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• OUR
MARRIAGE •
We invite you to join
us in celebrating our marriage! This past Thanksgiving
Day, November 23, 2006, our loving God brought our lives together. This
is the culmination of years of holding desire and vision (patiently
and not-so-patiently), healing past heartbreak, and preparing our
hearts for each other. We’re deeply thankful to God
for giving us each other, as well as our families and friends who
are like family, to love us and for us to love.
• OUR
CEREMONY •
We committed our lives
to each other at Hiddenite Baptist Church in Hiddenite NC. We
were honored to have 60 family and friends stand with us as we
made our vows. Steve’s father, Bill Goble, a retired
minister from Taylorsville, officiated and led us in making our
vows. Lee Strawn, Steve’s good friend from San Francisco,
served as his best man, and sang “Candle on the Water.” Joyce
Richardson, Beverly’s sister from Cary, served as her maid
of honor, and Elizabeth Benfield, Steve’s sister from Taylorsville,
served as her bridesmaid. Lee, Joyce, and Elizabeth signed
our marriage certificate. Ron Richardson, Beverly’s
brother from Raleigh, escorted her down the aisle. Fran Richardson,
Beverly’s eldest sister from Anderson, SC, and Roberta Goble,
Steve’s mother from Taylorsville, were seated in places of
honor at the front of the church. Linda Anderson, Steve’s
cousin from Charlotte, served as pianist. Our nephews, Todd Leviner
and Heath Powell, served as ushers. Our god-daughter Julia
Strawn, and our grand-niece, Savannah Leviner, served beautifully
as our flower girls. The Irish hymn, “Be Thou My Vision,” expressed
the theme of our marriage (and Beverly’s love of all things
Irish!). During the ceremony, we worshipped while singing
two hymns, “We Gather Together to Ask the Lord’s Blessings,” and “Great
Is Thy Faithfulness.” After the ceremony, many celebrated
with us by attending the Goble Family Thanksgiving Potluck lunch
in the fellowship hall.
• OUR
HONEYMOON •
After warm good-byes,
we drove away from Hiddenite Baptist Church, and, a couple
miles away, cleaned the toilet paper, mustard, and bottles
off our car. We
drove the three hours from Hiddenite to Raleigh, and spent our
first honeymoon night in the Raleigh Sheraton. The next morning,
we boarded the Amtrak train for a five-hour rail trip from Raleigh
to Washington, DC, one of our favorite cities. We thoroughly
enjoyed being alone on this trip, resting, and watching the beautiful
late-autumn trees, rivers, and quaint towns go by. In Washington
we stayed in a honeymoon suite at the Hilton Garden Inn, a gracious,
reasonably priced hotel, just a few blocks away from the White
House (we highly recommend this hotel). We had many positive
experiences here!!! Sparing you all the details . . . it
was great!!! We were blessed with warm hospitality from the
hotel staffers, and found candy, flowers, and champagne in our
room on more than one occasion, thanks to Lee, Laurie, and Julia
Strawn, and the hotel staffers. While in DC, we enjoyed a
six-hour tour in a van to the major points of interest -- all the
monuments (Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Vietnam,
and Korea), Ford’s Theatre, and the National Archives where
we were moved by the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights,
and Constitution. On another day we enjoyed a guided tour
of the US Capitol building from one of the staffers from Sen. Dianne
Feinstein’s office, and intimate tours of the US Supreme
Court building and the Library of Congress building. Visiting
the Library of Congress was especially meaningful to us as Beverly
is a librarian. Beverly arranged for both of us to have
official “reader’s cards” to admit us to the
reading rooms of the Library of Congress. We enjoyed memorable
meals at Old Ebbitt’s Grill (exquisite food here) and Café Mozart
(we were serenaded at our table by a gracious Austrian accordion
player). Just being together and married with God’s
blessing, was the highlight of our honeymoon. We both are
thankful to God for making our honeymoon to Washington, DC, romantic
and memorable.
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• OUR
CENTER •
Our
marriage commitment is centered in our faith in Jesus. Through
daily relationship with Jesus, God reaches us and touches us
with His grace (i.e., free and unconditional love), forgives
us, loves us, shows us mercy, challenges us, and continues to
clean us up and change us. Through
the process of marriage, he is growing us toward healthy manhood
and womanhood, and teaching us how to love.
We
l-o-v-e each other and enjoy being married to each other, even
though there are many adjustments and negotiations. Each
morning, we enjoy praying together over breakfast, and asking our
loving Father for the resources for each day. We find that
having this time each day to humble ourselves before God and thank
Him, draws us together. These Bible verses touch both of
us, and are themes of our lives:
“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the
LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to
give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come
and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and
find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jer. 29:11-13)
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son [Jesus],
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal
life. (John 3:16)
[Jesus says] I have come that they may have life, and have it
to the full. (John 10:10)
[Jesus
says] If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever
believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living
water will flow from within him. (John 7:37-38)
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those
who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Rom.
8:28)
• HOW
WE MET •
In 1973,
Beverly met Steve’s
sister, Elizabeth, in a young women’s class at Calvary Baptist
Church in Morganton, NC. Beverly’s family had just moved
to Morganton from Rockingham. Beverly was attending Pembroke State
University, and Steve was attending Carson-Newman College in Tennessee
at that time. Elizabeth told Beverly, “I want to introduce
you to my brother. I think you two are really going to hit
it off.” We are deeply thankful to Elizabeth for introducing
us.
• OUR
RELATIONSHIP •
We have fond memories
of a warm relationship in the 1970s. However, we both have
had deep inner issues and a great deal of growing to do, both emotionally
and spiritually. We broke up and went our separate ways
for a number of years. The intervening years have been a
soul shaking and soul shaping adventure. Three years ago,
after a number of years of healing and growing, Steve felt led
to reach out to Beverly and ask her forgiveness for his hurtful,
sinful behavior and selfish attitudes, with a glimmer of hope that
he and Beverly might renew our relationship. This started
in a walk together around Lake Johnson in Raleigh. In the
past 3 years, things worked out better than we could ever have
imagined. We were on the phone together a lot, sent emails
and snail-mail back and forth, and watched as the airlines made
money on us in our cross-continental visits to each other. We
long to spend the rest of our lives together as husband and wife,
with Christ at the center of our home.
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• WHAT
BEVERLY MEANS TO STEVE •
She
is . . . feminine, beautiful, sweet, warm, loving, tender,
engaging, assertive, joyful, fun, creative, romantic, humorous,
resilient, strong, and gracious. I
love the timbre of her voice, the softness of her skin, and the
life in her eyes. She helps me laugh, have fun, and relax. She
encourages me in my strengths and gives grace to me in my weaknesses. She
encourages my sense of adventure. She is a woman of courage,
strong character, and prayer. She is aware of her own wounds
and weaknesses, finds strength in her weakness, and has compassion,
grace, and mercy. I knew her father and mother, George
and Thelma Richardson, and they lived godly lives; I know her
siblings – Ronnie, Fran, Sandie, and Joyce – and
they are people of character. I love the many shades of
Beverly…words cannot adequately express them. Best
of all, she is a friend and companion to me.
• WHAT
STEVE MEANS TO BEVERLY •
Steve
and I have shared a history for more than 30 years. His sister
Elizabeth introduced us after meeting me in Sunday School at Calvary
Baptist Church in Morganton NC. My parents had just joined that
church after their move to Morganton and Elizabeth became my first
friend there. "You have to meet my brother, Steve" she
said. "He is away at college right now, but I know the two
of your will really like each other." She was right. Our first
date wasn’t spent going to the movies as we had planned,
but rather sitting at a picnic table in a local park, sharing a
take-out pizza and talking literally for hours. I have never known
anyone with whom I was so comfortable right from the beginning.
Though our early "romance" didn’t take the route
I longed for he remained my most appreciated friend. The Lord seems
to have had some romantic plans for the two of us however.
Of
all the characteristics I love and admire in Steve, his commitment
to Christ is paramount. It is firm and unwavering. He has a ferocity
of dedication to the Lord that takes my breath away with admiration.
Few people possess his capacity for soul-searching and tenacious
determination to let the Lord work change in his heart and his
relationships. There is a tremendous courage there that I don’t
think he realizes he possesses.
He
is one of the kindest and most tender-hearted people I have ever
met. This is balanced with a quiet strength and discipline making
him a true leader in many aspects of his work and his personal
life. I am not someone who trusts easily and once my trust has
been broken I don’t tend to rekindle
it. The Lord has used Steve mightily to heal some of the wounded
areas of my heart.
I love his steadfastness, his genuine appreciation for the efforts
people make to do the right things in life. He is honest and direct,
but strives always to be gentle and thoughtful with his comments.
We share a kind of wacky sense of humor and most days together
find us laughing about something. His generosity of spirit, his
faith, his kindness, courage, and convictions all combine to make
one very attractive man with a passionate heart that not many people
see. He allows me, indeed encourages me, to be truly myself and
to be as creative as the Lord will allow me to be.
I long to give him the same and more in return. He is my best
friend, my husband, and always my soul-mate.
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• OUR
SAN FRANCISCO RECEPTION •
To
celebrate our marriage, we enjoyed the company of 65 beloved Bay
Area friends on Friday, December 29, over a Middle Eastern dinner
at Promised Land Fellowship in San Francisco (1661 Market Street
and Gough). This was a sweet time of camaraderie, humor,
and warmth with friends from Steve’s church and work life
in San Francisco. Beverly enjoyed meeting many of them for
the first time. Promised Land Fellowship is the body of Christ
on Market Street in San Francisco that has meant much to Steve,
and where he has found loving brothers and sisters in Christ that
have encouraged him in his growth.
• OUR
MOVE TO RALEIGH •
Before
we married, Beverly lived in Cary sharing a condo with her sister
Joyce Richardson, and Steve lived in San Francisco sharing a flat
with his friend and brother in Christ, Tim Medlin. Steve
lived in San Francisco for over 20 years, from 1986 to 2006, and
Beverly lived in Cary and Raleigh for the past 25 years. On
December 30, Steve moved from San Francisco to join his beloved
Beverly in Raleigh
• OUR
RALEIGH RECEPTION •
We
are planning to honor our East Coast friends with a reception/celebration
at William B. Umstead State Park on May 5. This will be a
chance for Beverly’s friends, family, and Steve to get to
know each other, and celebrate our marriage with us. We are
arranging for a Southern-style pig pickin’ and have reserved
a large shelter nestled in this lovely wooded park.
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