B E H I N D / T H E / B A R

I was so antsy.  We had courted, via email, telephone, for nearly a year.  Her in Australia.  Me in Israel.  Its amazing how strong a relationship can grow, when you are only able to communicate on a regular basis.  We hadn’t had any fancy dates,  our first one was to see the Titanic earlier that year.  No our relationship had grown simply out of talking to one another, learning about one another, growing a relationship that was first a friendship, followed by romance.

She had come to Israel to participate in a Christian celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles.  She would dance and I would fall deeper in love every time I saw her dance.  As we would be in gatherings for worship, she seemed to see something I couldn’t see, look longingly at someone that I could feel, but couldn’t see like she could.  Her relationship with God was most beautifully on display as she danced effortlessly before her creator.

This particular night, all of Israel, Jews around the world were celebrating Simchat Torah – the completion of reading the Bible through over the previous year.  They had come full circle.  A new season would begin the next day, as they started in Genesis and would read  through the pages of Scripture for the next year.

We had come full circle too.  Our friendship had now turned into pure romance.  She carried every beat of my heart.  I loved holding her hand.  Walking with her, talking with her, dreaming about life and our future.  So late that night, 15 years ago today, to be exact, as Jewish people were celebrating the full circle of reading their holy text, Kristia and I went walking through a park off the busy streets of Jerusalem.

We got to this particular bench, and I began to tell her what little I understood about Simchat Torah, and how I believed we had come to a new season in our relationship.  I got down on my knee, pulled out her very tiny engagement ring, and asked her to marry me.

The rest is history.  But I gotta tell you, we have walked through many seasons and cycles of life, and with confidence I can say there is no one else in this world with whom I’d rather spin through the cycles of life than my beautiful wife.

I love you Kristia Greer.

Lets keep spinning.