holly98
I found this blog I first wrote 10 years ago. In honor of my wife's 3_th birthday, I dusted it off and made a couple of changes. Happy Birthday, Holly! I love you!
This title makes a lot more sense if you were at River Stone the Sunday night (August 20th of 2006) I preached on the first time Jacob saw Rachel in Genesis. If you weren't, when Jacob first saw Rachel, he sees her with sheep - something he's totally in to. He was immediately hooked. When you find a woman who's into what your into, it's a wonderful thing. It made me think of one of those first moments with my bride long before she was my bride.
When I met Holly, she was (and still very much is) this beautiful, intelligent, Jesus-loving, clean cut, prim and proper, Southern, small town girl. I knew I was attracted to her and liked her a lot, but I was still checking out to see what all we had in common. After all, she was from a small, Texas town where pick-up trucks reigned supreme and ice cream is pronounced...well...it sounds like ass cream. I said bye. She said "ba" (short a). I was from the city. I grew up in Houston with the birth of Hiphop. Was she too small town for this city slicker? Was I too city for this small town girl? It seemed like it was working, but I was unsure.
At the time the "Jesus Freak" album from DC Talk was new, and I was a big fan. Back then I drove a 1985 K-5 GMC Jimmy with big tires. It was large and so was the sound system. I had the most expensive Sony CD player you could buy in 1996 that fed some huge amp that pushed two 15" Kickers. I liked my music loud (surely contributed to my present hearing loss), I liked to sing along, I liked to bob my head to the beat, and I was a huge dork. However, I thought that I was bad.
Anyway, on the way home from our first date set-up, I decided to conduct a little test to see how this small town goody goody would react to some loud (Christian) rock-n-roll. Up with the DC Talk. To my surprise she knew every word to my favorite songs. She even knew the words I faked. She sang loud - and really good by the way (not a surprise to anyone who hears her belt it out at church). Not only that, but that ever so carefully brushed hair was soon flying back and forth as she banged her head. She says this is the moment when I fell in love with her, and I'm not sure it can all be traced to that moment...BUT...it was big...and I knew we could go places together. It was also pretty clear she was not your typical small town girl.
IMG_6122
It may sound insignificant, but when I saw that, I connected with my shepherdess. Our first real date was a few weeks later. You guessed it ... DC Talk concert under the stars at the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion. It was as romantic as DC Talk music could be, and we had a great time. 7 months later we were engaged. A year and a half after that we were married. And to borrow from the romanticism of my forefather Jacob, I can honestly say that now 20 years of working and doing life together seem like only a few days.
I thank God for reminding me of this innocent time in our relationship where everything was new and I was more concerned with uncovering the mystery and godliness of this wonderful person than I was of my own selfish desires.
What God orders he pays for, and He ordered me a beautiful, clean cut, small town, Southern girl, rocker that was exactly what I needed to motivate me to become the man He created me to be.
After 20 years together, we've had so many more moments like this. What started with head-banging together turned into leading music together, doing student ministry together, planting a church together, traveling to Ukraine together, and taking on a mission organization together. That moment mattered, and it may matter even more today.
So...over to you...what's your shepherdess moment?
Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. I'd love to dialogue with you. Please feel free to comment or contact me. As always, sharing is appreciated. Blessings...