Bashar Echad. אחד בשר

It’s no secret. Drew and I are getting hitched. In seven months I'm going to be a PW (pastor's wife)!

And let’s be honest…

I’ve never been more excited about anything in my entire life! He is an incredible man and I feel so blessed. There is no one else I would rather walk beside, hand-in-hand, on this life-long journey of pursuing Jesus.

Ok. Now, to combat this bombardment of “how-did-he-propose” questions, I am going to write all about it on this blog. Please understand, if I refer you here to read the story, it’s because I’ve already told the story at lease 50 times and I’m starting to lose my mind. You know there’s a problem when you hardly have to think as you are telling the story because you are reciting it from memory with the exact same phrases, facial expressions, and voice intonations. So, it’s not that I don’t want to tell you, I’m just getting a little worn out because it is a long and extravagant story—not something to complain about :)

Here we go.

Early last week, he asked me out on date for Saturday night, November 15. We had already picked out my ring a month earlier and I knew he probably had it, so now every date had that hint of anticipation at the possibility of his pending proposal. But, in the days leading up to Saturday, he downplayed our date and mentioned going to a movie and keeping it low-key. So, I didn’t think twice about Saturday. Little did I know, the tricky little devil was busy busy meeting with my parents, planning and orchestrating the whole ordeal, and depriving himself of sleep. I love him.

On Saturday afternoon, after I got off work, I called him and he said “I have a lot of work to get done on my sermon for Sunday night. Do you think you could just meet me at the church? I’ll be up in the study room and you can come sit with me until I finish.”

Ha. So, I’ll admit it, I was a little annoyed. My thought was, “How lame. We’re going on a date and you’re not even going to pick me up? Really? And doing work on a Saturday? Come on. ” But of course I did the typical girl thing, I just conveyed my annoyance through my tone of voice and agreed to meet him there. Although, not without first saying, “Okay, I’ll take my time then.”

His immediate response was, “No no no! Come now…I…uh…want to show you the Logos Software up in this room.” Good save. Of course, I did not catch on at all, and drove to the church in a pissy mood.

When I got up to the room and saw a sign on the door reading, “Come in Ms. Fannin and look on the window,” it finally dawned on me. My first thought? “I’m an idiot.” Second thought? “AHHH! It’s finally happening!”

Inside the room on the window was a sign that said to call Juli in California. So I called my bestey and she read me the first of five letters documenting the entirety of our relationship. He described his thoughts in detail and eloquence at each major point in our time together.

The first letter was about the first time we met, which was in the chapel, that actually could be seen looking down through that window. It was a high school youth group dance party of which I was a leader, and I vaguely remember being absolutely crazy that night and I think even dancing to thriller. Anyhow, he wrote about how he was drawn towards me that night and saw the joy of the Lord in me. At the bottom of the letter was the first of the “fruits of the spirit” that he put on each letter.

JOY.

Next I went to Rick Sawczuck’s office, where Gabe read me the second letter about my trip to Cambodia in 2007. This chronicled the beginning of our relationship as an officially dating couple, our first “I love yous,” and the two weeks of not seeing each other. At the bottom of the letter were the words:

PATIENCE and FAITHFULNESS.

After that, was Starbucks on 75^th, where Rochelle gave me my favorite coffee and then read me the next letter. This skipped back to our first couple of coffee dates right after we met. This letter and the next two after it were slightly out of order, as they occurred before Cambodia. He did not want me to leave the church and then have to come back, so that makes sense. He wrote about first getting to know each other and how much peace and goodness he felt in spending time with me.

PEACE and GOODNESS.

Next, was Kate’s Greek Restaurant in downtown Everett, where we had our third date, progressing from coffee to lunch. Coincidentally, this was where I told him to “get lost.” Brooks and Christy were there to read the fourth letter documenting when I politely reminded him that I was 18 years old and “not interested in marriage so why would I be interested in dating?” After his initial look of terror at the revelation that he had somehow missed my age, I told him that we could no longer spend time alone. This was a typical move for me, the girl who, by choice, had never seriously dated anyone, and thought celibacy might be a wise course of action for her life. At the time, Drew was too “white-picket-fence” for me, and just simply did not fit into the plans that I had for my future adventurous life. Too bad I didn’t pay much attention to Prov. 16:9. This was the beginning of six months of little to no communication in which God worked in both of our hearts in different ways. During this time of separation and self-control, I heard his name around the church as a new up-and-coming leader and it didn’t take long for our paths to cross in ministry. Serving alongside each other in the high school group and being in the same group of friends eventually led us to express feelings and begin our relationship afresh, in a now obedient time. This was a time of listening intently to the voice of God and encouraging each other to “just keep walking.”

SELF-CONTROL.

The last letter was read by Ty and Mal at Haborview lookout in Mukilteo. This was where he poured out his heart to me one night after a Sunday night youth group, about a month before my first trip to Cambodia. He told me all about his past mistakes, decisions, relationships, etc. and sobbed as he asked me to forgive him for who he had been. I held him and comforted him in that vulnerable moment, and I remember asking Jesus the whole night to “help me to love him the way that He did.” Mostly, I just told him that all of that was washed away, and that he was a new man. And that I did forgive him. This was a major point where we both realized, this might be it.

KINDNESS AND GENTLENESS.

At this point I was tallying up all of the “fruits of the Spirit” in my head and I realized they were all done…except wait… LOVE. So I jumped in my car and drove as fast as I could to Mukilteo beach. When I got there I was greeted by one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen in my entire life. It had been raining for weeks and I am convinced that Jesus painted that sunset that night, just for us. At this point, I received a text that said, “walk towards the water, take a left, go as far as you can, and you might find what you’re looking for.” I ran. There he was sitting on a log and I removed my shoes and joined him. He had his Bible open to Proverbs 31, “The Wife of Noble Character,” and he began to read. He got about three words into it before he began to cry—more like bawl. So, as he struggled his way through the passage, I looked through the tears staining the pages, and saw that the passage was completely marked up—circled, underlined. When he finished, he looked at me and said something to the effect of, “I’ve been reading this passage for months now, and I realize that this is who you are. This who you will always be.”

Then he got down on one knee, pulled out the ring and asked “Will you marry me?”

I promptly said “Yes!” And then kissed him right on the lips…for the first time! My first kiss! I startled him so much that later on he had to clarify, “Did you say yes? I don’t even remember!”

At that point I knelt in the sand next to him and we prayed, a big, snotty mess of love :)

Later on, Greg came out of his car and took some lovely pictures of us:

Then we went back to the Beasley’s, and they had a lovely party for us with the Sawczuck’s, Ty and Mal, Brooks and Christy, and my parents. We toasted with some sparkling cider and played a fun game together, chalk full of marriage advice. Lastly, we ended the night with James Bond. A perfect ending to a perfect night.

The wedding will most likely be the weekend of June 13^th, so everyone should start saving the date.

There are so many things that I look forward to in this next season of life as I embark on so many new adventures with nursing school, pastoring the High school college group at new life, gaining a real career (it will be interesting to see how I am able to balance everything in this next semester)... but more than anything is just the idea of becoming “one flesh” with him. And I don’t just mean sex. Although that will be great too. I mean just partnering with him in every area of my life. In the Hebrew the words are:

Bashar Echad. אחד בשר

One flesh.

The word, Echad, in Hebrew is also found in the Hebrew Shema, repeated by all young Jewish boys in schooling. “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one (Echad).” So, what God was really saying when he declared, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh,” was that the man and the woman would become one, just as God is one. What a powerful concept and what a thrilling journey. To spend the rest of our lives in pursuit of Jesus, becoming one with Him and one with each other. One flesh.