I went to a wedding last night, very social, very nice, good company, good beer, decent food — which of course we waited for. Waiting for the meal after the wedding is like waiting for the second coming; you know it will come but not the hour or the day.
But the waiting at least has a purpose — pictures with translate into memories, all good.
Actually this wedding was reasonable, the wait, the money spent, the whole thing. The couple had been sensible about it. I’ve been to some that were completely over the top. Perhaps couples over-spend on their weddings to protect their marriages — they’ll have to stay together forever to have any hope of paying off the debt.
I met a lawyer at the wedding. Cool. I like lawyers. They have stories.
“Tell me stuff,” I said.
“Give me a topic,” he said.
“Does money make a difference in court?” I asked.
“Money gives you access,” he said.
“Define access,” I said.
“Access comes through lawyers,” he said, “and motions. Say you have a patent case. The small guy is claiming that he created something, but if the rich company that has gotten a hold of it, and is not paying him adequately for it, prolongs the case long enough, filing motion after motion, then at some point the little guy can’t afford it, and he gives up. Money wins.”
I got it. In court, the rich defeat the poor by outlasting them. No money? No power!
It sucks to be poor, in court, and weak.
It suck so be weak at all. It sucks not to have access, to not have a nice wedding, to not be able to last all the way to justice in court or to not have what you need to live.
I gave away a bunch of money yesterday and then some today too.
Why?
Access. I want some people in my family, people I really love, to have access, and some of my friends too, so I choose to resource them in the same way that I have been resourced, with access. I have been given access and I am beginning to want to be a person who provides access to others.
It has come to my attention that access is a big deal, and that God himself is outrageously committed to access. Look around. He holds back his judgments, he blesses the earth with resources and beauty, he waits, he forgives, he waits some more, he is patient, he is unfathomably patient, he pauses, we live in the great pause, we have been given time to choose, to change, to experiment, to fail, to try again, to persent our case, to have a hearing, to be given justice, to have justice withheld and replaced by mercy, to discourage him and each other and yet remain under the fierce weight of his patience.
The door of the world is open, the windows flung back, the roof is off, the sky is huge, waiting for us to decide. The white carpet is laid out for us, the bridal party awaits us at the other end, smiles everywhere, expectant on us, to run down the aisle of the universe to them, to the meal, to justice, to the wedding gifts.
Incredible. Unspeakable. Shocking. Knock you down good.
Access is being poured out on the earth by a good God.
Our best response. Take it, and make access for others too.
Thrive! 