It was December 21, 1991, and we had only met thirteen days before. Yet here I was, preparing to say my wedding vows; it felt like I was living in a Hallmark Christmas movie. Could it be real? Was I truly going to marry this girl, or was it all just a dream? As I glanced over at her, I knew in my heart that she would be my wife.
I listened intently to the minister's words: "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here together in the presence of family, friends, and loved ones for the purpose of uniting in matrimony..." Caught up in the scene, I refrained from repeating the vows out loud; I didn't want her to think I was crazy! After all, everyone knows you don't talk in a movie theater, and I certainly didn't want our first date to end in disaster.
While watching "Father of the Bride," starring Steve Martin, I couldn't help but daydream. There I was, imagining myself as the groom standing at the altar, with my date as the radiant bride. Despite barely knowing her, that movie theater rehearsal felt like a prelude to Hollywood fiction becoming reality. Fifty-one days later, I took a leap of faith and asked Sharon to marry me. In a split second, she said, "Yes!" It was then that I realized dreams can come true, that God answer prayers, and sometimes miracles happen.
After the movie ended, we headed to a nice restaurant for dinner. We laughed, discussed our favorite scenes, and, of course, talked about the wedding. Little did Sharon know that the wedding she'd just seen on the big screen would have a real-life sequel within ten months—this time, with her as the bride! She also didn't know that her movie and dinner date—her future groom, that's me—had already told eight people when the wedding would take place. Sometimes it's better not to disclose everything on a first date!
It's hard enough planning a wedding as a couple, so consider how challenging it would be for a bachelor who isn't currently dating anyone, nor has he dated in over six years, to suddenly announce his impending marriage. Imagine having to share this news with his parents, five co-workers, and the minister from his church. Under normal circumstances, such an announcement would be straightforward. The good news might even be celebrated with a big hug, a congratulatory pat on the back, or a vigorous handshake. That's what you would expect—or maybe a smile and hearty congratulations.
Now, picture a different scenario: What if the identity of the bride-to-be is missing from the wedding announcement? What if nobody, including the future groom, knows who she is? It's an unusual situation—one that you're unlikely to encounter anywhere else. No one would expect to receive a redacted wedding announcement that reads more like a sanitized government document, where even the groom lacks top-secret clearance to know the identity of his own bride.
A wedding announcement this bizarre sounds more like something you'd read about in a story from Ripley's Believe It or Not! It's not just unusual; it's strange! I knew it sounded borderline crazy, which meant I didn't want to be the one to step over the line and tell anyone. For me to do it, I had to either be pushed or definitively persuaded! If I volunteered the information, I'd also have to explain the backstory that led me to do such a wild and crazy thing. I would have preferred to leave that kind of sideshow behavior to a comedian like Steve Martin.
Now, imagine if Steve told a crazy-sounding story about a groom announcing his wedding before there was a bride. You'd probably be listening intently, waiting for an unbelievable punchline, and for the audience to erupt in laughter. People expected Steve to look, act, and be foolishly funny on stage. But it's not something I wanted to do, especially because there was no punchline to my story! How do you explain something so extraordinarily unbelievable and not sound completely wild and crazy?
What if, in addition to an unusual wedding announcement, you also had a mental picture from a near-death experience (NDE)? Imagine that this image, if framed, would fit perfectly in the home of "The Addams Family." If you've seen the 1960s television series, you'll likely recall the iconic opening theme song:
"They're creepy and they're kooky,
Mysterious and spooky,
They're all together ooky
The Addams family..."
Recently, I rewatched the first episode and realized I had a picture that would match their strange and delightfully wacky, "every day is Halloween" decor. All it needed was a frame.
Can you imagine Gomez Addams or his wife, Morticia, trying to explain to a frightened but curious house guest why they have this very strange and odd-looking picture hanging in their living room? The scene features a turning digital clock and a computer hard drive suspended six feet in the air, nestled in a dark corner. A black cat perches on a window sill, a rocket blasts off, creating a fiery pillar, and a curved "Merry Christmas" sign is displayed above it all. While we can easily envision this eccentric artwork in their home, it was actually designed and created by God for Adam's family, from which we all descend.
Now, if you've read my previous post titled Beyond Believing, you'll know that these symbols hold deeper significance. During my NDE, I saw this scene, and immediately following the event, I had a prophetic revelation that I would be married when the clock reached high noon. Miraculously, it came true! But my wedding was just the beginning. The facts reveal that there's much more to this picture than meets the eye; it even includes a story of radical faith very similar to what this next picture represents.
This picture is from one of my favorite Bible stories and shows Peter catching a fish with a coin in its mouth. I've included the story from Matthew 17:24-27 and want you to consider what must have previously happened in Peter's life. What had he witnessed for him to believe and have enough faith to follow Jesus' wild, crazy, and seemingly ridiculous request to fish for a coin?
"After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma temple tax came to Peter and asked, "Doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax?' 'Yes, he does,' he replied. When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. 'What do you think, Simon?' he asked. 'From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own children or from others?' 'From others,' Peter answered. 'Then the children are exempt,' Jesus said to him. 'But so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth, and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.'"
What would it take in order to convince you to go fishing for a coin, or in my case, announce your wedding before there's a bride? If you were Peter, would you take the fishing request at face value, or would you want a paid upfront guarantee that you're not wasting your time? If the request hadn't come from Jesus, you might easily have concluded that something sounds fishy about all this, like you're being set up and you don't want to be the brunt of a cruel joke. You definitely can't say, "Been there, done that!"
Peter's decision to obey was easy because he'd seen Jesus perform miracle after miracle. He'd witnessed sight restored to the blind, the lame walking, lepers cleansed, the deaf hearing, and the dead raised up. Peter also knew he could trust Jesus. You could say that his tackle box was full of all that he needed. This gave him faith to believe the impossible—that he could actually catch a miracle on the end of a fishing line.
Consider for a moment the astronomical odds against Peter catching the right fish. What if he'd made a poor decision and chose the wrong spot on the shore to drop his line? Or what if he threw in his hook, but the fish weren't biting because it was the wrong day and time? Even if the fish were biting, how did he know which one to catch out of an entire school of maybe thousands swimming by? It's really hard to believe that none of that mattered! But it didn't, because Jesus had simply told him, "Go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth, and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours."
When Peter finally threw in his hook, we don't know if he had an audience with him or not. If he'd told anyone what he was up to, I'm sure someone would have wanted to follow along, hoping to either see a miracle or maybe have a chance to laugh at a fool. Peter could easily have decided to keep his mouth shut, play it safe, and fish alone. While he may not have invited a crowd, I do believe he didn't fish alone.
You've probably heard someone at one time or another say, "There are plenty of fish in the sea." Most of us know that the saying isn't really about fish but applies to dating. So, what then do you think the odds are of catching the right fish—or in my case, the right bride? Peter had one-hundred percent success in catching his fish by having faith and a hook. What I'm about to show you is that for my modern-day miracle to happen, I instead had to have faith and a digital clock. Sounds weird, doesn't it! Spoiler alert for any atheists: This is not a tall tale or a fish story. It really happened!
It was the morning of December 8, 1990, and only hours had passed since my NDE during which I'd seen the symbols. I had absolutely no clue that exactly one year later, to the day, I'd meet my future wife, Sharon. What I did know, even before sunrise, and what I had spent the early morning hours calculating, was when we'd be married.
The digital clock that I'd seen during my NDE had a time of 11:21 a.m. I instantly knew by prophetic revelation that I'd be married at high-noon or 12:00 p.m. This meant that only thirty-nine minutes remained. I also knew these weren't actual sixty-second minutes because the clock time would have to be applied to my entire life. Each minute would, in fact, represent days of my life. But how many days? These following calculations are how I answered that question and also miraculously discovered when I'd be married:
I was 30.5 years old and multiplied my age times 365 days in a year.
30.5 x 365 = 11,132.5 days that I had lived from the time I was born until the NDE
The number of minutes on the clock from the beginning of the day up to the 11:21 a.m. time was 681 minutes. I then divided the minutes into the days to arrive at days per minute. 11,132.5 / 681 = 16.347283 days of my life per minute.
There were 39 minutes until the clock reached 12:00 p.m. from 11:21 a.m. I multiplied the 39 minutes by the 16.347283 days per minute of my life.
39 x 16.347283 = 637.54403 days until 12:00 p.m. or high-noon.
Having completed those calculations, all I needed to do was count forward 637 days on the calendar to arrive at my wedding date. I determined it fell sometime in early September 1992. With the clock not having a second hand, I knew the exact date could be off as much as sixteen days. When I was married on October 3, 1992, I realized my initial calculations were incorrect—I should have calculated from my conception date, not my birth date. Once I corrected for when my life truly began, I was accurately married within one minute on the clock.
The excitement, wonder, and awe I felt are indescribable. Words alone cannot capture the depth of those emotions. I was so thrilled that I couldn't wait to share the news! Instead of driving the six miles to my parents' house, I immediately called my mother very early in the morning. I don't recall if I woke her up, but I vividly remember trying to explain the seemingly impossible. Picture that bizarre conversation: me sharing my NDE, the symbols I'd seen, and confidently announcing, "Yes, Mom! I truly believe I'm getting married in September 1992."
My parents each handled the wedding news according to their faith. Because my mother had her own angel encounter years earlier, as I described in my April 26, 2019 post titled Dial L for Lonely, she couldn't summarily dismiss everything I had experienced as completely crazy. Maybe she first thought it was all a dream? I told her it wasn't, and she had no reason to doubt me. After all, she had seen two angels herself, and she knew they weren't a figment of her imagination. No matter what she truly believed, time would be the deciding factor between fact or fiction, dream or reality. If it was true, it would come true. Time would tell—approximately 637 days in the future, to be exact! While my mother wasn't about to order the wedding cake just yet, she had enough faith to keep her calendar clear for a wedding that she prayed would come true.
My father, on the other hand, had no idea what to make of it all. How could he? As an agnostic, he had neither faith nor disbelief in God or miracles. He believed that nothing could be known about the existence or nature of God. He would have to see it to believe it! Anything spiritually unseen, like what I had experienced, was beyond the material world and beyond his understanding. If seeing was believing for him, then how could he not believe that a miracle had occurred when he finally read my un-redacted wedding announcement as it appeared in the newspaper? It had come true, and he was an eyewitness!
Several months went by, and I purposefully didn't tell anyone else what had happened to me. Who, besides my parents, would even remotely believe me? Nobody! During this time, I was still unemployed, and my first real concern was finding a job and avoiding the need to sell my house. When I was finally hired by the State of Florida on February 25, 1991, there was absolutely no reason for me to risk being labeled a lunatic by sharing an unbelievable and unsubstantiated story without any real evidence. If I was ever going to tell anyone else, I wanted some proof that what I believed would actually come true.
In the spring of 1991, the overwhelming proof I needed to share my story came in the form of another miracle. I was now like Peter, who had seen enough miracles to be willing to fish for a coin and, by faith, believe the impossible. I then invited the minister from my church, Jerry Garrard, to personally visit my house and told him everything I knew at the time. This included my future wedding plans for marrying a bride I hadn't yet met. I also began sharing with some of my co-workers at the Florida Attorney General's Office, Bureau of Victim Compensation, when the wedding would take place.
In my next post titled, Mission More Impossible, I will continue the story with the miracle that convinced me to further share my wedding announcement, what happened afterward, and how it came true.
Finally, during the writing of this post, I was completely surprised by the following and posted it to my Facebook and Instagram pages on November 24, 2019. I wrote, "Every once in a while, God will do something that gets my full and complete attention. It's the kind of event that makes life exciting! Like those times when you know and can see God at work in the circumstances beyond believing it was a mere coincidence. It happened this morning when this post from Pastor Greg Laurie was in my email, and I couldn't help but notice the title. In my November 2nd blog post titled Beyond Believing, I gave a preview of the next post, which I had already titled Mission Impossible. While I'm currently in the middle of writing my post, I received Pastor Laurie's daily devotion. His message and mine are both a take-off from the Mission Impossible movie/TV show theme. You can read his post here, and I'll have mine posted next month... It's always great to know and experience that with God, all things are possible—even matching Mission Impossible theme posts!"
The next post titled Mission More Impossible begins at:
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