Once upon a time there lived a man in Florida (Bill) and a woman in Alaska (me) who had no clue that their lives would someday be intertwined in a way that would change their lives forever.
In the meantime, the man from Florida met another woman (Nan Torrence– from Virginia) at a conference in Kansas City. And the ball started rolling…
Nan introduced Bill to her husband Woody, and they started praying for Bill to come to know Christ. Fast-forward a few years…my life intersected with Bill’s and we got married. By then Woody and Nan were praying for both of us to know Christ.
God answered their prayers. We both began following Jesus soon after we got married and then traveled from Florida to Virginia for Woody and Nan to baptize us on our first wedding anniversary. (This year, we will celebrate our 25th!) Not only that, but my daughter Angela became a Christ-follower while in college and was also baptized by Woody.
We attended and served at churches in Florida and Richmond before we finally got to move to Smith Mountain Lake in 1999. After all those years of being occasional visitors at BRCC, we were finally “home.”
So, what is this story really about? It’s about how big God’s love is. How He is not limited by geography. How He can weave people’s lives together in amazing ways. How He goes to great lengths to draw people who are far from Him into His family. How He answers when His people pray for others who don’t know Him.
It’s a story about love – the love God lavishes on us and the love He enables us to have for others.