BRIDE FOR A DAY

Author: UNKNOWN

Mary and Joe, newlyweds of a double wedding, read Psalm 18 for worship on the first day of their honeymoon. Later that day, they go for a short swim in the lake and Joe drowns. In total shock, Mary endures the funeral upon the return of the second couple of their wedding. In conclusion, she takes up pre-nursing in hopes that her life's devotion will help expediate Christ's soon return and her reuniting with Joe in heaven.

"I'm sorry, Joe, but I just can't help you. You'll have to wait until Sunday to get your clothes from the laundry", sympathized Mary as she greeted the youth who approached her one cold Friday afternoon in November. At once she was attracted by the friendly smile of this short, muscular young man.

After Mary had told Joe goodbye, she could not resist the impulse to glance at him again. "My, he's certainly one of the happiest persons I've seen," thought Mary. "I'd like to become better acquainted with him."

Mary and Joe did learn to know each other better--much better. The following school year they made plans for a July wedding. "I'm glad your sister and Bob are going to be married with us," commented Mary. Double weddings aren't very common."

On the Saturday night before the ceremony, Mary and Joe discussed again their plans for the future. "Where would you like to go as a missionary, Mary?" "Why I haven't thought of any definite place," she replied. I guess we'll go wherever the Lord calls."

The next Sunday evening the setting sun cast streaks of red and gold across the pews as the congregation filled the church to witness the double wedding. At the strains of Lohengrin, Mary appeared at the door with her father, her heart-shaped headpiece resting like a crown on her brown curls. Her violet orchid quivered only slightly as she took Joe's arm. As they took their vows alternately, Mary's oval face seemed to reflect the light of the candles that shown through the ivy reception in the high school gymnasium.

Mary and Joe opened their last present. Mary exclaimed, "Oh, Joe, the church people have been so good to us. We must honor God by establishing a family altar and a Christian home."

Early the next morning they arose. The sunlight teased Mary's brown curls as she stood combing her hair near the cabin window. In rapid succession the events of the previous day flashed before her - the break in Dad's voice as he gave her away, Joe's smile as he stammered, "I do," and the crepe-paper-covered table piled high with gifts. The Lord had been good to them. "Why, Joe, we didn't have worship last night, did we?" exclaimed Mary, her brown eyes clouding "and we have so much to thank God for."

That's right, Mary, we didn't. Lets start our marriage right by having it this morning." After securing his Bible, Joe allowed it to fall open on his lap, only to close it unconsciously when Mary asked him a question. Again it fell open to the same place, the 18th psalm. "This looks like a good chapter. I'll read the first sixteen verses only, since it's a long chapter and we should get started soon."

Joe read slowly and Mary listened. As he read the 16th verse, the room seemed to become dark as though a cloud were hiding the sun. "He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters."

"That last verse is rather sobering, Joe." said Mary softly, half to herself and half to her husband. He thoughtfully closed the Bible, and they both prayed that the Lord would guide them during the day. Once the room seemed bright as they rose from their knees and prepared to drive to the island where they were to spend their honeymoon.

Once they were on the road, Mary sang in her clear soprano voice, "My Heavenly Father Watches Over Me." Noticing Joe's unusual quietness, she questioned, "Why don't you sing with me, Joe?" Quietly Joe replied, "I'm just thinking, dear. Please keep on singing."

Late that afternoon they arrived at the Wayside cabins. Isn't this a pretty place?" exclaimed Mary as they stepped from the car. A small lake like a mirror, sparkled in the afternoon sunshine, reflecting the outlines of several gray cabins, circling its shore. After the manager had pointed out their cabin, he suggested that Mary and Joe might like to swim in the lake since the weather was so hot.

"O.K., let's go, but let's not stay in any longer than 15 minutes," suggested Joe. Plunging into the water, they laughed and splashed each other. Bur Mary was not relaxed. Somehow the feeling that something was going to happen persisted, but she determinedly shook it off with a challenge, "lets race to the dock, Joe."

As she swam to the dock, she felt his hands on her ankle. Reasoning that he was trying to keep her from getting ahead of him, she shook off his hands with a laugh and kept on swimming until she came to the dock. When she turned to banter Joe, she was unable to find him. "Maybe he swam under the dock, to fool me," she thought. No, he wasn't under the dock. "He probably swam in a different direction to tease me," she reasoned. Just then, she noticed a few tiny air bubbles breaking in the surface of the water where Joe had been.

Frantically she swam from the dock to the shore trying to find someone who could help her. Within ten minutes a group of men had brought Joe from the bottom of the lake. As she looked at his pale from, the clutching fingers of fear gripped her heart. For three hours she stood at his side while the men gave Joe artificial respiration and applied the pulmotor. The chilliness of evening enveloped the anxious group as the sun cast slowly lengthening shadows on the quiet water. "He's not dead; I know he's not!" cried Mary.

"There now," soothed a woman who stood nearby, "you'd better go to the cabin and get dressed." Still half believing that there was some hope for Joe, she returned to the cabin and mechanically changed her clothes. As she left the cabin her last hope vanished when one of the men who had been giving artificial respiration met her. "We've done all we can," he mumbled gruffly, trying to hide his emotion.

"You'd better call his parents, lady." interrupted a policeman who stood nearby.

I'd rather go home and tell them myself," pleaded Mary. "They will take it so hard, and I don't want them to suffer any move than necessary." But the officer finally persuaded her, and reluctantly she telephoned Joe's father. Immediately he queried, "How are you Mary?" "God is helping me," she replied. "I have faith in Him."

For 180 miles Mary rode in Joe's car behind the hearse. Occasionally she dozed, only to dream that Joe had drowned. "Oh, I must tell him about this dream when I wake up so he will be ready to meet Jesus." Then as the mortician's son would apply the brakes, she would waken, only to be reminded by the black hearse in front of her that the dream was true.

Clouds of questions enveloped her. "Why did it have to happen to us? He was such a good christian. Weren't we going to be missionaries? I wonder if God really cares." Brushing her doubts aside, she remembered the verses Joe had read that morning. "The Lord knows why it happened. I'll just trust Him," she murmured.

At three o'clock Tuesday morning she stumbled into the house in a state of collapse. Although utterly exhausted, Mary could not sleep for no one knew where Evelyn and Bob were. The next day she received a post card that told Evelyn and Bob's whereabouts, and for the first time since the tragedy Mary really slept. When Evelyn and Bob arrived home, Joe's sister Emma, gently awakened the sleeping Mary. "Evelyn and Bob are home, Mary."

Oh, Emma, lets kneel down and thank God for bringing them home for the funeral, suggested Mary. The next day, Sunday, the church was again filled, bur an empty stillness mocked the joy of the previous Sunday. Dale Johnson who just a week before had sung "The Sunshine of Your Smile" at the double wedding, now sang, "God understands." The pastor returned to the little white church to preach the funeral sermon of the one whom he had so recently married. As he read one of Joe's favorite poems, "The clock of time," the audience reflected, "Place no faith in tomorrow, for the hands may then be still."

After the simple burial service in the graveyard, Mary told her friends, "I will see him again, and it won't be long. As he lay there in the casket with a shadow of a smile on his face, I knew that it is my responsibility if I am to see him again."

After Joe's death, Mary decided to attend Emmanuel Missionary College, enrolling in the pre-nursing curriculum, determined to devote her life to hastening the day when Jesus will come and she and Joe will be saved "out of many waters."