Lately Jen and I have been desperately trying to make time to set aside for ourselves to catch up on life and all that is happening in it and to simply just 'be' with each other.
Tomorrow night will be the first time we've had any extended time alone (not planning the wedding since I proposed). And the reason for this hiatus from planning is the celebration of three years of dating which is already laying a portion of the foundation that will be our marriage and one day (God willing) a full family. These days of celebration are always wonderful events... and they almost never happened. That's right, Jen was not always convinced that I was worth marrying - hard to believe for most of you I know. And believe you me, I was shocked to find out as well. Luckily this was well beyond the point of when I'd fallen for her. But I digress... let me take you back.
While living in AZ planting a church Jen and I regularly kept in touch. We often emailed about our days, our churches, what God was doing in and around us. The encouraging stories she would share of Ann Arbor and the fight the church there was in with the city in order to become a powerful presence there stirred in my heart. And I think likewise Jen was inspired by my willingness to become poor, to leave everything I knew and help start a church with people I barely knew.
Within that season of life, I found myself growing more curious of the person I knew Jen to be. As our conversations on the phone grew longer and more in depth - I also knew that I was wanting to make a move. However, being the coward I am, I somehow tricked her into confessing that she wished there was something more to "us" as well. With that bit of information I told her I needed to think about that before I said anything.
Needless to say she was a bit mystified by my reaction and a day later told me that she wasn't going to wait around forever and I better hurry and make a decision as to which direction this relationship was going to go... I was already booking a ticket to MI to see her in person to begin our relationship.
And I think much to her surprise I was standing on her parents' front steps when she pulled in the driveway from work. I gave her a huge hug and we awkwardly chatted a bit about my travel and the weather before heading out for coffee.
On the outdoor patio at Cosi in the Village in Rochester Hills, I told Jen I was wanting to pursue her, with the purpose of getting to know her, finding out what her heart was all about and how far she would be willing to chase Jesus with me. That day I gave her "the journal" already filled with a few pages of my thoughts that would become our life source while I was still in Arizona and later when she was away in Amsterdam. The stories, questions and extrapolations on life found in those pages some of our most cherished memories - and to this day there is still the constant argument over who gets to keep the journal for a while longer...
It's been three years since I worked up the courage to ask Jen to simply date me. It's been one month and eight days since I worked up the courage to ask for her hand in marriage... and as our counter shows, that on the date of this writing there are 95 days left before I will become her husband.
In the meantime, we will continue to share in our reading of the Psalms together (one a night up to our wedding day) and ask that you join us in praying for the future of our marriage and the purity of our hearts to live for our God and make him famous in us.
Blessings,
-Will
posted by Will @ 9:11 PM
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