Monday, September 22, 2014

100 Days

It occurred to me as I was finishing up at the office today that there are a couple of things in my life revolving around 100 days currently.  The first one being that in 100 days I get married to my beautiful fiancĂ© Steffani Taylor.  I like to tease her a fair amount about it naturally; but the truth is I’m more than excited to get to spend the rest of my life with this incredible and godly woman who I somehow talked into marrying me.  The second one being a 100% in 100 days fundraising campaign that Stef and I are starting hopefully on October 1st.  We had to delay it a bit already so hopefully we can get started by October 1st this time around.

We have decided to join NMSI full time, my sending agency from the states that helped arrange for me to work here in SE Asia.  She will be working at the Center for Global Outreach (CGO) full time and I will be starting my own business again like I have here.  We are planning on spending a year in Ft. Myers to help prepare for overseas living and pay off our debt in the meantime.

So, 100 days till our wedding day starts today, September 22nd, and our 100% in 100 days campaign starts October 1st; again, tentatively at this point to make sure we have our ducks in a row before we start.  There is quite a bit to look forward to as I reread that sentence, things are good.  Some people might call that crazy, raising support during the first year of marriage, but we’re just going to go for it!  We have been spending a lot of time in prayer for my current supporters and our future supporters lately as we gear up for this campaign.  We have spent a lot of time in prayer period in regard to fundraising but really want to focus on our prayer and financial partners.

100 days till I get married, wow.  I never thought that would happen.  In fact, I was dead set against the very idea of marriage in my own life for about a decade.  I was perfectly happy being single.  I loved living the bachelor life; I got to do what I wanted when I wanted to do it.  There is a lot of freedom in that.

However, what I’ve realized over the past couple of years is that perhaps marriage isn’t as bad as I once thought it was.  In short, I had let pop culture and media influence my view of marriage more than I had let God show me His design for it.  I had read the Bible to be sure, but I chose to focus on the admonitions to be single and say I was meant for that.

That all started to change in January of 2012 when my mom came to visit me in Florida.  I overheard her talking to my dad on the phone and something occurred to me.  Marriage is really simply about two people caring well for each other.  It’s deeper on so many levels I’m sure, but that is what I remember sticking out to me and what starting changing my perspective on marriage in general.


Fast-forward 2 years and I’m engaged to be married to a beautiful woman whom I wouldn’t trade for the world if I were given the chance.  She means the world to me, and I couldn’t be happier or more excited to be spending the rest of my life with her.  There will be many ups and downs as there are in any marriage, but I look forward to working it out together with her.  The truth is I love her with all of me.  How could I do anything but ask her to marry me?

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