Wedding Day, photo by Cory Puckett.

Jesus come to the wedding: the deepest desire of my heart for my beloved son’s wedding day. Even as Jesus came to the wedding at Cana and performed His first miracle, I longed for the Presence of God to turn our “water into wine.”

Our dear Kenyan friends officiated the ceremony, a sacred space overflowing with worship. A parable of Christ’s love for His own bride, the people of earth who love Him.

Afterwards, we gathered to celebrate in an atrium, flooded with light and joy.

One by one, close friends and family members offered their tributes to the couple.

A moment of levity in a hilarious speech from one brother to another (and the brother’s new wife), photo by Cory Puckett.

As the mother of the bride spoke, a subtle sound fluttered, keeping time with the beating of my heart as I anticipated my turn to speak. I looked up and around.

Fans? A cluster of tiny beating wings? Like hummingbirds flitting around the sweetest nectar…

My gaze shifted to the doors, open to the breeze. Slight wetness trickled from the skies, tiny droplets drifting over the glass room’s roof.

The bride’s father knelt before his daughter to give his blessing, one hand resting on her head and the other on the groom’s knee.

But, beyond a sea of heads bowed in agreement, the transparent trickle in the open doorways deepened to cascading waterfalls. Overhead, sheets of rain pummeled the roof.

Guests surrendered any attempt to hear.

The groom’s father spoke next. Only the newly married couple were able to decipher the words of their earthly fathers.

I looked up again in wonder.

Call me fanciful, but this is what my soul saw, as if an unseen hand pulled back a curtain:

No longer able to contain His joy, the bride and groom’s heavenly Father surges to His feet. Placing His hands on the shoulders of the two earthly men who channel His love into their children’s hearts, He usurps their human blessing into His own, His voice like the sound of many rushing waters.

Beyond Him, angels beat mighty wings, pulsing faster and louder. And interspersed, a cloud of witnesses, the redeemed of the earth, laugh, clap, and lift holy hands.

A mighty roar…

As my husband concluded, the rain faded back into a pitter patter, a mere flutter. He handed the microphone to me. My turn to attempt to put indescribable love into words.

Kenyans believe that rain on a wedding day is the visible manifestation of an invisible blessing from God. But whatever humans believe or imagine, of this I am certain. Jesus came to the wedding. God’s Presence overwhelmed me on that day.

And, on my son’s and daughter-in-law’s wedding day, we experienced but a shadow of the culmination of time, when a bride and groom will at last see one another face to face.

And any hints of glory I experienced during this earthly wedding will swell and fill the entire created realm for all of eternity.

Kenyan wedding blessing, photo by Cory Puckett