Okay, this note is for everyone wondering just exactly how and when I got engaged to Joey Sawatzky. Sit down, hold on tight...

It was Friday at about supper, and I had no idea I would even see Joey at all. We had planned to go on a date the following day, but as far as I knew, Friday was an average day. He phoned me, and soon he was over at VVBC for supper. Right after supper, my old youth group showed up to do some grounds work for the camp, and Christine & Tracy (my youth leaders) chased me down to say hi and to check my finger for a ring--just a joke. We laughed about it, and even thought about how funny it would be if I had a fake ring on that finger just to trick people.

Camp was pretty full of people, and this being the first time Joey and I had seen eachother in a month, we didn't want to be stuck amongst a crowd. It was pretty chilly outside, so our best option was to go for a drive. We headed south of camp on random country roads until we came to a sign that said, "No thru road". "This looks good" said Joey, and I just thought, "ummmm....?!?" Joey drove until he literally couldn't drive any further, and we got out to walk.

It was still really chilly. Perhaps worse. The terrain wasn't very suitable for walking, so we slowly turned back to the car, and I was trying to figure out something we should do. Shivering from the cold and hugging Joey to keep warm, I asked, "what are we going to do?!?"

And that's when it happened. He said, "What I came here to do" and bent down on one knee. (I think I gave him a really awkward look. I was confused because I thought he was pulling out a camera. "we came here to take pictures?" It just didn't make sense!) "Andrea, will you marry me?"

At this moment I forgot to breath, reverted back to my childhood, sped forward to the future, started to cry, started to laugh, and fell to my knees, all the while trying to spit out, "yes... Yes... YES!" I hugged him so tight, and I couldn't stop crying/laughing. I hadn't even seen the ring! All I know is that the man of my dreams was on his knees, completely vulnerable before me, and I loved him more than I could have ever thought possible.

I don't really know how long we knelt there in the sand together, but it seemed like an eternity. Sometime or other we remembered the ring, and he opened the case and I put it on.  (Funny how I never told him what I like, yet he bought exactly what I would have picked. NO ONE knew what I liked.) When we stood up, I could feel him shaking... not just little shivers, but big waves. He was so nervous! I don't blame him. He could not have planned a better time. I definitely did not expect to be engaged this spring!!!

Anyways, we drove back to VVBC to show everyone the ring and spread our joy. I phoned my parents (my mom's reaction was pretty close to mine, I think), and Christine and Tracy just had to laugh at the irony of how we had been joking about me being engaged prior to Joey's proposal. It was just so perfect!!!

Thanks to all of you who made a point to remember Joey and I in your prayers. I am not exaggerating when I say that God used you to carry out His will in our lives. Please keep thinking of us... I'm sure there are going to be days when I'm sure I've gone nuts and I'll need to have a good cry, but I am facing it head on--God's guiding us.... and I am so excited!

-Andrea

interruption

I have been sucked into a world I fully anticipated entering but never really expected! 12 days ago Joey proposed to me... and I said yes! I am engaged to be maried, and I could not have been prepared for it EVER in my whole entire life. There are certain things you can dream about, but you will never fully understand them until they turn from dreams to reality. That is how I feel! In the not-so-distant future I will not be "just me", but one with someone else. What a strange, intrusive, wonderful thought! What a timely interruption this is in my life... I can't even explain it. I'm afraid I am probably just going to make you more left out of the loop by writing this than if I had said nothing at all. All these things, these thoughts, these moments I will treasure up in my heart, known to no one else but God. He is a good God...

receive the word implanted

Tomorrow I am heading out on a new adventure... Okay, it's not terribly adventuresome, but it is a change of scenery. I'm heading to Manitoba to start working at Valley View Bible Camp for the whole summer. I am quite excited to see some friends and to get off my behind, but that excitement is dulled simply because I have so much to do today. I am sick of packing!

I listened to a very interesting sermon yesterday. It was about the judgement seat of Christ, and one of the last points the preacher made was that his message, if ignored, was enough to condemn you to hell. It was a very bold statement, but not out of place. It fit the rest of his sermon and the style in which he preached. The point is that we are responsible for how we react to the Word of God. Isaiah 55:10-11 states,

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there without watering the earth and making it bear and sprout, and furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; it will not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

God's word is so extremely important--Christians above all others are responsible for how they respond to it.

One of my all time favourite verses speaks on this very matter. Deuteronomy 32:46-47: "Take to your heart all the words with which I am warning you today, which you shall command your sons to observe carefully, even all the words of this law. For it is not an idle word for you; indeed it is your life." These aren't just words that have no meaning--they are life! The Word of God is the very sustenance of the Christian. Without engaging in it and allowing God to convict you through it, Christians can never expect to grow.

Now comes the time where we must choose between rejecting the Word or receiving it.

See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity, in that I command you today to the love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgements, that you may live and multiply, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it... I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days...

This quote is from Deuteronomy 30:15-16, 19-20. It makes it undeniably clear that we are to "in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save [our] souls" (James 1:21).

Do not take His Word lightly.