MABC Blog

During my senior year of college I made an interesting decision to not go back to the home I knew upon the completion of my undergraduate degree. In my naïveté I believed that I was ready to be on my own, that I was “responsible.” I knew that I was entering graduate school the following year and just needed to make living arrangements. I already had a part-time job with great “full-time” benefits, and all was right in the world. Except, truthfully, I had no idea how to be an adult.

Recently, I made some shelves to place in one of the few available spaces on a wall in the garage. I used wood that was left over from another project. I had no plans and made things up as I went along. After a few attempts and adjustments, I was finished. But don't ask me to show them to you - they're not much to look at! If I had good raw materials and a set of plans, I'm sure they would look better.

Many years ago, when I was significantly more clueless about life and barely able to think deeply about things, I was asked to be part of what my youth pastor called a “Ministry Team.” He probably told me and the others he invited to participate what the purpose of the group would be, but I really didn’t fully understand what he was talking about.

I watched and listened to the debate between Bill Nye of "Science Guy" fame and Ken Ham, the president of the Answers In Genesis (AiG) organization - he with the delightful Aussie accent and unrelenting defender of young-earth creation science. Part of me thought it wouldn't happen, that Bill Nye would pull out of the debate.

I once heard an exchange between two young men – acquaintances who had not seen each other for some time. One young man asked the other, “So, what’s new?” 

The other answered, somewhat excitedly, “I’m getting married!” 

To which his friend responded, “Now, what would you want to go and do that for?”

It was a typically jocular response to the idea of getting married, filled with implications and assumptions about marriage tying one down, restricting personal freedoms and generally changing one’s life in a less than ideal way. But it is an interesting question. Why do people get married?