Two of my best friends got engaged this weekend. This is a very good thing.

[Appropriately, this week's WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge is the topic "Companionable". I could think of no better picture to post and story to tell than this.]

That there is a picture of David and Elizabeth Jane. (They’re in the process of converting to the Orthodox family of the Church, where the ring is on the right hand.)

David here is my oldest friend. Being bad at keeping friends that don’t live near me, this means that our friendship is about five-and-a-half years old. Not a crazy long time, I know. But for what we lack on the front-end duration of our friendship, we definitely make up for it in our desire to stay friends for decades to come.

We’ve seen each other through spiritual darkness, relational pain, and dramatic theological changes. He’s an amazing drywaller, photographer, writer, farmer (as of recently), and general human being.

And he got engaged to an incredible woman this weekend.

I got the email the day after he first saw EJ at church. He had made eye contact with her, broken it, and made it again–only to sheepishly look away and not talk to her after the service. He wrote me later, kicking himself for it. But that first look lingered, and eventually turned into a proper greeting.

I think I can say that their relationship story is my favorite of all my friends. It has drama, difficulty, tears, laughs, road trips, nicknames, inside-jokes, and joy. And this story comes to the Engagement chapter with the two protagonists already having been completely and utterly changed and altered from when they began–all for the better.

I’ve been able to observe in David a picture of how a man loves when their love can only be anchored in the power and grace of a suffering and serving God. In EJ, I’ve seen a woman driven by a dogged perseverance to be the kind of woman God would have her to be.

I’ve had the funniest moments of my life with them. They’ve seen the deepest sobs and tears of mine–more than anyone else in my life. In their relationship, I’ve seen some of the most profound pictures of love. I’ve seen some of the darkest demons encountered–and conquered, by the grace of God.

I’m sorry to sound dramatic (no I’m not), but these two people mean so much to me, and I hope to convey even the tiniest sense of that to the wider world.

No one deserves to have a David and EJ-type couple in their lives, but I pray that everyone might have the gift of one: to see, watch, love, and be loved by.

Congratulations, David and Elizabeth Jane. I love you guys.

And the dancing at your wedding is going to be legendary. DJ, turn it up.

(FY,B!)

See my past Weekly Photo Challenges & Photo Sermons here.

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Whether you’re a beginner or a professional, you’re invited to get involved in our Weekly Photo Challenge to help you meet your blogging goals and give you another way to take part in Post a Day / Post a Week. Everyone is welcome to participate, even if your blog isn’t about photography.

Here’s how it works:

1. Each week, we’ll provide a theme for creative inspiration. You take photographs based on your interpretation of the theme, and post them on your blog (a new post!) anytime before the following Friday when the next photo theme will be announced.

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