Strategic networking and a wedding today

Today I attended the wedding of David and Margarita. 2 weeks ago in church, I bumped into them and they requested that I come and take photos.

It was a joyous and colorful event. Although held in Paris, the whole wedding was conducted in English, with a few readings and prayers interspersed in French. Because of the international audience of those in attendance, English was the language most understood. Margarita is half German and half Egyptian. David is from somewhere in Europe, but isn't French.

While there, my mind flashed back to the wedding of our friends Togolese Guillaume and Delai on June 1, 2002 at the same Belleville church. (2 weeks ago, our whole family attended Guillaume's 40th birthday). I also photographed that event, which was easier to do back then, as my wife was pregnant with our first child at that event.

At that 2002 reception, we met David for the first time, as he came with Margarita. We learned that he was from Amsterdam and was looking for a church. I had heard of a church named Crossroads Church there which is very dynamic. After the wedding, I ended up e-mailing Margarita some info on the church for David. I later heard that David started going there and it helped him get into personal relationship with God.

The longer that I'm in Paris, the more linked that I am able to be. Part of this network involves information about different churches and ministries. Occasionally I'm able to pass on info about specific churches to people who ask. Sometimes it ends up helping get people in relationship with God.

Jim and Angela Beise gave the wedding sermon. It was one of the best that I've ever heard and was a good reminder to me about what being a husband entails. Angela gave the challenge to David that because Margarita is a woman and is an artist, she will sometimes to a challenge to understand and love, yet she'll bring life and color into their marriage and home. I have a wife like that as well.

It was fun to participate in today's wedding through photography, just as it was 4 years ago at Guillaume and Delali's. I'm able to go to locations with a camera that I wouldn't dare to without one.

At the reception, I spoke with another guy named David. We had him over last Easter and he's Belgian. He's a quiet guy and I rarely get to talk with him at church. But he offered some insight and encouragement about God providing a way for me to get more rest (the Sabbath day's type). I felt God ministering to me through the worship at the wedding, through the Beises' teaching, and through the personal encouragement and fellowship with David and others. It was like being at a worship service around a wedding. We even had communion and prayers at the wedding, so it really was a worship service, yet with some people present who aren't yet Christians. There was even food at the vin d'honneur afterwards.