Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
JAMES 1:2-4
Barbara and I have fond memories of our honeymoon. We began in Houston, staying at the Warwick Hotel. We dined and danced and were delighted as we glided silently in an elevator with a view of the skyline. Then we journeyed to the Rocky Mountains, where we stayed in a cabin on the White River, camped at 8,000 feet (we nearly froze), fished, explored and took pictures of the aspens in their fall glory. Although we’ve since traveled all over the world, that adventure remains one of our favorite experiences.
That’s definitely not true for every honeymooning couple, however. After hearing several stories of “honeymoons gone bad,” I’ve determined that ours couldn’t have gone much better. I don’t want to frighten you, but I do want to prepare you for the fact that honeymoon experiences often don’t quite match expectations.
Everyone wants the perfect wedding and the perfect honeymoon, but real life has a way of editing human dreams and sometimes turning them into something, well, less than perfect. We asked our online readers to send us stories of bad honeymoon experiences, and they replied with some of the worst horror stories we’ve ever read.
Sickness was a common theme—stomach problems, migraine headaches and just plain exhaustion were common ailments suffered after the hectic days and weeks leading up to the wedding. One bride described how she woke up early on her wedding day with terrible stomach problems, fell back asleep and awoke only two hours before the ceremony. Then she was so weak that her father had to hold her up as they walked up the aisle. Two days later she was admitted to a hospital and had her gall bladder removed.
Then there was the wife who nearly ran over her husband with a boat while he was on a jet ski. Her boat did slice his foot open, and she was so upset that she could barely drive him to the hospital. “I didn’t completely lose it,” she wrote, “until we got to the hospital; and while he was being treated, I ended up on the gurney next to him, dry heaving, light headed, and dizzy. The doctor working on his 17 stitches assured my husband that I wouldn’t be reacting this way if I didn’t really love him.”
There also was the groom who came down with three types of food poisoning during their honeymoon in Cancun. And the couple that fell asleep while soaking up the rays at a beach resort—and got so sunburned, they spent the next three days in their room, unable to wear clothing or do anything! Then there was the couple who went online to book a peaceful, secluded cabin, only to learn it was “smack-dab in the middle of a major chicken-farming area.” Because of the cabin’s location, the smell of chickens was pervasive: “The outside of the cabin smelled. The inside of it smelled. The smell was unmistakable and unavoidable.”
Perhaps the most unusual story came from the couple who, at the end of their honeymoon, were depositing money at a bank that turned out was being robbed at the same time. (Apparently it was a quiet robbery!) Their car was mistakenly identified as the getaway vehicle, and police pulled them over as suspects. They were both handcuffed, and three officers aimed weapons at the young bride. They were eventually released when a witness cleared them.
I guess that these unfortunate couples learned very quickly that a honeymoon is often very different from what had been expected. Most of us would choose not to encounter trials like this during a honeymoon, but I found it interesting that many of these readers look back on their honeymoon horror stories as valuable lessons for their marriages. For example, the woman who had her gall bladder removed said she and her husband now realize it was “part of God’s plan to help us cope with some of the trials that our marriage has gone through during the past 36 years, and to learn to trust in Him during these times.”
James 1:2-4 tells us that we should “count it all joy” when we experience trials, because the testing of our faith produces steadfastness. And that’s a character quality that we need to exhibit in marriage. This was abundantly clear to a woman who told the story of being stuck for hours at night on a Hawaiian road, waiting for a landslide to be cleared: At the time there was nothing positive or funny about the situation. However, today we are both able to look back and have a good laugh, as well as see that we were given a taste right off the bat to what real marriage would look like—roadblocks, rain and potential for blame. But we persevered and learned to tackle our problems together.
In addition to seeing God at work in your circumstances, use your honeymoon to begin to develop a good sense of humor about unmet expectations and unusual situations. Over your lifetime together, you’ll need it! (Send your “epic” honeymoon story to my Facebook page or to Dennis-Rainey@familylife.com.)
Discuss