At one key moment of the movie, the young man had to flee for his own safety to regroup so he could later rescue the girl. Before he disappeared into the jungle he whispered to the girl, “I will come back for you.” The girl held on to that promise as if her life depended on it. She pressed onward, even when faced with danger in the company of bad men she walked with confidence, because she knows he will come back for her. Indeed, he did come back for her in the most dramatic rescue while disposing his enemies.

At the end of the cinematic climax I looked at my daughters and said, “The boy ALWAYS comes back for the girl he loves!” Then I proceeded to explain to them the lesson I taught on Palm Sunday, looking at ancient Jewish wedding custom and seeing it under the light of Christ and the Church.

Unlike our modern day custom, the ancient Jews practiced the Shiddukhin, or arranged marriages. The choice of the betrothed bride was the father’s prerogative (Ephesians 1:4). Both the son and daughter trusted their fathers to do what was best for them. Once agreed upon, finalized with a written contract, the couple entered into the Eyrusin, the Betrothal. Legally they were considered as husband and wife, having all rights as married couple with the exception of the physical intimacy, which was reserved for the wedding night.

The eyrusin period, also called the Kiddushim or Sanctification, lasted for one year. During this time both the groom and the bride were to prepare themselves for the day of marriage. The groom’s responsibility was to make an addition to his father’s house, rooms where he can start a family (John 14:2). The bride’s responsibility was to sew and decorate her wedding garments with the finest and whitest linen she can buy and decorate them with the finest embroidery and jewels (Ephesians 5:25-27; Revelation 19:7-9). Before the groom leaves his bride for the one-year period he would give to her a matan, or the bridal gift (Luke 24:49; John 14:25-27; Ephesians 1:13-14). Its purpose was a pledge of his love for her. It served as a reminder during their year of separation of his love for her, he is thinking about her, and that he promised he will return to receive her into his father’s house one day (Acts 1:11).

When the time came the father gave his blessing (Matthew 24:36-37) and the groom and his groomsmen went to get the bride. As they went, one of the groomsmen would go ahead of the wedding party, blow the trumpet, and shout to declare, “Behold, the bridegroom comes!” (Matthew 25:1-13; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18). The bridegroom indeed came back for his bride and took her to his father’s house. Then the marriage feast begins, with food, music, dancing, and celebrating for seven days.

As we celebrate Easter this Sunday, let us remember that when Christ rose on this day and went to prepare us a place in His Father’s house, He made a promise to His bride, the Church that He will come back one day to receive her where they will spend life together eternally.

Yes, the “boy” ALWAYS comes back for the “girl” He loves!

I recently came across a story of Austin, TX motorists being warned by a portable road sign of potential zombies ahead. Not surprising the sign was hacked by pracksters, likely students from the near by university suspects the Texas Department of Transportation. What intrigued me the most from this story was that, "According to the blog i-hacked.com, some commercial road signs can be easily altered because their instrument panels are frequently left unlocked and their default passwords are not changed. Programming is as simple as type whatever you want to display."

What caused me to ponder is what if the sign was altered by someone who intended for evil instead of a prank? Warning of zombies caused quite a few laughs but no one took it seriously. But what if the sign was altered to cause a traffic detour into an area where carjackers awaits?

In the last few months Annette and I were made aware of many dear friends with serious spiritual struggles. These are all believers in Jesus and served in their churches. As Annette and I were discussing this, we discovered the common thread between them all was that they were caught totally unguarded. In these cases the danger signs were there all along. But they either ignored them or they were so busy that they didn't even notice them at the time... until it was too late. Yet we also recognize that we must not be so prideful to think that it cannot creep into our own lives.

I have listed a few practical things (mainly for myself) and I would like to share them with you. I hope it will help you as well.

When we pay attention to the signs then we will better be able to spot either the traps set by the enemy or the ways of the Lord.