Ferguson couple ties the knot after home burns

FERGUSON, Mo. (Christian Examiner) -- Amid a shower of rice and celebratory wedding cake, Sharonda Williams and Calvin Taylor Dec. 12 received the key to an apartment as a wedding gift after a ceremony by members of a Billy Graham Evangelisitc Associaiton Rapid Response Team.

"Who knew other than God that we would be involved in a wedding," Jeff Naber, head of the chaplains, told Christian Examiner.

On the ground in Ferguson about two weeks, just a quarter of a mile from where Michael Brown was killed by a police officer in August – Naber said chaplains met a homeless family of seven after an electrical fire destroyed their nearby home.

After chaplains talked to them about resources they needed – the couple, together nine years, re-committed their lives to Christ and asked about how they could get married.

"We offered the location," Naber said, "and only as God could, there are beautiful skies and no wind today."

Describing a marked change from the overcast skies and freezing temperatures of previous days, Naber said the weather change might indicate what's ahead for the community as well.

"It's an example of the Good News God has in store," he said. A local church arranged a wedding gift of an apartment.

So in Ferguson on Dec. 12, in a parking lot marked off by balloons and streamers, a bouquet-bearing bride walked out from the BGEA Rapid Response Team mobile command unit. She walked down the steps while 50 supporters cheered.

The bride and her beloved exchanged vows and were pronounced man and wife by chaplain José Aguayo.

"And the rice was everywhere," Naber said.

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