And they lived happily ever after...

2007/06/02 18:54 2007/06/02 18:54

2007/06/02 18:54 2007/06/02 18:54

2007/06/02 18:54 2007/06/02 18:54

Sara and I met at our church in around 1997. At that time, I was starting to go to Yale Presbyterian church, at which Sara's father was (and still is) the senior pastor. Yes, that's right - I'm marrying our pastor's daughter. What a blessing!

To be honest, up to about when I was 28, my dream was to marry a foxy, super-hot celebrity. I daydreamed about becoming a young, good looking internet venture mogul and dating someone like Jessica Alba. And you know what? I was actually believing such a desire, which now seems pretty bodily in retrospect, was coming from a very noble cause. As a young Christian aspring to become a role model to Christian youths, I wanted to live a life that proves being a Christian didn't necessarily have to mean a button-down life. I wanted to show that I could both be a sincere Christian and drive a BMW with a hot girl sitting in the passenger's seat - "Boys, just because you're a Christian doesn't mean you should be boring- being Christian can be cool", maybe I wanted to say.

But I now realize it was such an immature, almost juvenile, thought, guised as something God-given. I mean, the very fact that you are longing for materialistic success speaks for itself that you are not a fully devoted Christian. Worldly and heavenly are contradictory and cannot co-exist in a nice equilibrium.

And then I met Sara. She's certainly beautiful and charming on the outside too, but her real beauty lies in her soul. She's one of few people in the world whose real name and nickname are both "an angel." She turns everyone around her into a friend; She has such a warm heart that her life's vision is to help people who are suffering, and thereby sending God's love and His Good News. I've been totally infected by her vision and since we are getting married, her vision will be mine, and vice versa.

So God didn't lead me to marry Jessica Alba, but it turns out He had prepared a better girl for me in Sara. (Having said this, Jessica Alba wouldn't have been very terrible either - oops, I gotta watch what I say here :)

If there are guys out there who still daydream about marrying a supermodel - nothing against supermodels, but my piece of advice is to wake up, get sober, and find the nearest church and go out with the pastor's daughter. ;)

Sara is 7 years younger than me, so when I first saw her I was actually her teacher at church youth group. Which is why Sara, in earlier days of our relationship, called me "Teacher" - how romantic! :) But now it seems our roles are completely switched: in probably all the guy-girl relationships, I'm acting like a child and she tells me to grow up.

So initially we were just nothing more than fellow church members. But one summer day we had coffee together and we kinda clicked. We would talk on and on, and we found ourselves thinking about the other all the time. Then this day came - it was about our third or fourth date. We were strolling in a park, again enjoying our conversations, and it suddenly started to rain. We began to run and I took her hands - for the first time - and since then I didn't let go of her hands. And I won't, forever.  

And nearly five years have passed since then. Did we have ups and downs? Most certainly. Have we ever been on the verge of separating, even? Once or twice, maybe. Did we lose our love for each other at any time? Absolutely not.

Not even during the two years we were thousands miles apart from each other, I being in Ann Arbor, Michigan and Sara being in Las Palmas, Spain.

So we are now opening up a new chapter in our lives. The past five years have been great; I'm sure the coming fifty years will be surreal.

2007/06/02 18:54 2007/06/02 18:54