On December 18th of 2004 had my first date with Ms. Rachel Hamilton…
On January 28th 2005 I knew that I was ready to fall in love with her…
On February 18th 2005 I knew that I wanted to marry her…
On June 28th 2005 I asked her parents if I marry their daughter…
On August 8th 2005 I asked her if she would live out the definition of love with me as my wife…

Yes it’s true… I’m ENGAGED to the lovely Ms. Rachel Hamilton!!!

Here’s the story… I know you’re interested…

On Friday Aug 5th, Rachel and her family left for Myrtle Beach, SC to spend 9 days together on a family vacation… They graciously asked me to join them, so I gladly accepted their offer… However, I told them that I would have to catch a flight and join them after my Sunday church responsibilities were complete… So Rachel ordered my plane ticket and plans were set for me to join them Monday afternoon, Aug 8th, at their condo on the beach… Little did Rachel know that I had a trick up my sleeve…

On Friday Aug 5th, I called the airline and rescheduled my flight to arrive in Charlotte, NC at 9am on Sunday, Aug 7th… And so, my little ploy was underway… I spent the weekend preparing my proposal plan, rehearsing my lines, aquring the necessary “romantic” materials, etc… So Sunday arrived and I was leavin’ on a jet plane…

After arriving in Charlotte on Sunday morning, I got a rental car, and drove 2 hours into Hedersonville, NC to meet my more than gracious jeweler - Dr. Alan Monroe… We met at the Twin Dragon Chinese Restaurant and made the exchange - my life savings for the most beautiful engagement ring known to man…

See, months earlier, I had promised Rachel that I would always give her the very best that I could, and although it may not always be “much,” it would always be my best… So when I began to research rings, I knew that I couldn’t give her anything less than a perfectly flawless diamond… Little did I know the rarity of such a stone… I called about 20 jewelers and only 2 were able to acquire said stone… Dr. Monroe was able to meet my time, budget, and credibility requirements, so I went with him… I had a very unique custom design in mind, and he made it happen… Crazy thing was, all of our design arrangements were made over the phone, so I did not see the ring until the very day that I picked it up… When I saw it for the first time, it was perfect (much to my relief)… Anyways, we made the exchange and I hit the road for a 6 hour drive to Myrtle Beach, SC…

I had made arrangements to stay Sunday night in the Days Inn on Myrtle Beach - only 2 miles down from the condo where Rachel and her family was staying… risky move, I know, but I’m very sneaky… After arriving and checking into my room, I headed out to the beach to scope the premises and make plans for a romantic sunrise proposal on the Atlantic coast…

Very quickly I learned that all my preparations we for naught… Let me explain… I had planned on making a candlelight walkway on the beach… The walkway would consist of 25 pairs of candles and at each pair would be a scrapbook page highlighting a significant memory from our relationship… We were to take a “walk down memory lane,” and at the end of the walkway was to be a huge circular candle arrangement with a stool in the middle… As she sat I would read various Scripture to her about love, marriage, the role of a wife, the role of a husband,etc… Here I would “pop the question” … she would say “yes”… we would have our first kiss… say “I love you” for the frist time… and then follow up with a time of prayer at a candle-lit altar… God did not think my plan was appropriate… this I know because He decided to provide gusts of wind off the Atlantic that were strong enough to qualify as a small tornado… thus, nothing pertaining to candles and loose sheets of paper was going to work out… I was perplexed… What to do now???

While I was contriving plan B… I made arrangements with Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton to meet at the pier to show them the ring, have a final blessing, and then pray togther… We met at 10pm and our time together was such a blessing…

After leaving the pier, I stayed up til about 3am praying and making a contingency plan (which included minimal candles)… I slept for 1 hour… woke at 4am… After dressing rather dapper in suitcoat and all, I went out to the beach to prepare the atmosphere and set the mood… All was going well and I began my walk down the beach to Rachel’s condo… I would awake my future fiance’… we would take an early morning walk down the beach… I would propose at sunrise… and then God laughed at me again… He dedided to open the floodgates of heaven and let there be a torential downpour…

What’s a guy to do here??? Sunrise is only 45 minutes away… I’m sopping wet… My candle wicks are damp… my video camera is soaked… My plan is foiled… I nearly called it quits…

But no… I packed my supplies all into a bag… and decided to make things spontaneous… It’s about 5am now, rain is pouring down, as I drove the 2 miles down to her condo… Quickly I sent her a text message that said “Wake up babe, I have a suprise for you”… As I was driving the rain miraculously cleared up… We exchanged a few more texts and ended up meeting at my car our in front of her condo… She was very suprised to see me… not just because I was actually in SC about 12 hours earlier than she expected, but also because I was sopping wet in my suitcoat - looking like a fish out of water… We grabbed my duffle bag, a blanket, some of the candles that were still lightable, and headed out to the beach… We laid out the blanket, lit the 4 candles, set up a little boombox and a cd with some of our favorite songs… With music in the background, candlelight surrounding us, and the sunlight faintly beginning to show over the ocean, we reminisced our moments and memories… things were going so well… until… the tide decided to come in abnormally high and washed right up on our blanket and scrapbook pages…

so we moved inland a bit… once we were settled again, I proceded to read Scripture that reminded me of Rachel - her nature and character… once again things seemed to be back on track… until… the wind gusted up again blowing my scrapbook pages all across the beach, and the tide invaded my blanket for the second time…

HMMM… Can you say frustration??? I began to laugh inside knowing that I’ve never been as cool as I’d like… and I took comfort in knowing that Rachel has never expected me to be perfect… So we moved inland again, and this time made sure we would out of reach of the tide… I continued to read more Scripture about the role of a wife and the role of a husband… I told her that that I had a journal entry that I wanted to read for her… It was written on June 28th and was entitled “The Day I Asked Your Parents If I Could Marry You”… Her eyes lit up as I read the first line of my entry - “I’ve been dreaming of this day since Feb 18th…the day I knew I wanted to marry you”… As I read the rest of the entry, it concluded with the phrase - “… and in the end, we will be confident of the definition of love that we have not only known, but lived”… It was then that I got on my knee, pulled the ring out of my suitcoat pocket, and said “Rachel, I love you with everything inside of me… and it would be my priviledge if you would live out the definition of love with me as my wife…” She pulled me close and kept saying “I love you… I love you… I love you”… We shared our first kiss… held each other so close… I placed the ring on her finger… and with the light of the morning sunrise, and the sound of the crashing waves, we simply enjoyed the stillness of the moment…

Immediately, we dashed into her parents condo to share the good news with everyone… All I remember is lots of screaming and lots of suprised faces… Mrs. Hamilton prepared a great breakfast for all the family and friends that were there… Most of the afternoon was spent catching up on some much needed sleep… Evening came and we all had dinner together and watched Father of the Bride (how appropriate???)…

After the movie, Rachel and I went out to the beach for late night time of prayer… We prayed that Christ would always remain first in our marriage, and that our marriage would be a human picture of Christ’s love for His people… We prayed that our relationship to one another would fall second only to Christ… that we would remain faithful and encouraging to one another… That we would always pray for each other… that we would support one another in public and in front of our children… We prayed for our future children, our parents, and extended family… we dedicated ourselves to Scripture, Prayer, the Church, and Sabbath Rest…

The night then felt truly complete as I headed back into the condo and said goodnight to my fiance’…