Marriage is what brings us together today

Okay, mom, breathe. Breathe in, breathe out. I am not talking about me... Well, sort of, but not really. For those of you that do not recognize that quote, it is from one of the all time best movies and books, "Princess Bride". I highly recommend it. It is the scene where Princess Buttercup is being forced to marry Prince Humperdink. Really, would you want to be Mrs. Humperdink. I think not!

Back to my point, marriage. I haven't actually been married. I hope that I can really say that I haven't been married yet! We'll see. So, if you happen to know a VERY tall, ruggledly handsome, Jesus loving, funny man that has the patience of a saint... But I am getting off topic again. Can you tell that I was ADD as a child?

What I am getting at is that I think being a missionary is a little like being married. Of course, this is all speculation but I have had about 14 roommates get married so this is based on some of what I have heard.

My first couple of trips were like dating. You meet the person and you instantly feel a connection. You can tell that there is something different, something special. You definitely want to pursue this relationship. You get to know them better and really enjoy them. They have quirky cute little habits. As you pray about them, you feel like God is brining you together. Eventually, you feel complete peace and know that God is calling you two together. So, you take the plunge. In my case, you move across the world.

Next, is the the honeymoon stage. You are so excited about the newness. Everything is wonderful. You see each other every day and you don't really care that they make funny sounds and chew with their mouth open. It's okay that they do things differently than you thought. You know that you are exactly where God wants you to be.

But, then the honeymoon ends and you realize to make this work it is going to take a lot of work. To have a successful, God honoring relationship will take a lot of effort, time, patience, compromise, sacfrifice, humility, persistence, love, and so much more. You go deeper and you see underneath the surface. You see the hurt, pains, ugliness, junk and everything else. Loving someone at this level takes commitment and the love of God. You are definitely aware at this point that they are not perfect and those quirky little habits are not so cute anymore. But you still know you are exactly where God wants you to be.

I can relate a lot to those feelings. As I go deeper in my understanding of the people and the culture and what it takes to work here, I realize that I am exactly where God wants me to be but it will take work.