Written by Ladonna Yap
“A Covenant of Love, a Vow to remember”
To drive a car, be a teacher or practice medicine, you must be licensed – indicating that you have a certain level of training and expertise in performing that function. But when it comes to marriage, no professional training or experience is required. Two consenting parties come to the altar and say “I do” and that’s it, the “journey” begins. Whatever the outcome of the journey, it is solely up to the couple. As Pastor Wee always say when he conducts weddings, when you say I DO, YOU’RE DONE!
This is where seminars like this comes in, where love and vows are rekindled, when the HOWS and the WHYS are brought to the open and discussed fairly and gently (no rage, no high voices, no walk outs), when husband and wife sit side by side each other for eight hours, yes, 8 hours – wives enjoyed it, husbands joyfully endured it. “I Still Do Seminar” is an investment for a lifetime.
On October 23, 2010, Saturday morning, some 27 couples from Evangel Family Church - Davao City, Kidapawan City and Tagum City heeded the call and registered for the much awaited event – The “I Still Do Seminar.” After a short briefing and orientation the seminar started promptly at 8:30 am as scheduled starting with the topic “Covenant in Marriage.”
It tackles about the design of marriage, its foundation and the difference between a contract based and a covenant based marriage. This session brought couples to the altar scene of their wedding day once again and introspect with this question in mind – was I signing a contract or was I binding my entire life to a covenant (a promise that secures a relationship forever).
The next topic was the distinct roles and corresponding responsibilities of the husband and the wife as stated in Ephesians 5:25-33 and Ephesians5:22-23 respectively. For most of us, our roles in our working place, ministry, and even in the society there is a time frame. We can take a leave, change jobs, step down and even transfer to a different location but the role of being a husband/wife is 24/7, all year round and without time outs. The discussion in this session played an integral part of the whole experience. A group activity was conducted and all groups echoed the words SUBMISSION and RESPECT as the role of the wife and LOVING the wife as Christ loves the church as the role of the husband.
Tackling two gigantic topics aroused “stomach stress” to all the participants by late morning and a sumptuous lunch buffet was a great stress reliever. A spread of delicious meal greeted everyone to end the morning session.
The afternoon was filled with fun activities, one of which was the activity of braiding three strands of thread to make a cord. It paints a clear picture of what a strong marriage should be as stated in Ecclesiastes 4:12 “A cord of three strands is not easily broken.” This activity portrays the message that facing the hurdles of life hand in hand is not enough to make marriage work. Rather, it’s a commitment of each party to face the pressures of life with one hand holding God and one hand holding each other.
One of the highlights of the day was the topic on how to understand your spouse better through knowing their love languages -the words of affirmation, receiving gifts, acts of service, quality time and physical touch. It was taught that our spouses have significant buttons, and if pressed correctly will surely keep the fire burning.
The whole seminar was packed to the brim with refreshing activities and bible-based insights, conducted by the trained and experienced facilitators of Family Life Philippines, a ministry of Philippine Campus Crusade for Christ. Topics such as resolving conflict, enjoying sexual intimacy and affair proofing your marriage were discussed as well. Truly, setting aside a day of your married life for a seminar like this could make a great difference.
Strengthen, renewed, refreshed were the words reflected on each face as the couples recited their marriage vows once again to end the whole day’s activity.
