Where to Begin? Where to End?

As I was reading through the book of Revelation at the end of the year, I marveled at what a wonderful book that is to read as another year comes to a close and you’re thinking about the future. Now, as I’m reading the book of Genesis, I have marveled that the book is so ideal to start a new year with: “In the beginning, God…” What more do you need to start a new year?

We learn at a very young age that a story has a beginning…and a story has an end. But that’s not strictly true. As a writer sitting in writing classes, you learn that every character has a backstory. And it’s a backstory you should know if you wish to create a well-rounded character. But that backstory isn’t usually in the book you’re writing. It’s in notes scribbled somewhere or in your own imagination. And, if you’re a writer, you know that your characters don’t end with the book’s final chapter. In more scribbles and more imaginings, you know their future. It just might never be written in a book.

So it is with us. God knew His people before the foundation of the world. So, even before “in the beginning”, He knew us. And after “the end”, we have the rest of eternity to spend with our God. We can’t even imagine eternity.

Life is like a book and it can be hard to tell when one chapter begins or another ends. I have waited a long time to post this blog…and now I’m not even sure where to begin. Or where to end.

You see, every time I start this story I begin with the day we went to play mini golf. But it starts before that when he asked me. And when I sat in the pew in church, my mind spinning faster than it ever has before. You see, in all my nearly 31 years of life, I had never had a guy ask me to play mini golf. Or to dinner. Or to a movie. Or even the time of day. Not sure how many thoughts a person can have in five seconds, but I’m pretty sure I maxed it out.

Well, safe to say, we did play mini golf the following Saturday. I brought a friend a long. That was in November of 2010. I had no idea the chapter that day started.

Or, perhaps, book. For the next three years could fill a book. Climax. Anti-climatic. Laughter. Tears. Roadblocks. And roads that made no sense at all. But a God who remained the same throughout it all. I will never suggest my long-distant, lengthy courtship to anyone. But I would share my God with everyone.

The story ends a week ago Saturday, January 4 in the middle of the frozen Cedar Lake at Camp Lebanon with a marriage proposal and a beautiful engagement ring. And a God who remains the same as the new chapter begins: Planning a Wedding.

By the way, his name is Edward Camus and goes by “Ed”. He lives in Pittsburgh where we will be getting married on June 7^th. He loves my God, and we are trusting Him for a future together. No matter what it holds.