The Final Countdown

Cue the stereotypical 80s synthesizers. The Final Countdown is upon us. I am marrying my best friend in 100 days. There are a mixture of feelings whirling about in my being. Time has seemed to pass by so quickly since that day when I surprised her as she left work and asked her to marry me. Yet, at other times, it has seemed to pass by so slowly, as if the day would never get here.

Despite the random speeds that time seems to take, I am feeling rather excited, yet also nervous. It is a somewhat similar feeling that I had on November 4th of last year (the day I proposed). I was very excited for this major step I was going to take, and yet I was also nervous. Looking back, those nerves don't seem to make sense. They still don't seem to make sense. I was very confident that she would say yes, just as I am very confident she will say "I do" on October 30th.

Perhaps it's the fact that the road I am taking is a sudden and different one. All the changes in my life have seemed to come gradually. Yet, on that day when my best friend and I get new titles - "husband and wife" - I realize that I will wake up the following morning a married man. It will no longer be about me, but about "us."

You can point to the fact that we have been dating since 2004 as an indicator that we know each other quite well. Yet, I feel that being a husband will be such a different adventure for me. Others have crossed this bridge before and have made it, but the nerves are still there when I think about how close the day has gotten.

I know, however, that if I follow the perfect example of love, that I'm going to be all right. More importantly, that "we" are going to be all right. I'm prepared to love Alexandra the way Jesus loved His bride - the Church. I'm prepared to speak to her in kindness and truth the way Jesus spoke with kindness and truth to His flock. I'm prepared to share my gifts with her with the same charity Jesus showed to those around Him. I'm prepared to sacrifice everything so that she could gain everything, just as Jesus gave it all so that Church can be all that it is and all that it can be.

I am definitely in love. And one hundred days from now, that love will be manifest in a new covenant that I will share with the one that I love.

Let the Final Countdown begin...