The Knight Years

One afternoon a middle aged man, a young teen, and a boy walked onto the parsonage porch. The neighbor next to the church had directed them to our home. The man looked to be in his thirties and asked, “Would you marry us?” Several people were looking out the open widows of the car that was parked by the curb. I asked him, “Who is getting married?” He responded, “Us,” and pointed to the young girl that had come up on the porch beside him. I asked if they had a marriage license. He handed me an envelope. I invited them into the parsonage. As the young boy ran to the car, he hollered, “He’s a gonna’ do it. He’s a gonna do it.” It was then that I looked closely at the car. It was already decorated with white crepe paper, and shaving cream spelled out, “Just Married.” Tin cans were tied to the bumper. “I believe we need to talk about this,” was my opening remark as I looked at the wedding license. It revealed his age to be thirty four and hers was sixteen. “We know all about the Christian life. There is no need to talk,” he responded. I attempted to give them some guidance. “There’s a lot to know about life and each other besides the Christian life.” I hoped to get them to change their minds about an immediate wedding. He responded, “I have known her all week. We know all we need to know about each other. Are you going to marry us or not?”