So, perhaps I am a bit late with the love story.  I’m sure you’ll forgive me, however, when you see the gift I am about to bestow upon you via the following picture:

You’re looking at Cousin Cate and I around 3 a.m. last night.  We had turned out the lights, but were all still awake when I got up (in the dark) to turn off the nightlight in the bathroom (you really care about the details, right?).  On my way back — still in complete darkness, mind you — I jumped on the bed, effectively knocking myself and Cousin Cate into the floor.  We laid there, trapped between the bed and wall, while those other punkettes in our room flipped on the lights and took pictures.

It is a wonder we have not been kicked out of this hotel yet.

I shall now tell you the love story as I wait for my turn to take a shower.  Once upon a time, in a land far away, a church that partners with Starlite began looking to hire someone to work with their children’s ministry.  Several people from the church asked me if I had any recommendations and the only person I could think of was Allie (who had a degree in Children’s Ministry).  She, however, had moved back to North Carolina after graduation and was very happy there.  After a few days of really feeling like I was supposed to call her about the job, I did.  She agreed to at least talk to them and took down the contact information.  A few days later, she was hired and showed up on my doorstep to live with me for the summer until she could find a place of her own.

A week before she arrived, however, I was invited to speak at this particular church.  I was on the front row during praise and worship when I noticed the guy leading looked somewhat familiar.  I knew I went to college with him but couldn’t have told you his name or anything about him.  As I was standing there, I suddenly heard God say “Wouldn’t it be great if I was bringing Allie here for him?”  I didn’t even know what to think, mainly because Allie hasn’t really ever had the desire to be married.  I walked away from our conversations in college feeling fairly certain that she would never marry — it just wasn’t something she was aiming for in life.  To have that thought — especially about a guy whose name I didn’t even know — was really strange.

As Allie began working her first few weeks at the church, it was everything I could do to keep from telling her about my very brief conversation with God about her and this mystery man (I had felt like I wasn’t supposed to mention it to her).  I did, however, write about it in my journal when it happened so that I’d have record of it if something should ever happen between them.  As the weeks went by, Allie would occasionally mention Ryan but never in a “I like him” type of way.

And then he asked her on a date.

I will never forget showing up at Allie’s new apartment a few minutes before Ryan was set to pick her up for their first date.  She looked unbelievable — especially her hair.  I remember thinking “That boy is going to fall for her tonight, especially after he sees her hair up close.”  Listen, I know good hair when I see it.

Fall in love he did and it wasn’t long before they were dating on a regular basis.  I thought things were going well between them until one night when Allie showed up for our regular Sunday night leadership team meeting.  As I asked for prayer requests from the group, Allie began quietly crying from her corner of the room.  The minute the meeting was over, I pulled her into my office and watched as she started really crying.  She was actually crying so hard that I thought someone in her family must be sick or even worse.  I finally said “Allie, what is wrong?  You have to tell me!”  Her reply?

“I… I… I think I’m falling in love!”

Our sweet Allie, who had always thought she would spend the rest of her life as a single missionary serving in a foreign orphanage, never imagined that she might fall in love.  It was a complete shock to her and it was messing her up — in a good way, of course.

The rest, as they say, is history.  In about five hours, she’ll adjust her veil for the last time and take her place on her daddy’s arm.  She’ll walk down the aisle towards a man who loves her with the purest love I’ve ever seen, towards a man who wants to serve beside her at that orphanage one day.  Her dreams aren’t coming true today, because this?  Well, this is far past even the best dream she could have ever imagined.  This is God’s dreams coming true for her and I plan to be there watching them unfold in that little church tonight.

But first, I need to go fix my hair.  Priorities, people.