Digenis.org

There have been quite a few important events in the last few months and I felt impelled to take a hiatus from blogging in order to enjoy each of them to the fullest extent, soaking in the significance of each moment.

Most notably, Katya and I were married on September 8th. Planning a ‘western’ style wedding in Moscow proved to be an arduous undertaking, regardless of the fact that we set aside eight months to do so. I feel like I could write a book (or at least a few blog posts) about it all. Surprisingly enough, the simplest part was actually the legal paperwork, something which is usually a terribly long and bureaucratic process in Russia. The ZAGS ceremony, which was at the end of June, was actually a breath of fresh air. We kept it simple, just showing up with a handful of friends and family and signing on a few dotted lines, but the day was still a special and memorable one.

Then on September 8th, two years to the day since we started seeing each other, we sealed the deal po Amerikansky with an all out traditional wedding at a local Protestant church, followed by a reception at the Marriott Courtyard. Family and friends flew in from abroad (the US, Haiti, and Switzerland) to celebrate with us. Though the 8 months of planning was laden with unexpected changes of plans which were out of our control, the Big Day itself went on without a hitch!

We took a short trip to St. Petersburg and are now enjoying settling into our new apartment.

I’m also working in a new job as of May. Things are going well, though I’ve had to work extra hard to climb the learning curve in an industry that’s quite new to me. Perhaps I’ll share more about that later. I’ve also finished up the two side projects I took on with Moscow State University Geography Department and Russian Standard Insurance.

Needless to say, I anticipate having a schedule slightly more conducive to blogging. Along with more frequent posting, I intend to do some housecleaning as a restored Wordpress backup seems to have botched up the Cyrillic encoding of some older entries. Do let me know if you see anything quirky or have any suggestions.

Cheers!

Sometimes I like to think that John Piper’s current sermon series on marriage was divinely appointed to line up with Katya’s and my engagement. The series has included some great exegesis and unpacking of Genesis 2:18-25, Colossians 2:13-15, Colossians 3:12-19, and Ephesians 5:21-33.

In the most recent message Piper made an analogy between forgiving/forbearing and the compost pile:

Picture your marriage as a grassy field. You enter it at the beginning full of hope and joy. You look out into the future and you see beautiful flowers and trees and rolling hills. And that beauty is what you see in each other. Your relationship is the field and flowers and the rolling hills. But before long, you begin to step in cow pies. Some seasons of your marriage they may seem to be everywhere. Late at night they are especially prevalent. These are the sins and flaws and idiosyncrasies and weaknesses and annoying habits in you and your spouse. You try to forgive them and endure them with grace.

But they have a way of dominating the relationship. It may not even be true, but it feels like that’s all there is—cow pies. I think the combination of forbearance and forgiveness leads to the creation of a compost pile. And here you begin to shovel the cow pies. You both look at each other and simply admit that there are a lot of cow pies. But you say to each other: You know, there is more to this relationship than cow pies. And we are losing sight of that because we keep focusing on these cow pies. Let’s throw them all in the compost pile. When we have to, we will go there and smell it and feel bad and deal with it the best we can. And then, we are going to walk away from that pile and set our eyes on the rest of field. We will pick some favorite paths and hills that we know are not strewn with cow pies. And we will be thankful for the part of field that is sweet.

Our hands may be dirty. And our backs make ache from all the shoveling. But one thing we know: We will not pitch our tent by the compost pile. We will only go there when we must. This is the gift of grace that we will give each other again and again and again—because we are chosen and holy and loved.

Even a city boy can appreciate the strength of that analogy. I’m looking forward to the continuation of this series and hope that I can glean some application points for my future marriage.