This is wedding season, and with the privilege of presiding at the weddings of many couples over the years, I have had the op­portunity to hear how these people came to meet one another. Lately, internet dating networks have yielded more and more lasting rela­tionships, but the majority of couples have met through the inter­vention of friends or family.

Once in a while a couple will meet in church, and once in a great while one or the other of them will say something like, "The Lord led me to _____________." I always find those stories espe­cially interesting because my husband and I fully believe that God was preparing us for one another and the adventure of married life and parenting that we would share.

As a pastor, I can't imagine hearing the kind of story the prophet Hosea might tel…