A Commitment

It's finally that time...time to write my first blog post for my first ever blog. I actually started this thing about 4 months ago, but once school rolled around, my plans to keep up with a blog got put on the back burner. But, exams are now over and I am excited to get into this thing. So let's do it!

In six months and 1 day, I will be marrying the absolutely drop-dead-gorgeous Bree Bruce. That means I have 185 days of singleness left, 185 days to learn what it looks like to be a husband before I become one. Now this time is unlike any other point in my life, and that is really exciting to me. I'm still single, but I'm also engaged to be married. It's a really interesting combination of situations. It means that I can prepare to be Bree's husband within the freedom of singleness (and by "freedom of singleness," I mean that I am not responsible for a wife). I can take the next 6 months to run after the Lord with reckless abandonment. I can, and should, be spending that time seeking the heart of the Lord, learning and growing, becoming the best possible man I can be on June 16 when I say, "I do." It's an act of honoring and serving Bree as my future wife. I would be doing her and our marriage an extreme disservice if I didn't steward the next 6 months well. I want to love both the Lord and Bree well, and my actions over the upcoming 185 days will be a pretty good measure of how I am doing with that.

So, I am committing to myself, to the Lord, to Bree, and to anyone else who has kept on reading this far to prepare for marriage to the best of my abilities over the next 6 months. I will prepare physically, emotionally, and spiritually to be a God-fearing husband that will lead and love Bree well. I expect a great deal of growth and an equal amount of failure. I will share all of it with you. That's why did I decided to start a blog. I feel like this will serve 3 main purposes:

1. It's just a good way to get my thoughts, ideas, experiences, interactions with the Lord, interactions with others, and more down on "paper" so to speak. I want to be able to look back at this time period of my life and remember what God was teaching me as He prepared me to be a husband.
2. I want to share this with other people. I pray that this will create opportunities for community with you. If you have read this, I give you the authority to speak into me and ask me about how I am preparing for marriage, how I am interacting with the Lord, how I am pursuing Bree, etc. Please encourage and challenge me with whatever you have!
3. This will serve also as a place for "virtual" Ebenezers. If you don't know what an Ebenezer is, it comes from 1 Samuel 7:12. God had just given the Israelites victory over the Philistines in battle. Samuel then set up a stone and named it Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far has the Lord helped us." This is where I will set up my "stones," sharing stories of how God has helped me. My hope is that it will be a source of encouragement for others and myself, speaking to the glory, grace, and love of our King.

That's what I've got so far. I'm excited to take this crazy journey over the next 185 days, and I am excited to share it with you. Thanks for reading!

Grace and peace.