Tag Archives: marriage

Marriage Vow

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This song is adapted from an upcoming collaborative project with Anthony Marchetta, and also commemorated my twenty-first wedding anniversary last week. (a new version of the video with improved audio has now been uploaded

Options for downloading or listening via major online stores and streaming services can be found here as soon as they become available:

https://song.link/MarriageVow

Lyrics, Melody, arrangement, vocals, mixing and video editing by Ben Zwycky.

Czech subtitles are also available, translated by Petr Mares.

Marriage Vow

When two souls are joined as one,
The wise are moved to tears,
For they foresee the blessings
That will flow down through the years.

The bonds of love we treasure
And honour all our lives
Repay us without measure;
Through love our souls revive.

This is my marriage vow
That I’m declaring now,
Before the people here,
As they applaud and cheer:

I promise faithfulness,
And utter openness,
To heal our brokenness
With playful tenderness;

I’ll always stay with you,
Faithfully pray with you,
Whatever trials may come,
We’ll work to overcome.

You are my joy,
You are my peace,
In the shelter of your heart I find release.

We’ll raise our children
To love the Lord,
To know His Word and stand up to the world.

When we get tired
As we grow old,
Your love will still mean more to me than gold.

When two souls are joined as one,
The wise are moved to tears,
For they foresee the blessings
That will flow down through the years.

Manželský slib

Když se dvě duše spojí v jednu,
moudrým vstoupí slzy do očí.
Vidí, že zde pramení požehnání,
Pro řadu nadcházejících let.

Když je nám pouto lásky vzácné
A ctíme ho celý svůj život,
Naše odměna je nezměrná.
Láska dá život naší duši.

Toto je manželský slib,
Jímž se zde dnes zavazuji,
Před všemi těmi lidmi,
Co nám tu tleskají a radují se.

Chci slíbit věrnost
A úplnou otevřenost,
Jež zahojí naše rány
Hravou něžností.

Zůstanu vždy při tobě,
Budu se s tebou věrně modlit,
Ať nás potká jakákoli zkouška,
Společně v ní obstojíme.

Jsi mou radostí,
Jsi mým pokojem,
Ve skrytu tvého srdce se cítím volný.

Společně vychováme děti
v lásce k našemu Pánu,
aby znaly jeho Slovo a dokázaly čelit světu.

A až budeme jednou unavení,
Až přijde stáří,
I pak pro mě bude tvoje láska cennější nad zlato.

Když se dvě duše spojí v jednu,
moudrým vstoupí slzy do očí.
Vidí, že zde pramení požehnání,
Pro řadu nadcházejících let.

How did I deserve to know?

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Today is my wedding anniversary. Here is this year’s poem:


How did I deserve to know?

How did I deserve to know
A girl that’s so good for my soul,
With wisdom, passion, kindness, love
That I am so unworthy of?

It’s such a joy to wipe your tears,
Discuss your thoughts, your hopes, your fears,
For these eventful, treasured years
That we have been as one.

So with His strength and with His heart
Until it’s our time to depart
We reinforce these bonds of love
That fit us better than a glove,

To face the world and all its whims,
To cleanse our hearts of all their sins
And teach our children to become
Strong enough to overcome

The storms that surely will one day
Sweep across their narrow way
To purify them to their core
As they prepare for evermore.

More Than Just My Best Friend

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Today is the anniversary of the first time I contacted my wife. Here is this years’ poem:

More Than Just My Best Friend

You’re more than just my best friend, the bond that we both share
Is precious as the sunrise and glorious fresh air.
You’ve joined to me for life with your most solemn guarantee
And yet I often fall far short of what my role should be:

I forget the things you treasure, and miss the warning signs
That you’re struggling to cope and I need to invest time
In listening and sharing in the burdens that you bear
And showing in my stumbling ways that I still truly care

Whatever chaos this world sends, together we’ll push through,
I’ll look for little ways to demonstrate I still love you
The many things we can’t control that tempt our hearts to quail
With His strength we’ll overcome, His purpose never fails.

Though sometimes we won’t understand, we know that we can trust
That He will work things for our good, He’s merciful and just.
So as we talk and pray and live together each new day
We ask for wisdom that we need to walk the narrow way.

Where does the wonder come from?

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wedding2It is my fifteenth wedding anniversary today, here is this year’s poem:

Where does the wonder come from?

Where does the wonder come from
That fills me as I think of you?
The privilege I have to share your life,
And know you love to share mine, too?

What can I be, what can I see
And share with you to lift your soul?
What can I learn, how can I grow,
And through your pain with love console?

What does our Lord require of us,
We two upon a path for one?
To unify our hearts and toils;
To calmly rest, with glee to run,

With overflowing joy take flight
And soar up to the healing light
That guides us through the passing night
Aflame with glory, clothed in might.

In daily troubles, trials and tears
Through precious days, weeks, months and years,
Cling to Him and thus together
Bind by an unbreaking tether.

United we can go and face
All challenges along the race
To win the great eternal prize
That He has set before our eyes.

Fourteen Years a Hero

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It is my wedding anniversary today, and this is this year’s poem (my wife actually forgot it was our anniversary until I told her the poem was ready last night, so there are some bonus brownie points for me 🙂 )

Fourteen Years a Hero

Fourteen years a hero, for putting up with me,
And all we do that nearly drives you to insanity:
Noises, fights, and interruptions, not to mention screams;
Sometimes even so bad they’re invading your sweet dreams.

I’d like to think that other times can make your burdens light,
With kindnesses and cuddles and sometimes a such sweet sight
Of learning a new lesson, training a new skill;
Overcoming barriers through pure determined will.

Could I be part of making each day easier for you?
Sharing all your burdens, helping you get through,
Offering my shoulder for those times you need to cry
Or standing by your side as we enjoy a star-filled sky.

Here’s to forty more years of our love and unity,
Through joy and sorrow, times of plenty and of scarcity,
You are the greatest friend I’ve had, we make such a good team,
Together we reflect a glimpse of heaven’s holy gleam.

How I Came to be a Married Man – the Quiz!

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Earlier this week a friend of mine noticed a minor note in my author bio and thought that how I met my wife must be a ‘cute story’. Now you, my dear readers, have the chance to decide for yourself what sort of story it is, perhaps even entertain yourselves in the process and most of all gaze in wonder at my rudimentary webpage building skills!

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Love Story Quiz!

(Before clicking the link below, please update your browser to the latest version, or it’ll either show you all the answers before you start, or never show you any of them at all. I know for a fact it works fine in Google Chrome, since that updates itself automatically.)

To the Quiz!

Caleb and Sara

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Two of my friends got married today, here is a poem I wrote them for the occasion (the ‘ornament’ was a chocolate fountain) :

Caleb and Sara

Two gleaming souls have made a choice
To become one today,
But how this union came about?
I really cannot say.

I’m sure they would quite happily
Recount the tale for you;
Of smiles and hints that something more
Than friendship was in view. Continue reading →