Yesterday I performed my 40th wedding ceremony. It is weird thinking I have had the privilege of being asked to perform 40 weddings. A lot of them were those whom formerly were part of the high school ministry when I was youth pastor. This wedding was a wonderful couple from Vintage Faith Church - Casey and Rebecca.
As I was huddled with Casey and the groomsmen in a side room right before the wedding started, my phone rang - I had it set to vibrate, so it buzzed. I pulled it out of my suit jacket pocket and looked at it and it was from my friend Matt Smith. I opened the phone to find that Matt was taunting me with a photo from Brian Setzer who was playing live in San Francisco at that very moment - Matt was there at the concert.
Matt and I have seen Brian Setzer solo, or the Stray Cats or the Brian Setzer Orchestra about 6 times together, maybe 7 times. This show yesterday was in San Francisco where Brian was playing with the Nashvillians and he was focusing on his Sun Record recording of all pure rockabilly songs. When I first heard that he was playing in San Francisco I was very, very happy, especially because it was the pure rockabilly songs he was focusing on for this concert. But to my dismay, I then opened my daytimer to find I was performing the wedding that day. After an initial lunge into selfish anguish of remorse that I would miss the show, I then recovered and regained my senses that it is just a concert and weddings are incredibly more important and beautiful than any concert could possibly be.
So even though I couldn't go, Matt decided to concert-cheat on me and go see Brian Setzer anyway with another (Mark from Vintage Faith). So he not only cheated on me and went and saw Brian Setzer without me, but he then began sending me photos from his cell phone all during the concert which was literally the exact same time as the wedding.
So, all during the wedding as I was earnestly speaking of the biblical meaning of marriage and asking Casey and Rebecca to say their vows and exchange their rings - my cell phone kept buzzing in my pocket. Matt was tormenting me the entire ceremony by sending live photos of the Setzer concert. I ignored the buzzing of my cell phone in my suit jacket pocket and didn't look at all the photos until the wedding was over (some of the ones he sent are these).
I shall now forever have in this wedding memory with the feeling of my cell phone buzzing multiple times in my suit jacket pocket with Matt taunting me about missing the show.
We brought Matt up today at the two Vintage Faith worship gatherings to pray for him and the team he is leading to Mexico this week. Matt is leading a team to serve at an orphanage for 5 days. So after I prayed for him, I then gave him a quick soft but firm punch as revenge. So it was a wedding and Setzer cell phone buzzing, and praying and punching weekend.
