My wedding toast

I have ALWAYS wanted a sister. There's kinda a joke that's been going around my family for a while now and it's how I wanted Vince to be a girl SO BADLY during my entire childhood. At one point I actually hit him when he was an infant because I just really wanted him to play dolls with me and he wouldn't and that was so frustrating for me. But 19 yrs after Vince was born I now finally have a sister! I couldn't be more happy to have Emily join our family.

Now I'm going to be really honest here...to say that I've always felt excited for their wedding day would be a lie. I've loved Emily since the first time I've met her so it's never been a problem with her at all. More so it's been a problem with ME. My selfish pride has gotten in the way of welcoming my sister-in-law with the love and care that she deserves. I've realized a lot of things about myself through my bro getting married. First off, I've realized how much of a jealous person I am. I didn't want Miles to get married first. He's not the oldest and that's just not how it should happen. I should be the one leading the family and doing the big steps first. But what I've realized is that Miles was so ready to claim Emily as his bride because he has maturity beyond his years.  I will quote Vince's best man toast from the wedding because I couldn't agree more with his words "Miles, you’re my hero because you are humble. You lay down your life for the people around you just like Christ laid down His life for you." Miles loves Emily with such a sacrificial love. The way that he loves Emily is absolutely beautiful. He serves her and loves her so faithfully. He has done that since the day he met her and I know that he will do that until the day he dies. As Tim Keller says in his book King's Cross "All real, life-changing love is substituionary sacrifice...we know that anybody who has ever done anything that made a difference for us- a friend, a spouse- sacrificed in some way, stepped in and accepted some hardship so that we would not get hit with it ourselves. Therefore it makes sense that a God who is more loving than you and I, a God who comes into the world to deal with the ultimate evil would have to make a substitutionary sacrifice." I am fully confident that Miles is going to lay down his life for Emily everyday and love her just like Christ loves the church.

I'm so thankful to have such an awesome example of how a Godly man should pursue and love a Godly woman. I'm thankful to have Emily and Miles as a wonderful example of what a Christ centered relationship should look like. I am thankful they were the first ones of the family to head down this road because God knows I wouldn't do it with the amount of love and grace that they have displayed. I am so happy to FINALLY have a sister and I feel so blessed to have one that is so amazing. And I couldn't be more proud of my brother Miles for the man that he is and for the way that he loves.