MarriageMinistry - Mt. Calvary Lutheran Mission

43% of first time marriages end in divorce within 15 years

Why is this? Because most couples today spend 99% of their time trying to impress family and friends with clothes they will never wear again and a party that they can't enjoy for an occasion that they gave only a few minutes of real thought to.

Instead of spending thousands and thousands of dollars impressing people who don't care, spend money on things that will insure a stable marriage.

Ka-ching! Wedding price tag nears 30K
Survey: Bridal spending tops $125 billion; parents less likely to foot ballooning bill.
May 20, 2005: 4:38 PM EDT
By Grace Wong, CNN/Money staff writer

The rising cost of saying 'I do'
Couples today spend more than double on their wedding photography and videography than their counterparts did in 1999.

Category

2005 average cost Change from 1999

Engagement ring

$4,146 39%

Photography/videography

$2,570 103%

Ceremony/reception music

$1,250 68%

Rehearsal Dinner

$1,153 51%

Flowers

$1,121 45%

Who needs that?

Clean up your credit card debt. Put money down on a house. Pay off a car. Buy furniture. Pay off that school loan.

The day after the wedding the attendees have forgotten what you wore and if enough booze was supplied what the party you threw was like.

You start off your married life with a hangover and in debt.

No wonder it just goes down hill from there.

So what is the alternative?

The alternative is get to know Jesus and get to know your future spouse at the same time.

If your only concern is how will the colors go together, the marriage is in trouble before you start.

A dog gives you unquestioning love and affection. A dog is color blind.

Many people entering into marriage are God blind.

At Mt Calvary Mission we counsel couples in Christian marriage and Christian finance before the ceremony.

Be spiritually and fiscally ready to enter into marital bliss.

Pastor Steve

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 NIV Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

Most importantly, Bride and Groom you also stand in relationship to God. It is He, especially, Who is your lifelong traveling companion. God has been so since even before the time you were first placed in your mother's arms. It is God through the Holy Spirit, especially, who helps when you stumble and fall, when you are cold and weary, when you are attacked and molested. God loves you much that He sent His one and only Son, Jesus, to die on a cross for your sins and the sins of the whole world. God did this so you Bride and you Groom, can have eternal life. All you have to do is believe keep Jesus in your lives and marriage. And, only when you get close to Him can you get the support and strength that you need to make life's journey together. You see, Bride you are one strand of the rope that is marriage, Groom you are another strand, but the third strand is God. To keep your marriage strong, then, you need faith in Jesus. To keep your marriage strong, then, you need to give your heart to Him Who died for you. To keep your marriage strong, then, you need to make Jesus the Lord of your home and the Head of your marriage. Then, and only then, do you have a marriage cord of three strands that cannot be quickly broken.

The secret to a successful Christian marriage is to always give the Lord Jesus Christ first place in your lives. Then as the third strand in the union, God will permanently bind the two of you together into an unbreakable bond, even through the most testing of storms.