What is your Savior?

"But now thus says the Lord, He who created you, O Jacob,
He who formed you, O Israel:
“ Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior."
Isaiah 43:1-3a

As Christians, when we are faced with difficult times we are faced with a choice. Who or what will our Savior be? The danger that Christians fall into is that we are often offered a functional savior in place of the real One. The functional savior of choice of many Christians today is food. So many of our other functional saviors have been identified as evil, but food has been given the blessing of the church pitch in. Biblically, eating together was an intimate thing, and food played a center role in the Bible. However, many of us have moved past what God intended as good, and have learned how to use it to manage emotions and stress.

When a young woman is dumped by a boyfriend, the cliche response is to eat a quart of ice cream while watching sappy movies. This is an example of seeking to manage feelings through food. Instead of dealing with feelings, and taking them to our Savior, we turn to another savior to temporarily deal with them. There are large number of women, and a growing number of men, who have been diagnosed with an eating disorder, and it is quite common for many people to turn to food for a temporary fix for their feelings. This can especially be a danger to those in ministry, who tend to deal with pressure, burdens for their flock, and attacks. Rather than deal with those feelings by going to the Lord, they turn to the functional savior of food to manage those feelings.

At the other end of the spectrum is a growing tendency to manage feelings through health. Eating right and regular exercise are important for taking care of our bodies, and also for dealing with stress. However, when that becomes the functional savior we have once again turned away from the real Savior. There is the real danger that we begin to rely on our own strength, that we developed in the gym, for dealing with the difficult things.

Health and taking care of our bodies is an important thing. We must not make food our god, and we must not make our health our god. We should be good stewards of what God has entrusted us with, including our health. Any time that things begin to get out of balance we need to go to the Lord and seek to understand how we have gotten out of balance. We must seek to find where we have created functional saviors instead of going to the real One. If our health is getting out of balance, we need to examine whether we are turning food into a god, or if we are not taking the time to take care of ourselves. God has given us a wonderful gift in these miraculous bodies, and we have been called to take good care of them. We want to be able to be there for our families and flock, and we want to be able to do that for as many days as we can. The beginning of care begins with the heart, and seeking to understand the heart behind the decisions we make and the savior we are going to.

50 First Dates

So last night while working on wedding planning we watched “50 First Dates”. For those who haven’t seen the movie, Adam Sandler chases after Drew Barrymore. She was in a car accident that causes her memory to reset each night to the day of her accident. She remembers everything before that day, but wakes up every day only remembering what she knew up to that day. Adam Sandler falls in love with her and has to figure out how to pursue her, despite her forgetting who he is every night.

After the movie I was thinking about it. It would certainly be a challenging relationship. However, I think that relationship would also be blessed with some things that all of us would be blessed if we could do it.

What would it look like if every day I pursued my wife like I’m trying to win her love all over again? That each day I would do everything I could to win her heart, just like she woke up not remembering that I loved her and she loved me. It can be so easy to take the person you love for granted and just fall into a routine like you have a roommate. I remember hearing the story of an autistic child who told his mom that he loved her one day, and then didn’t say it again for years. Then one day she broke down and asked why he never told her he loved her. His reply was “I already told you that once, so you already knew.” I think many times we can approach love like that, we just assume that the other person knows and we go on with coexisting. But how would our relationships (not only with spouses, but with friends and other family) be transformed if each day we pursued that person in away that they would fall in love with us all over again?

The other thing that I really think we could learn from is forgetting the day before. Now it would be sad to forget all the good things, those certainly are worth holding onto. Drew Barrymore’s character kept a journal of all the good things she wanted to remember, because she knew she would forget. But what would it look like if every night we forgot the bad things? They were gone like they didn’t happen. No memory, a fresh start every day. God tells us “His mercies are new each day” and that love keeps no record of wrongs. How would our relationships be transformed if we held onto the good things in a way we would never forget, but quickly forgot the bad things? That’s called Grace folks.

I think those two things would absolutely transform our relationships with our spouses, as well as our friends and family. But that’s also how God pursues us. Each day God pursues us, desiring us to fall in love with Him all over again. Every day He wants us to choose Him and love Him as He loves us. Too often we aren’t paying attention. Each day God wipes His slate clean, that those who are covered by the blood of Jesus are made new. He has promised us that He will remember our sins no more. And the really cool thing about it, this doesn’t happen as a big accident. God chooses this each day. He has promised us this and each day He makes the conscious choice to pursue us madly and to forgive us of all we have done wrong.

I pray that I can choose to do that with my wife, my family, and my friends. I pray that I can pay attention to God pursuing me like that and respond by loving Him and embracing this beautiful gift He offers me.

Government and hope

Right now the election is a pretty frequent topic that comes up. The big
debate between McCain and Obama. Stickers and signs are everywhere, people
are choosing their sides. The future of our country, at least the next 4
years, is hanging in the balance and everyone has their firm belief about
who the best person is.
I've never really taken much interest in politics. In the past I've just
voted straight Republican, but in recent years I've moved more into a middle
ground. I'm still undecided about where I stand for this election. I plan
on taking time to do some research and find out where the candidates stand
on different issues. I look at both sides and I see some things I like
about each party. I don't believe in voting on just one issue, I think that
we have to look at the whole person. We probably won't find someone who
agrees with us 100%, so we have to find the one we agree with most.
I think the reason this is becoming such a big deal is that people are
looking around at this world and see that it's broken. The economy is
taking a nose dive, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan continues, the
environment has become a big issue, the genocide in Darfur, crime in our
cities, unemployment, and a million other things. We know this isn't how
it's supposed to be, and we want someone to fix it. Everyone is hoping
their candidate will be able to fix things, everyone is sure they have the
answer.
As a Christian, what should our attitude be? Traditionally many Christians
have taken the Republican side, but that has become less true of late. As
we look at the ethics of the Kingdom of God, neither party really fits.
Whether it's abortion, war, social justice, the environment, capital
punishment, welfare, health care, or a lot of other hot button issues,
neither party has fully taken a stand on what has traditionally been the
Christian viewpoint on those issues. So what are we to do? I think as
Christians, we have to look at where our hope lies and take a look at what
God's Word tells us about these things.
Throughout the Bible, the relationship between God's people and government
has been an interesting one. At times the governments were fully on God's
side, at times the governments were totally against God. God placed Joseph
in pharoh's government to advance His people and save them from famine. He
used David to fully establish a physical kingdom dedicated to God on earth.
God used government leaders such as Daniel and Nehemiah to help His people
in times of hardship. Yet Egypt was a horrible oppressor, Saul rebelled
against God, Solomon played for both teams, and the kings of Judah and
Israel were a mixture of good and evil. Nebekaneezer, Cyrus, and Darius
were all evil kings, though Darius did allow the Israelites to return to
their native land. Pontius Pilate has God Himself nailed to a cross. I
think the important thing in all these cases is that God was in control of
all of those leaders. Romans 13 tells us that "there is no authority except
from God, and those which exist are establish by God". So whether good or
evil, God put that person in place for a reason and He had control over
them. Yes, that does create difficulties as we examine why people like
Adolf Hitler were put in power by God, but I'm not going to touch that one
right now. However, this should give us comfort that whichever leader is in
place, God is still in control. He still reigns over all rulers of the
earth, and all things are at His command.
I think we do need to take a good look at where our hope is placed. While
God has used the governments of the earth for His purposes, I don't see
anywhere in the Bible that God designated the government as our hope.
Instead, God has called His people into His Kingdom, which He desires to
establish on earth. When God created Israel He did so by calling people out
of other lands to establish a new kingdom in His name. While His people
lived for a time among other peoples, He eventually called them into a land
of their own. God desired for them to be His people, dedicated to Him, and
He would be their God. Unfortunately, those people hardened their heart to
God and they desired to be like the other kingdoms around them. Those
kingdoms stole God's people away and they became a part of those idolitrous
nations. When Jesus came, He did so to reestablish God's Kingdom on earth.
Not as a physical location or formed government, but in people's hearts.
That, even though we lived among the other people, we would be distinct from
them. We would not live the way people in the world's kingdoms lived, but
we would live with God has our leader. I think that is what is important to
Christians today. Who do we seek to lead us? Who will save us from this
broken world and fix what is wrong? When we look to human leaders, we are
placing God sized problems on the shoulders of men. God wants to be our
Savior, He desires to fix this broken world and make His Kingdom on earth.
That still leaves us with a jacked up world, what are we to do? God's Word
shows us that God can, and does, use the governments of this world for His
purposes. However, God's Word also shows us that His agent for establishing
His Kingdom on earth is the Church. The Church, the people of God's
Kingdom, has been given the privledge of sharing God's Glory with the earth.
We are His agents, His ambassidors, for bringing His hope, His peace, and
His goodness to others. We are the ones that God wants to help the poor and
suffering. We are the ones that God wants to fight injustice with. We are
the ones that God wants to bring love to the lonely and heartbroken. We are
the ones that He wants to use to save this broken world. Unfortunately,
many Christians look to the government to fix these problems. We don't want
to deal with the inner city, so we ask the government to develop programs.
We don't want to help the sick, so we send them to hospitals and clinics.
We don't want to help the destitute, so we send them to welfare and
unemployment. God asked us to be His Body, physically represent Him, on
earth, and we are trying to pass on the stuff we don't like. But we have
the opportunity to be Jesus to a broken world, that is how God wants to deal
with this jacked up planet.
I do believe that Christians should vote and make their voice heard to the
government. Even Moses appealed to Pharoh to address the issue of slavery.
However, as a Christian our hope should not be in our elected government
officials. They have a role to play, and God will use them. But we have a
role to play also. As God's people we should be establishing outposts for
His Kingdom on earth, and letting others know of the hope we have in Jesus.
Each of us has a role to play in that, not just the paid "ministry" people.
Each person can take up some way to speak up for the Kingdom of God. Some
Christians may be called to be active in the government, from president all
the way down to local government. All of us can get involved in our local
neighborhood to bring God's Goodness there. Some may be called to go to
Sudan or China to bring God's Kingdom. Some may just go to a normal job and
bring God's Kingdom there. Whatever it may be, we each have a role in
bringing hope to a fallen world. Our government officials have a role in
that, but it is a small part compared to what God wants to do with the
Church, His chosen people.

The Dark Knight

Last night Julie and I went to see "The Dark Knight". It was a darker movie than I tend to enjoy, and I'm not sure that I'd say I enjoyed it, but I was reminded of some important things that I tend to try to pretend don't exist.

Heath Ledger did an amazing job playing the part of The Joker. He's the kind of character that people walk out of the theater saying "I'm glad that isn't real." The scary thing is, that kind of evil is all too real. Satan's greatest deception is to get people to believe that he doesn't exist. Satan is much more evil than The Joker, but he is often more subtle than that. Satan has no motivation for his evil than just the destruction of the people God loves. There have been times and cultures where Satan could cause people to fall by making himself know, but today most of the time the best way to get people to fall is just to get people to believe that there is no God or devil. The movie was a great reminder of what real evil can look like. We have a enemy like that, though much more sly and much more evil.

Batman is always portrayed as a tormented figure. There is a sense of justice and vengence, but not as the cost of becoming that which he fights against. Where he does well as a Christ figure is that he has the position of someone much more important than a crime fighter, but he sets aside that identity to seek justice for the oppressed. He fights evil, but is not willing to compromise his own integrity to do so. He knows there is a line that separates him from good and evil, and he is not willing to step over that line even if it would make things easier.

One of the more subtle lessons I found was idolitry. We see that Harvey Dent and Bruce Wayne both love Rachel. She is an object of passion for both of them. How they respond when faced with the loss of her makes the difference between love and making her an idol. When faced with the possible loss of the woman he loves, Bruce Wayne looks at the choice he has to make between the woman he loves and the man he believes can rescue Gotham from evil. Bruce makes the choice to sacrifice the woman he loves in order to bring justice to the city he loves. When Harvey loses the woman he loves, he also loses himself. He chooses to set aside his own love of justice, which was shared by the woman he loves, and seek vengence against those who took the thing he loved. When Bruce Wayne was faced with the loss, he chose goodness over the woman he loved and he never compromised who he was in order to save what he loved. When Harvey Dent faced this choice, he choose evil and compromised who he was because his idol had been taken with him. If Rachel had survived to the end of the movie, which man would she had seen as a man of character and love? Bruce was wasn't willing to compromise his goodness for what he loved, Harvey compromised who he was for the sake of what he wanted. Harvey didn't understand what love was.

Not my most coherent thoughts, but it's early on a Saturday morning.

Husbands and Wives

"Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— for we are members of his body." Ephesians 5:21-30

So as I prepare to become a husband, I am learning much about this passage that Paul shared with the people of Ephesus. There are many who hate this passage, as it has been used to abuse so many women and cause much harm in marriages. However, that was not Paul's intent when he wrote this letter. In fact, it was quite the opposite.

Julie has been going through a difficult time lately. Some deep wounds from her past have been opened and it has been hard for her. At times she feels bad because she feels like she is hurting me, or she becomes afraid that because of some of the things that have come to the surface that I might run away from her. However, as I have seen the pain the woman I love has been going through the opposite has happened. I see the woman I love hurting and I want to comfort her and protect her. I want to fight for her heart and stand next to her as she goes through this difficult time. I have found that I consider it a joy, honor, and privilege to be by her side through this. You see, I get to be Jesus to her.

So imagine that one day Tony Dungy calls you up and says "Hey, Peyton can't plan in the game on Sunday. Can you fill in for him?" I imagine that most people would jump at the chance. Well, in a sense God called me up and said "Hey Ben, Jesus is kinda busy trying to work on that nightmare in Darfur. He knows that Julie is hurting and in need of help. Can you cover for Jesus?" What an honor to go as a representative of Jesus. That was what Paul meant when he called husbands to love their wives as Christ loves the church. God has called men to be Jesus to their wives. Now that's a pretty high calling for men, and men are not typically well known for knowing how to handle a woman's heart. That's why God gave us the Holy Spirit, He knew that men needed God in them to do what the men couldn't do on their own. But men need to have the heart of loving and serving their wife, protecting them and honoring them and being Jesus to them. And because God has entrusted the hearts of their wives to them, we are going to be held accountable for how we cared for their hearts. While we speak of giving our hearts to our loved one, in truth they are just on loan. Julie's heart does not fully belong to me, it belongs to God and He has entrusted it to my care. Some day I have to give her heart back to God when He calls her home to be with Him. I'm going to have to answer about how I cared for her heart. If I have abused and mistreated it, God will not be happy with me. But if I have honored and protected it, I not only will have the joy of God saying to me "well done good and faithful servant", I also get the joy of experiencing everything Julie's whole and healed heart has to offer. So more than anything, I want to protect and honor and care for Julie's heart in every way that I can. As her heart goes through this healing process, it is my joy to walk with her through this. I get to be Jesus to her, I get to love her, I get to be a part of God working in her life, I get the joy of sharing in her healed heart once God has taken her through this healing process.

As to the "wives submit to your husbands" part that is abused and hated, I think it is viewed that way because not enough men have loved their wives correctly. If a woman knew that her heart was totally loved, cherished, protected, and safe, then she would trust her husband. Especially because the husband did not act in his own best interest, but in the interest of his wife.

I really believe that the foundational passage for marriage is actually Philippians 2:1-8

"If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!"

If a husband and wife truly became one, always putting the other ahead of themselves, then we would be following the example of Christ and how He loved the church. Loving your spouse is not about getting what you want, but seeking the best for the other. It's about being Jesus to each other. So often we see that as a duty, but if we are loving with Christ's love then we find joy in that.

I'm still new at this stuff and still figuring it out. I know that I'm not always going to be perfect in loving. But as I watch my bride to be, my heart longs to love her as Jesus loves her, to see God's power work in her that she would be healed and whole and experiencing all that God has created her to be. It's my honor and privilege to be by her side, to get a front row seat to seeing the Glory of God at work in her life.

Defining Ourselves

We all seek to come up with a definition for ourselves. We search for some kind of identity so that when we meet someone new we can give them some kind of definition about who we are and our place in the world. Maybe we are known as the die hard Colts fan. Maybe we are known as the pious religious person. Maybe we are the best kayaker in the world. Maybe we are the person suffering from cancer. Whatever it is, we search for some identity to define who we are so that people know our place in the world. However, after a while these definitions truly do begin to define us. We find that we don't know what to do if that definition is threatened. What happens when the team we identify with comes in last place for the season? What happens when our religious appearance is found to be a cover for shameful things? What happens when someone else kayaks a more extreme river? The problem with the definitions we come up with ourselves is that we have to defend those definitions. We have to prove we deserve to be defined with that title. We find that we have to defend that identity as something worth identifying with. If we don't defend that identity, then we have no worth. So we must defend our identity at all costs.

Our identity can create a prison for us. If we define ourselves as a failure, then we will never believe we can succeed. If we define ourselves as an angry person, it's only natural that we're going to be angry. If we define ourselves as an unloved person, we will never be able to allow anyone to love us. If we define ourselves as a reject, we'll never be accepted. I think in this issue lies one of the great failures of those who follow Jesus Christ in loving those who struggle with homosexuality. (saying this as an ignorant outsider) it appears that many of those who struggle with homosexuality identify themselves as gay. It reaches the place where they identify themselves with their sin, so when Christians make strong claims denouncing the sin, they denounce the people who identify themselves that way. This also becomes the prison that keeps them from walking away from sin, because it means they have to walk away from their identity. I think Christians need to take a stand against all sin, and not just focus on one or two that have been identified as the worst. All have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God, let's stop picking on just a few.

When Jesus came to save us, it wasn't merely to get an entrance pass to Heaven. He came that we may have life in this world, and that we would experience life as He meant for us to have when He placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. He also came that we may have a new identity. Not a fragile one that we have to defend and fight for, but one in which He gives us an identity that He has created for us. We don't have to defend this identity because we didn't choose it. We didn't receive this identity because of anything we did or anything we do. We simply receive this identity for accepting the gift of life that Jesus offered us when He purchased our lives on the Cross. As we accept this identity, it forms who we are. Our heart is transformed to live out that new identity. Our life changes such that we stop worrying about protecting our identity and we fully live out our identity. Our other identities fall away and lose their hold on us. We may be able to enjoy the things that came with that identity, but they do not control us. The sin we identified with falls away. The fear of losing our identity falls away. We are able to live life without worrying about what other people think of us or how they define us, because we are defined by Someone greater than us, greater than them, and greater than the world.We would view this world so differently if we knew our identity. It would change our lives.

We also have to know the identity of Him who defines us. Many times our failure as those who follow Jesus is that our God is too small. We think of God as the eternal party pooper, out to ruin any kind of fun. Or we think of God as angry and vengeful. Or we think of Jesus as the first century version of Mr. Rogers. We need to know who God really is, because if we really knew who God was then we wouldn't be afraid of trusting Him with defining who we are and allowing Him to form us into who He created us to be.

Our problem isn't that our definition of ourselves is too big, our problem is that our definition of ourselves is too small. We have sought a lead role in the play and it turns out that we've chosen to be the pimply faced kid working the concession stand in the lobby. We still want to think we're important and valuable, but the popcorn is too expensive and we'll be replaced by someone else next week anyway. God wants to offer us a part in the play. He won't give us the lead role, that is His position and He's best at it. But He wants to bring us into the story and allow us to play an important role.

Engagement Story!

Friday night Julie and I got engaged!

Here's the basic story of how things played out:

April 4 my dad and I drove down to Vincennes, Indiana to see my cousin-in-law, Travis Piper, who happens to be a jeweler. Julie was going to see a Carrie Underwood concert with Emily, and then was going to come over to my place Saturday morning for some kayaking that weekend. Travis helped me pick out a ring, and my cousin Andrea was there with their new baby. My dad was happy to get to hold baby Dayton. While Travis was sizing the ring, I get this text message from Julie that says "Why do I have a feeling that you are being sneaky? :)" My dad and I realize that we are busted and we work on a cover story.

Fast forward 2 weeks, Julie is supposed to spend Saturday and Sunday with her best friend, Michelle, who is getting married in October and Julie is maid of honor. So Friday I drive down to Newport, Kentucky (across the Ohio from Cincinnati) and we spend the afternoon at the
aquarium and just hanging out. Afterwards I was supposed to drive back to Indy just to chill at home for the weekend. However, Julie didn't know that I drove to Dayton so that Saturday I could meet with her parents, her twin brother, and her house church leaders to ask for
their blessing in asking Julie's hand in marriage. I had wonderful conversations with each of them and went home feeling very blessed and encouraged by them.

So by this time Julie is getting excited and thinks she knows something is coming, and I'm excited and have had a ring burning a hole in my pocket. But before I even bought the ring I had already picked out the time and the place. We were to go whitewater rafting on the Lower New River near Fayetteville, West Virginia on May 3. That just seemed like a great time for it. Then after getting home from Dayton the weekend before I bought the ring, I remembered
something. Three years ago I had spent a week out in West Virginia as a vacation/spiritual retreat. I had gone out to a place called Diamond Point to watch the sunset, and while there I had spent some time with God and had journaled some. God reminded me about this time
and I knew that this journal entry was meant for this moment. So West Virginia it was.

So getting ready for going to West Virginia I had to figure out the best way to get her out to this place and set things up. I decided to avoid making it complicated, we had a couple of friends ride out with us. I filled in Steve on the plans, but I didn't fill in Jaime. I also asked one of our kayaking friends to join us for the moment. I stressed all week about whether we were going to get to West Virginia before it was dark. Plan B was to take her out there Saturday night, but there was a 70% chance of thunderstorms. Plan C was to take her out there Sunday morning for the sunrise. So I got off work at 11:15 on Friday and drove over to pick Steve up. We took off for Dayton and got there early. It took a bit to load up, but we took off for West
Virginia and I'm praying we get there in time. We made really good time to West Virginia and got there at about 6:30. For the most part I was managing to play it cool, though my worry came out a few times here and there. We met up with Barry, our kayaking friend, at the
trail head and took off for Diamond Point. We arrived and all took time to enjoy the view. Barry and Steve knew the plan, so they wandered off. It took a moment to get Jaime to give us some time, but she joined the guys and we had a moment alone.

We sat on a rock overlooking the New River Gorge and watched for a moment. Then I pulled out the paper and asked if I could share with her something I had written 3 years before. I read it to her, and my voice was pretty shaky. I finished and she said she loved it and asked if she could keep it, she didn't realize what was going on. I ignored her question and told her that I had known she was the one I wanted to spend my life with since our date at Splashin' Safari, and that her parents, her brother, and her house church leaders had given their blessing. I pulled her to her feet, and away from the edge of the cliff, and got down on one knee and asked her to marry me. She said yes! We shared a moment of hugging (we're saving our first kiss
for our wedding day) and just held each other. After a while the others joined us, and Julie and Jaime went nuts. We took some pictures, tried to recreate the scene for the camera, and just
celebrated for a bit. Then we hiked back and went to dinner.

Some fun things that don't really fit in the story, but are worth sharing:

A couple of weeks before I asked her, she had mentioned that she might pass out when I asked her. So I had to make sure she was away from the edge of the cliff when I asked.

I was worried that it would be impossible to get the ring off her finger for rafting, so I bought her a fake ring to wear on the river. This was Sarah's idea, and a good one.

I think my favorite moment of excitement was on the river she's asking me whether I liked candy apple red or sage green for her colors, right as we're coming up on a Class IV rapid.

Conclusion:

I am so blessed that Julie is going to be my wife. She is an incredible woman of beauty, intelligence, character, love, mercy, and grace. Most of all I see that she is a godly woman who lives out her faith in a way that touches the life of each person she meets, especially me. I am unworthy of her love, and I pray that God will teach me how to love her well. I am excited about our future together and I look forward to knowing her more each day.

I also want to say thanks to all the people who have been such a blessing to us. To all the people who have helped shape Julie into the incredible woman she is, and who continue to encourage her and support her as she continues to grow into who God created her to be. Also, to all the people who have supported me and blessed me as God has continued to grow me and shape me. The most important people in our lives, after Jesus Christ, are our friends.

Above all, we pray that our relationship is a testimony to Jesus Christ and His work in our lives. That He is the foundation of our lives and our relationship. God has worked in each of our lives in ways that has transformed us, and we know that He has authored our love story. Our prayer, and we ask each of you to pray, that He would continue to be the center of our lives and our relationship until we go to be with Him some day. We also pray that our lives can be used to show all those we love, those who believe and those who don't, that Jesus Christ is real, that He loves us, and that we have a Hope that is greater than anything this world has to offer.

We love you all!