Vine and Branches

Greetings!

After taking a long hiatus from blogging, I am now returning to bring you news about what has been going on in my life lately. God has been rocking my world like crazy!

First of all, you may have noticed that I am not posting pictures of Nicaragua, nor am I at home preparing to go on internship to the Philippines. That is because God had very different plans for me. Instead of going on internship, He asked me to stay at BCOM for another nine months to be a mentor for the new August class. I had been considering it for awhile, and, given that I have a strong desire for seeing the men of the church step up and be real godly men, I was more than willing to obey the Lord. I guess Psalm 34:7 is true...

Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

God obviously knew what else was in store for me while staying here at BCOM. He asked Holly to stick around as well and work with a traveling ministry team called Ring the Bell. It didn't take too long for God to finally give me the green light to pursue engagement with her! As soon as He did, I set my long-awaited plans in motion.

On Sunday, September 20, I took Holly out to Annie's Parlor, our favorite local restaurant. After having a delicious meal there, we began a long ride to Milaca, Minnesota. About 20 minutes before we got there, I blindfolded her. After arriving, I walked her a few hundred feet and stood her in front of a sign that said "Skydive Minnesota" on it. I took the blindfold off and she freaked out! We were going skydiving!

After waiting for an hour or so, we got suited up and went through some quick, basic ground training. After that, we boarded a small plane with our instructors and took off! After reaching an altitude of about 7,000 feet, the door to the plane opened and I jumped first. I free-fell for about 30 seconds before opening the chute. After it opened, we floated for awhile and it was so peaceful. The quietness and the view were both awesome.

After landing on the ground, I quickly got my gear off and began the preparations to... PROPOSE! You see, I had came to the place the night before and spray-painted "Will you marry me, Holly?" on the landing zone. As Holly came in to land, I could hear her freaking out as she read what was written in the grass. After she landed, I ran up to her, got down on my knee and asked her to be my wife. Her response: "Absolutely!"

So along with mentoring, a lot of my time is devoted to planning our wedding, which will be May 22, 2010. So with all that has been going on in my life, it has been hard to keep up with the blog. But now that things are starting to slow down a bit, and I am able to get in a routine, I should be able to update the blog a little more often.

Grace and peace to all of you!