I thought I was going to Phoenix Seminary to get my M.A. degree, not my M.R.S. degree, but God had other ideas. CHARACTERS: ~ Kerry - classmate & carpool buddy, pastor's wife, matchmaker ~ Chestin - high school friend, dental hygienist, matchmaker #2 ~ Mark - stud muffin, to-be soul mate, follower of Christ ~ Caris - unsuspecting, clueless, wants to focus on graduate school with no distractions SCENE: driving home from 2nd class KERRY: So, what are you looking for in a future husband? [CARIS thinks K is just making conversation, so she lists a few things] K: [pause] I wonder if you and Mark would be a good match... C: [raises eyebrows] Who's Mark? [K describes the perfect man] C: Well, if you really want to pursue this, go ahead, but I'm not doing a thing. - A couple weeks later - CHESTIN: So, I hear my pastor's wife is trying to set you up with one of my best buds. CARIS: Oh, so you two are in cahoots?! CH: Yeeeeaaaah C: Well, tell me a bit about Mark. CH: He's sorta a nerd. C: That could go many ways... what sort of nerd? CH: He likes video games. [C nods, but inside is thinking, "This is a 30-year-old who still makes a hobby of playing video games?" She finds out later that MARK also lives with his parents. C creates a mental image of a total bum living in his parents' basement playing video games and eating potato chips. "Is this even the same guy K told me about?"] - Eventually C's number gets to M via CH. M texts C on a Saturday night, and by the following week, they had planned to meet over lunch on Thursday. M & C spend 3 hours talking over lunch and decide to meet up again on Friday of the following week. The next day C gets a text from M: "Friday is too long to wait and see you again - how about you come to church with me this Sunday?" - And from then on, C & M found it harder and harder to be apart. Eventually they figured out how to solve the problem of being apart: spend a lifetime together! And that's exactly what they're going to do. ;)

On September 20, 2018 I met my little slice of grace. That day was one for the books. I woke up to find the air conditioner in my car was only blowing hot air. Driving in the heat is not fun, but it was on a drive that I got the call from ASU and they offered me a supervisor position! I was so happy, but the two minutes I was on the phone with the window up left me in a state of very sweaty and a bit funky. Now the funk is usually not a big deal when I’m heading home, but I wasn’t going home. I was on my way to a first date with a lovely girl named Caris. We had been texting each other for a week before I asked if we could meet. She graciously said yes. Now here I am all funky, excited, no AC, and it’s about 97 degrees out with no cloud coverage. It was when I got to the restaurant early and sat down at the booth that everything hit me at once. My leg was bouncing up and down like crazy. I could’ve stomped through the restaurant floor. I was just on overload! I prayed and prayed just to calm down and then….and then she walked in, and everything just slowed down. She was beautiful, even more so than I ever could’ve imagined. Her smile, her laugh, her heart for the Lord. She was amazing! I always thought that “when you know, you know” phrase was kind of nonsense, but man I knew. God put it on my heart and it was my “simple” brain that kept saying, “Really? But it was only one date. I can’t jump to marriage already”. But my heart was captured by this beautiful girl and I was done for! So on December 11, 2018 I got down on one knee and asked if she would be my bride, and this lovely girl said yes! I never wouldn’t imagined this would happen, but God is so good. In fact He is the greatest storyteller ever! I’m blessed that He got to the chapter where our names are written with pen. Now every time you read my story, her name will be there. Oh and Caris is a Greek name meaning grace. My love… My grace… My Caris.