When, together with my friend, David, I walked into the First Baptist Church of Sweetwater in Orlando, Florida, I had no idea my life was about to radically change. The church was packed, and so we were seated on the first row. Eight months later, Sherri and I stood before her pastor-father to be married. The first words out of his mouth before that packed church were, “Dan, the first time I laid eyes on you, the Lord spoke to me saying, ‘That young man is going to marry your daughter.’”
Who could possibly imagine that my wife’s father knew we were to be married before Sherri and I even met?!?
In my post, “In The Beginning,” I share the story of my brother’s visit from Scotland, his powerful prayer as he laid hands upon me in the privacy of my apartment, and the miraculous events that led me to my wife and the radical life-change from the business world to pastoral ministry.
It began over a game of UNO. I had no idea that the pretty nurse I sat next to that night at the College and Career fellowship was the pastor’s daughter!
A little transparency is needed here in order to tell the story accurately.
The truth is, up until recently, I had been dating someone else. In fact, I had dated several young ladies in the years before I met Sherri. And the truth is that these relationships were coming between me and God. I had even met some of these girls in churches that I briefly attended over the years. Every single time my involvement led me away from church.
So, when I met Sherri, I began to pray. “Lord, this time, I’m going to avoid a relationship with anyone. I don’t want anything to come between my relationship with you.”
There’s something else I need to share. In addition to relationships with girls, my feeble attempts at getting back in church over the years were derailed by my unwillingness to make a real break from the past. Friends would ask why I was going to church. I would answer and say something like, “Oh, I’m just trying to get a little religion. Couldn’t hurt.” The truth is I was trying to find my way back to God. I had experienced his presence over the years. I knew there was more to life than what I was experiencing. I just didn’t have the courage to say that.
But this time, things were different. My associates at work noticed an immediate change in my life. When they asked what had happened, I told them that the difference was Jesus. I didn’t mince words. For the first time in years, I was willing to do whatever it took to follow Jesus.
And that included staying away from that pretty nurse from the UNO game!
But funny thing about God; Jesus tells us that we must lose our lives to find them. Honestly, I thought my commitment to Christ would cost me upward mobility in my job. I was also willing to give up girlfriends to avoid another distraction that continually led me away from God.
The fact is that I asked that pretty nurse to marry me three months after she beat me in UNO. And at our wedding, the head of our department informed me that I had been given a major promotion.
I know what it sounds like. “Dan, it doesn’t seem like you tried too hard to avoid feminine distractions.” But the fact is, and I’m being really transparent here, this relationship was different from any other I’d ever experienced. For the first month, I just hung out with the College and Career class, of which Sherri was an active part. We found ourselves bowling, eating pizza, hiking, and enjoying time together, all within the regular get-togethers of the College and Career class. We were becoming friends.
Our first date, if you could call it that, was at Sherri’s neighborhood tennis courts, where I began teaching her how to play tennis. A feat which, to this day, I’ve never accomplished.
What I’m trying to tell you is this relationship just kind of happened naturally. I wasn’t really pursuing Sherri. And by the time I realized how head over heels I was (more so today than ever before), God was so woven into our relationship that it was radically different from anything I’d ever known.
If I had to pinpoint the moment we both realized how intimately God was involved in our relationship, I would have to say it was at Denny’s diner one evening in Longwood, Florida.
It didn’t take long after getting back in church and becoming involved with a group of people that loved the Lord before my calling to serve as a pastor (a story for another time) resurfaced. Within a couple of months, I was applying to seminaries and planning a major career change.
And so, one night at Denny’s, Sherri and I were sharing with one another what God was doing in our lives. What we felt He was calling us to do. Or maybe better, who He was calling us to be.
After sharing with Sherri my personal history of sensing God’s call to serve as a pastor, I asked her what she felt God was calling her to do/be. She turned as red as a beet before answering. “I’ve always felt God was calling me to be a pastor’s wife.”
Two months later, I picked Sherri up at the Atlanta Airport. It was Thanksgiving, and she had flown up to meet my family. There, in the parking lot, with the sound of jet engines from low-flying planes landing and taking off, I asked Sherri to take a look at my seminary application.
“There’s a statement I’ve made here that’s not true,” I said, as I handed her the application. And there, on the line next to Spouse or Fiancee, I had written her name. She looked up from the application, eyes, and mouth wide open, as I asked, “Will you marry me?”
She said, “Yes,” and the rest is history.
Little did I know at the time just how vital this woman would be to my calling. I needed her. I still do. And I would not be who I am or where I am today if it had not been for the love of my life, the girl of my dreams, and my partner in ministry.
Find a good spouse, you find a good life — and even more: the favor of God. (MSG)
(To be continued)
In Christ,
Dan
My newest book, “Where is the God of Elijah? Overcoming Spiritual Drought,” can be purchased in both paperback or digital here.
Beautiful love story!
Love this!! 💕