Lord, it is good for us to be here...

A little over 13 years ago, when I was 25ish, I was asked to give a talk to the congregation at church.

I was freshly divorced, attending a young single adult congregation.  I had been alone and celibate for nearly three years, from the time that my ex-wife had left me.

During the time that I was alone, I really discovered God, and when I joined this younger congregation, I felt that I was in the right place, at the right time.

So, when I was asked to talk, I had just finished reading through the book of Matthew, in the New Testament, and the line "Lord, it is good for us to be here" really stood out to me.

Here it is in context:

 1 And after six days Jesus taketh ^aPeter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,

 2 And was ^atransfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.

 3 And, behold, there appeared unto them ^aMoses and ^bElias talking with him.

 4 Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. (Matthew 17:1–4 KJV).

I started to speak to my young single peers, and I expounded to them, that it was good that we were there, in a chapel dedicated to the Lord.

Feeling moved by the Holy Ghost, I then explained how I had been named before I was born, but not the name that my mother had expected to give me. (I posted this previously. Read it here.)

Also, my over the years, my mother often told me about the dedication prayer at the chapel that I had attended as child.  That it was foretold that many great leaders would pass through its doors.  Now this is true, many great leaders have passed through its doors to go on into the higher leadership of our church.

Do I consider myself to be a great leader?

These days, I question it greatly.

Back then, as I stood before that congregation, I felt that I was going to be a great leader unto many of them.

Most of the congregation was younger than I was and I was considered an "old man" at 25.

I was able to share my experiences with them.

Ellie, my wife, was not a very active member of that congregation.  On a Monday, she showed up for an hike up a local butte. (I know it looks like butt, but it's pronounced beaut, like beaut-i-ful.)

When I saw Ellie, I knew that I had found the person I was going to marry.  That night, after the hike, we decided to head over to someone's house to watch Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail, and eat pizza.  Which I funded... (Hey, I was making 28k-29k/year as single guy at the time, and I had extra $ on me all the time, since I had a roommate and we split costs.)

As we started grabbing pizza and seats, I noticed that someone else had sat next to Ellie on the couch, and I offered the guy the corner seat at the couch, as the "most comfortable" place to sit, so that I could sit next to Ellie.  :)

I was so compelled to ask her out, that I almost pulled my Palm Pilot out to ask her out. (Yes, I was a geek back then, and carried a PDA, long before Smart Phones)

It was probably better that I didn't.  Aside from looking like a geek, I didn't want the other guys there to know that I wanted to know Ellie better.  (Dating in a young congregation like that was almost like fighting a battle.  I'd seen some guys/gals sabotage future relationships in the interest of attracting someone's attention.  

Many of us referred to make-up as "War Paint", as many of the gals were always looking for their future husbands.

When I told Ellie that later on that I was going to use the Palm Pilot to ask her out, she said she'd been embarrassed if I had.

So I called her at home, the next day and we made a date for Saturday night.

This was my third date for the week.  I had planned on taking one girl to lunch on Weds afternoon, and I had another date planned with a girl to go bowling on Friday night, then another one with Ellie Saturday.

Now, I know many of you are going...

Holy COW!

Were you a player?

No!

I just figured out that I hadn't really met enough girls to choose one and settle down.  I also knew what I was looking for in a wife, after my previous marriage.

On Saturday night, we went to dinner and a movie.  During the movie, I felt strongly compelled to reach down a hold Ellie's hand.  I was SCARED!  I'd never felt this way about anyone else before.  Not even my ex-wife.  So, I grabbed her hand, and we never really let go until our date was over.

The next day, at church, I sat behind her, and passed her a note, asking her if we could go out again... She said "yes".

So, over the next few weeks, I tried to get her on the phone, but she was busy with school so I left messages with her folks.  I figured, if she said "yes" to another date, I'd try to contact her weekly to get my second date.

I finally got with her almost a month later, and we really clicked.  It was like we were waiting for each other.

Eventually on one of our dates, about a 6-7 weeks after we met, I was really quiet and she asked me what I was thinking... So I spilled my guts....

"It'd be nice to be married."

I knew I took her by surprise. At first, she said no... As we continued to go out on dates that week, she started asking about plans to get married.

To wind up this story, we got married about 3 1/2 months after first meeting.

Our marriage has had rocky moments, but I still love Ellie now as much as I did then.

God Bless!