Of all the dancing that went on at the wedding reception for my son, Christopher and Beth, his new wife, there are three that stand out.
Chandler & Annie
The first is Chandler, our 12-year-old son dancing with Annie, our 30-year-old daughter. Chandler had a real coming out at this wedding. Christopher picked him to be one of his Groomsmen and he rose to the occasion. There were times when being twelve was a liability and he grew impatient with waiting and with shoes that didn’t fit right. There were other times when he acted much older than his age as Christopher gave him responsibility to be in his wedding party, and not as a child ring-bearer, but as an adult friend. And for Annie to take him out on the dance floor and have him dance with her like a gentleman completed a picture for me of my kids being committed to each other.
Marti & Christopher
The second was an announced dance that Marti did not anticipate of just Christopher and his mother, and what she also didn’t know was that the song Christopher picked for them to dance to was a song I wrote and recorded when Christopher was six months old…
Christopher knows Christopher’s toes
He just found them today
Stuck in the air at the end of his chair
Ten little toes just waiting to play
And you can imagine Marti lost it – crumpled in her son’s arms for a moment until she could recover.
It’s hard to believe that these little feet
Will walk into the next generation
May they be feet that bring the gospel of peace
To every situation
…a prophetic reference if I ever heard one as Christopher is now a peace officer with the L.A.P.D..
Sometimes I shrink at the hopeless world
My helpless child must grow in
That’s when I pray as I’m watching him play
That he might carry Christ in him
And he does. Like his name, Christopher means bearer of Christ. It’s at moments like this you realize how fragile life is and how good God is to allow us to share in it. How many close calls there were in Christopher’s childhood and adolescence that could have cut his life short or left him with severe injury. Why him and not the next guy? What role does God have for each of us to play out in this drama called life? If you are alive, it’s because you have something to do. God doesn’t make any mistakes. Christopher’s toes have a place to go.
Annie & Niko
The last dance was Annie and one of Christopher’s Groomsmen torching the place in a blaze of talent and intuition, doing a kind of mad swirling version of a swing dance fit for Dancing with the Stars without ever dancing together before. How that happens I don’t know. At one point, Annie did a complete somersault over his knee and back again. How did she know to do that? How do all those moves come together with just a touch or a slight adjustment to indicate what might be coming next when trying to capture it would blur your camera? I asked Annie later how she did that and she said she didn’t know.
The Bible says we are fearfully and wonderfully made. How true.
John Fischer The Catch 
Most of your catches speak directly to me but this one was the closest. My husband had open heart surgery January 12th. During the surgery he had a major stroke. For days he was critical but came through with “only” Left Neglect. Only his little toe moved, almost imperceptibly. He still has Left Neglect and has to watch and think about every step he takes with his left foot but now he is walking with a walker (with a person beside him just in case)! That’s surely a miracle and a tribute to God’s love and my husband’s tenacity. I wonder what God has in mind for him…
Sounds like an amazing time was had by all!
Again John and Marti – thank you for sharing this joyous occasion with all of us – I don’t know about the rest of the Catch people, but I for one feel like I was there experiencing the joy and love.
And that song – it’s so beautiful!
I agree wholeheartedly! I cried while reading this ‘Catch’–which I often do at weddings–just as though I was actually there.
Beautiful song!
3 more things….
but how to make them as consequential as this that inspired the though…-
i am preparing this morning to go do battle w/ a used car salesman -was thinking i need poker face for this car i ‘really love”
the catch comes thru b4 i get out the door and God reminds through your gift of – the stuff that matters (and of course, lubricates my vision)
then i remember that all i need is the face God gave me.
The Bible says God’s timing is perfect. How true.
First off Gerry I’m very happy your husband is getting better! He and you will be in my thoughts and prayers, becauz I have an idea of what he is going through, I had a stroke years ago. Plz tell him from me, it gets better, yet does require hard work and listening to all of the therapist helps a lot too.
And Pastor John, I LOVED today’s Catch and thank you for it… 🙂
Thank you Mark. We really appreciate your comments, thoughts and prayers.
I loved the part about the song being played was the one Daddy wrote to Christopher when he was a baby. As a mother of two grown sons, it made me cry, and I know just how Marti felt. It was a good cry 🙂
Congratulations! Now you have GRANDCHILDREN to look forward to! They are the grandest!
You made me cry – What a beautiful story of Gods precious love. Thanks!