Engaged!!

That's right!  Ya boy's engaged.  haha!!

At approximately 10:15pm on December 31st, 2012, Ms. Chelsey Nicholson said yes.  It was one of those moments that is indescribable.  Perfect.

Chelsey and I have known for a while now that marriage was on the way.  We've been talking about it for months, and she's even been planning some things early--gathering addresses for invitations, buying a dress, deciding her bridesmaids' attire, etc.  We are way ahead of the game!

So with the wedding so certain (and the tentative date closing in quickly), it was tough keeping the proposal a surprise.  Chelsey was starting to get a little antsy about the whole thing and actually asked me the day before I proposed I if I at least knew when I was gonna do it.  She was so happy when I told her I knew you would've thought I proposed to her right then!

So anyways, I had my whole thing prepped and ready to go.  I was gonna pop the question in the exact spot that I first met her.  For us, that first meeting happened at Promiseland Metro Church.  And since I'm the worship pastor there, I have keys :)  Thus, no problem getting in the building when nobody else is around.  Success!

On New Year's Eve, she had no clue it was coming.  We had just eaten dinner with some friends and were on the way back to my house to prep for some people coming over later.  The church is on the way home, so I said I needed to drop some stuff off real quick so that I wouldn't have to worry about it on January 1st.  I get there all ready to go, and I had forgotten my keys.  Are you kidding me?!  Mind racing, I told her I would just have to drop the stuff off tomorrow when I had my keys on me.  So we left, her none-the-wiser.

We get to my house and I'm fervently thinking of some way to make this work tonight as I had planned.  If you know Chelsey, you know that Chelsey loves coffee.  "Aha," I thought, "I will use this for trickery!"

"You want to go to the Creme?" I asked.  "Oh, I think it's closed," she says.  It was.  "Well you said you wanted some coffee...how about Starbucks?" I came back.  Of course she got all happy and said "sure"...she will take any offers for coffee (I usually don't make these offers).

We get the $5+ coffee from the monster that is Starbucks and then head towards the church again.  I really wanna get this stuff dropped off, ya know.

When we get there I ask her to come inside with me and then I give her some work to do to distract her.  While she is working on things, I'm in the sanctuary setting up my scene:  dimly lit, guitar set up, Bible opened, and a folder of dreams/visions/words ready for reading.  Now I'm ready.

I go get her after she finishes up her job.  We begin to exit through the sanctuary and I say something like, "I've got something else for you before we go."  She sees the setup...............and STILL doesn't know what's going on.  Of course, I didn't know this until afterwards, but wow--she must've really thought that I wasn't proposing any time soon :)

I take her coat and ask her to sit in the exact place we first met.  My Bible is open to Song of Solomon chapter 4.  I read her some lines out of there that we both really like, and then I grab my folder.  I read her the word-for-word prophecy I received about her about a year before I met her on 12/11/11.  Then, I grab my guitar as I'm telling her about a song that I started writing for her before we even met.  I sing the song to her for the first time.  She is starting to realize what is going on.

I turn from her for just a moment to retrieve the box from it's hiding place.  I get on one knee in front of her and tell her about how blessed I am to have met her and how I intend to love her, about how I thank God for her and how I intend to be a husband to her.  Finally, I ask her if she would do me the honor of marrying me.  And she said yes.

*     *     *     *     *

We are still just starting, but our whole relationship is a fairy-tale.  Too good to be true many would say.  I beg to differ.  Your reality is different when you live from a different world.  We've got a King who is not confined to the usual.  We've got a King that made love, and we've chosen to honor Him as first in our relationship.  We are not perfect and cannot even pretend to be, but one thing we are is honoring of what we feel God has laid out as boundaries for our relationship.  To honor these boundaries is to bring life--more love, more hope, more goodness.  All these flow as we obey the Father's commands.

I cannot wait to see what the future holds.  I am sure I cannot fathom the blessings that lie ahead for the both of us, but I know it will be good...and I know this because God is faithful.  He is always good and He is always pleased to give good gifts to His children.  I'm so incredibly grateful that He ran Chelsey and I into each other and let this love story start.  Our story is a showcase of God's faithfulness.  He is always good and always faithful, and He will be the same towards you as well.  Love and obey--it's the way to go.