam my beliefs down your throat. But there IS something to the Christian view on this topic, and sure, there are probably a few special cases, but not living together before you're married is the best route to go. I'm just tired of it being questioned. I guess it's not normal for this day and age, but it's certainly not stupid by any means.

Hebrews 13:4