I’d like to take a minute and share with you something I think is pretty amazing in the story of Steph and Jon.
Well, many of you can recall the little cotton top blonde, Stephanie. From VERY early on the child was drawn to California.
She talked about it often and longed to visit. Once, my grandparents attended a family reunion there and we didn’t get to go. I was sad, but Steph was infuriated. To this day, she still has an angry tone in her voice anytime someone mentions that trip.
When Steph was finally able to venture further west than TX, she was on a trip to NM with her best childhood buddy, Lizza. One can imagine how bittersweet it was for her to see road signs signaling ‘Los Angeles.’ We still have several pics of that road sign. I remember Steph calling me several evenings while she was there, with a slight sadness explaining how she was just so close and how she’d give anything to have just kept driving West!
Well, guess where Steph and Allison chose to vacation on their first big trip during their college years…That’s right, California. I believe Steph recorded every moment of the trip. We have footage of the sky, the trees, the beach, the traffic, and of course more road signs…so much that it slowed Mom and Dad’s computer down to the point that we had to retire it….Literally…it quit working! I can recall chatting with Steph and hearing her say, “I can finally breathe, the air here is just different, I love this place…”
Do you all see a pattern here, this connection and this pulling towards California in all the stages of Stephanie’s life….
There is a Scripture that I have loved for years and I think its just pretty cool too. It is Psalm 37:4... It tells us that God is the One who places our desires in our hearts… hold on to that thought for a second…I’ll come back to it…
See Steph, all the while that you were being drawn to the “the golden state” God was working on something too. God was pulling strings and bringing California to you. Of all the places in the world to be, Jon Roath, a tride and true California boy, ends up working at Dardanelle Pizza Hut. I see this as no accident, Here we have God placing the desire/longing for California in you early on and none of us ever understood why, but apparently your spirit knew that a gigantic piece of your heart had been there all along and huge part of your life story was there waiting. How cool is that-- a part of your soul lived there, and then God chose to bring him to you.
I believe it is no coincidence that we end up here in Eureka Springs, AR for the wedding of this couple. See when teaching about states, capitals, and their mottos, I found it interesting that California’s motto is the word, “Eureka!” and that your suppose to say it with joy----and it means “I found it!” WOW! Back to that desire placed in you…why was that there…because God was wanting you “to find it!”--- He was wanting you to find Jon, the person he created you to journey this life with…
Well Steph, “you found it,” you found the very reason you’d been drawn to California for all of these years…. and heres’ to him belonging to you until forever. I love you.
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