Mr. and Mrs. Andrae Ramon Cadoree and Pastor Edwards
Saturday, July 28
Andrae and my daughter Erin were first married in January of 2000 by Pastor Edwards, who is Andrae’s uncle and one of the most amazing pastors I’ve ever met. After their son Bailey, my first grandchild, went to heaven a month after God blessed us with him, Erin and Andrae faced extraordinary challenges.
They divorced. Erin went on to earn her paralegal certification, and Andrae eventually wound up working in Kuwait. But God had determined that would only be a chapter in the story of their lives, not the end.
Saturday, I stood in her father’s backyard and heard Pastor Edwards repeat the words that had united them as husband and wife seven years before. As I heard the fervent “Amen” and “Praise Jesus” echoed by Andrae’s family during the ceremony, I smiled remembering how constipated I felt in my Christianity all those years ago hearing the congregational participation of Andrae’s church.
So, at the end, when Pastor introduced us to the couple God has once again brought together, I heard myself actually speak out loud, my own “Amen.” Perhaps, in those same seven years, I’ve come to terms with my weaknesses, my faults, my spiritual dumbness. But God showed me on Saturday, life is full of second chances. Life is full of “Amens” just waiting for us.
And I am certain Bailey in heaven is “Amen” rejoicing along with his parents.
For my daughter and my newest-oldest son-in-law:
i carry your heart with me(i carry it in (ee cummings)
i carry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart)i am never without it(anywhere i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done by only me is your doing,my darling) i fear no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true) and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant and whatever a sun will always sing is you here is the deepest secret nobody knows (here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows higher than soul can hope or mind can hide) and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)
