They are young and in love. Today, May 24th, is there wedding day. They have committed themselves to each other for life. They have promised to encourage each other in their relationship with the Lord, support each other through highs and lows and to pursue the whole relationship package referred to in their vows as “this intimacy” only with each other.
They first got to know each other working with a Christian bus ministry two summers ago, between Bill’s freshman and sophomore year of college. They easily became friends and really enjoyed each other’s company. On one hand, Karen was very interested, on the other she was a bit nervous. So nervous that when Bill asked her out on a date towards the latter part of the summer, she simply said “no” and did not talk to him much for a while. Bill was crushed, but he survived the few weeks it took her to change her mind. She did not even run away when he showed up for their first date wearing totally geeky clothes and driving a borrowed car with a bad starter. He even had to jump start the car after stalling it out in the middle of the intersection. But Karen could tell that Bill was a big spender; he used a whole week’s pay at dinner that night, a whopping $20!
After the summer was over, Bill and Karen worked on friendship. They were both going to school and serving on the Campus Ministries Leadership Team. The more time they spent together, the sweeter things were. But they were just friends. At least that is what they told each other repeatedly to help keep things in perspective. They never referred to each other as boyfriend and girlfriend, simply as “best friends.” Sometimes their other friends would laugh at that, because they knew that this was not your typical friendship, but they would go along with it.
In November of Bill’s junior year, the friendship went to the next level. They skipped from “just friends” to “just got engaged.” Bill tried to be all slick with the proposal, thinking that he could really surprise Karen. After all, he had told her at some point in the last year that he was not planning on getting married for quite a while. They had not directly talked about getting married and had not hinted around it either. After all, they were “just friends.” So Bill was confident that he could surprise her when they went to the sit at the beach. When he popped out the ring, she was surprised just enough to be speechless for a few moments. Bill got worried and finally asked “you can take time to think about it if you want.” But apparently she already had been thinking about it, and because Bill can’t pull anything over on her, she already suspected that he was going to pop the question. Thankfully, she said yes before Bill had a nervous breakdown right there on Palm Beach.
So here we are six months later. The summer before Bill’s senior year of college. Don’t expect an fancy ceremony or an expensive reception. These two are young and have no parental bankroll. In fact, there will simply be mints. nuts, punch and cake at the reception (much to the chagrin of a few hard drinkers in the crowd). The ceremony itself should be nice, a friend has written a song, Bill and Karen wrote their own vows, and a great group of people will be gathered. They are driving off after the reception for a week long honeymoon to secret locations (OK, I will tell you that they are driving to various places in their current home state Florida to relax and enjoy each other’s company). After that, they will be back to work and school, and will move in their third story apartment in the seedy part of town.
Please pray for them. They want to honor God in their marriage. They want to strengthen each other. They want their newly formed family to be healthy and have a positive impact on the people they encounter.
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Special note to Karen from Bill: (The rest of you may read it also but don't get confused. I am not calling you babe.)
Hey babe, if you see this before I get off of work today, Happy 25th Anniversary! I wish we could be together but I am glad we will be soon. I look forward to finally being reunited with you in TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY! We will have a belated celebration of our first 25 years. I am looking forward to the next 25 my love.
