A Marriage Made In . . . (part one - "God told me to marry her")

You are, of course, familiar with the "Rust Belt" and "Bible Belt" regions of the country.

If you know anything about high school or college wrestling - real wrestling - then you know

that there is also a "Wrestling Belt" across one particular region. Begin at Pennsylvania then

head next door to Ohio. Reach north and incorporate Michigan. Head west, skip over a couple

states and land on Iowa. Be sure to annex adjoining Nebraska, skip another state and stop at

Oklahoma. These six midwestern/northern tier states comprise what is, without argument, the

wrestling belt of the U.S. as they produce the top high school and college programs in the country.

I offer this bit of trivia for your personal enlightenment as well as for the purpose of setting up

the following anecdote.

There was a young man from the Midwest who was a standout high school wrestler and was very

outspoken about his Christian faith. He was good looking, and it was assumed that he would eventually

marry the homecoming queen or the pastor's daughter. Either of them would have been a good fit.

He turned down a wrestling scholarship and went to Bible school instead. He felt a call from God

on his life and wanted to come back home after completing his education to start a ministry to his

own community.

But when he came home from Bible college he struck up a relationship with - and married - the

least likely candidate you would ever expect - a promiscuous woman with the worst reputation in

town. Needless to say, his family and friends were in shock and the entire community was stunned.

The "kicker" was that he said God had told him to marry her.

His wife, as many predicted, was unfaithful to him and, of his three children, there was one which

he doubted was even his own. But now let us retreat to the pages of the Old Testament and examine

another unusual marriage from the book of Hosea.

Around 3000 years ago the prophet Amos warned Israel of God's coming judgment for their

rebellion, but they turned a deaf ear. So God raised up the prophet Hosea to not only warn them

about His judgment, but also to demonstrate His love in a most unusual way.

(This is a lengthy message, and prudence dictates that readers are more likely to read two shorter

narratives than one that is lengthy. So, we will complete this story next week. I am hopeful that

you will return to learn more about the high school wrestler as well as an astonishing love story in which

a slave woman is bought with love.)

Chuck Stanely