It always amazes me how connected life becomes. The people that you’ve known throughout different walks of life manage to intertwine into your life…this is the case for Rachel and James. Rachel and I were college roommates for a time. Her morning grinding of her coffee beans always scared me awake no matter how many different ways she tried to muffle the sound – it was an ongoing thing in our apartment, her coffee addiction and my incessant need to throw things out of the fridge that were going bad. Rachel, Andrew and I all “grew up” in the same church – we spent our middle school and high school years together in choir, youth group, and missions trips. For Rachel, those mission trips were God’s gentle nudges for what would later become her calling. After college, Zambia became Rachel’s home, her calling and where the Lord placed her for the next few years. Andrew and I met James when he first came to our church what feels like forever ago. He was the new guy and admittedly, we were dragged along for a lunch date with him along with another friend, you know, in case he turned out to be crazy. The more we got to know him, the more involved in our lives he became. I remember one day over a rainy three hour long brunch, days before the army took him to Afghanistan, we shared our plans, our hopes for our futures…and for James we heard of what he wanted in the woman he would marry. Little did any of us know, that woman was right around the corner.
I remember trying not to stare the night that I first met you. You had me mesmerized. I hadn’t told you yet but I thought I loved you then. Now you’re my whole life. Now you’re my whole world and I just can’t believe the way I feel about you. Like a river meets the sea, stronger than it’s ever been, we’ve come so far since that day…and I thought I loved you then. And I remember taking you back to right where I first me you. You were so surprised. There were people around but I didn’t care. I got down on one knee right there and once again, I thought I loved you then. I can just see you with a baby on the way. I can just see you when your hair is turning gray. What I can’t see is how I’m ever gonna love you more…but I’ve said that before. And now you’re my whole life. Now you’re my whole world and I just can’t believe the way I feel about you. We’ll look back someday at this moment that we’re in and I’ll look at you and say “and I thought I loved you then.” – Then by Brad Paisley
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