Adventures in Love (part 1)

Nine years and one month ago, nearly to the day, I started dating my husband. Most couples fall in love over coffee or dinner—we fell in love over a homeless man. John and I were on a mission trip together, and though we’d never met before, we bonded quickly. On one of the last nights, we were in Hollywood. As we walked up and down the street, we saw a homeless man. Even though we were “off” that night, we stopped, asked his name (Charlie) and asked if we could buy him dinner. A different couple was bringing back dinner for him, but we were able to chat for a bit. When the other couple (strangers to us) came back, the five of us prayed together. Oh, and did I mention this was all in the shadow of a three story version of the Oscar statue, since award season was just around the corner?

You’d think that if that’s how we fell in love, the last nine years would be filled with amazing times of sharing Christ’s love with others and making disciples of men. There are a few stories, but most are from our first months of dating. The last nine years have been mostly spent selfishly, to be honest. Don’t get me wrong, we love the Lord and have grown in Him in many ways, but we haven’t shown His love to those around us in the ways we should have been.

Three years ago, my husband started at Trinity EvangelicalDivinity School. This past semester, he had an amazing class on evangelism taught by Lon Anderson. I watched my husband’s life change. The heart he’s always had for evangelism bloomed. He even shared Christ with one of my family members…something I’ve never done in my 25 years of following Jesus. Meanwhile, last year, I read Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World by Joanna Weaver. Because of her book, I gave my fears up and asked God to help me love Him with all of me. Then, three months ago I read Crazy Love by Francis Chan. It just confirmed everything I’d been feeling: all I want is God. After years and years of spiritual milk, I just want spiritual meat.

Now, fast forward to Friday night, April, 27^th. We dropped our kids off with my in-laws and went to Wheaton Bible Church to hear Francis Chan and Rend Collective Experiment.  There are no words to explain what the Lord did in both of us that night. The song “Build Your Kingdom” started the burning in our hearts and was followed by an amazing message by Mr. Chan. In short, he said to go out on a limb, do crazy things for Jesus, and see what happens. Jump!—He’ll catch you. And maybe, if you’re lucky, the ground will shake. J

As we left, John and I were exhausted, but excited and pumped up. As we started making plans on how we’d love the lost, I looked at him and said, “This is how we fell in love. Why on earth have we wasted the last nine years?” I also said, “I’m starving! Can we please get some food?” With a grin that said, “Lets share Jesus with our waitress,” John actually said, “Let’s go to Pizza Hut for bread sticks.”