033: Long Anticipated

March 20, 2010
Psalm 111, Psalm 112, Psalm 113

Today was a much-anticipated day for me. Four years ago I started pursuing going to Morocco to do humanitarian work. I was about to start courting a young man with promise and potential, and I wanted to make sure I had the chance to experience living overseas for a time before I committed to settling down and making someone else’s dreams my first priority. Although the relationship didn’t work out, the following summer I spent 11 glorious weeks working and being refined and encouraged and humbled and grown in the heart-capturing lands of Morocco.

While I was there, I met a plethora of wonderful people – many of which I count among my dear friends now – among them, a guy named Tom and a girl named Caitlyn. Tommy was smitten with Caitlyn, and Caitlyn was smitten with Tommy, and after a year of correspondence, they started dating while I was living and working and hanging out with them during MY time in Maroc.

Less than a year later, I visited Tom – who lived in England – during my spring break (because I was living in Rome), and we talked about how he and Caitlyn wanted to get married… but the timing was off, not to mention the cross-Atlantic-ness of their relationship. Then the next year Caitlyn moved to England for 3 months, and they got engaged, and now, 9 months later, they’re finally tying the knot and getting married. Oh what a joyous occasion!

I really enjoy attending weddings where I fully support the marriage and I’m thrilled with how I’ve seen God working in the couple and as a couple to bring honor and glory to His name. I’ve attended many weddings over the years, and Tommy and Caity’s was, perhaps, one of my favorites. Not because I knew everyone there – I didn’t – and not because the dancing was amazing – I didn’t get to stay long enough to find out if there was dancing and how amazing it was – but rather because of who Tommy and Caity are.

In England, the father of the bride, the best man, and the groom all give toasts. One thing I have always loved about Tom is how much he adores Caitlyn. Even from when I first met him, back in the undefined days of their relationship, it seemed apparent that his head and heart were at least a little bit disconnected from whatever his present circumstances were… As I got to know him, I realized it was because he was mentally and emotionally focused on Caitlyn. Before she arrived and I met her, I wondered if this Southern Californian girl was really everything Tom seemed to think she was. It didn’t take long for me to understand exactly why Tommy felt the way he did about her. She’s amazing. And it’s been amazing to see how Tommy has become amazing to win her love.

His speech at the wedding was heartfelt, sincere, and absolute evidence of how aware he is of what God has done in his life to bring him Caitlyn. Caitlyn on the same tone, is so thankful to be married to this man who captured her heart with his service, attentiveness, gentleness, and tenderness. She is beautiful because he finds her so, and because she grows in beauty from his love, he has become a man of character. Like I said, a much-anticipated day… because it makes me think of how God uses such foreshadowing to display what the return of Jesus will be like…