Note: I write a weekly pastor’s column for several newspapers.  Recently, I have been writing a series I have entitled, “The Stories of My Life.”  This is one of those stories.

In a previous column, I mentioned that before giving my life to Jesus I was part of the House Band at a local nightclub.  I continued playing after giving my life to Jesus; I just changed bands and venues.  I was now part of the House Band for the church I was attending.

It was Christmastime and the youth of the church were practicing for the play.  We needed a piano player in order to pull it off correctly.  The problem was – we didn’t have one.  One girl spoke up and said, “I know somebody.  She only lives one street over.  I’ll go get her.”  As we waited, my best friend and I were standing in the pulpit of the church, guitars strapped across our shoulders, facing the entrance.  When she returned with her friend in tow, she opened the sanctuary doors and it seemed as though sunbeams began to emanate from everywhere.  There before my eyes stood the most gorgeous creature I had ever seen.  I looked at my buddy and whispered, “Who is that?”  He replied, “I don’t know.”  I said, “I don’t either, but I’m going to get a date with her!”  (I later discovered she was scoping me out too.  She asked her friend who that fine specimen of a hunk of man was!   (Or some reasonable facsimile thereof! J)  And it was me she was talking about!

When I went to pick up Marianne for our first date, I was unaware of the fact that her mother was Pentecostal Fire Baptized Holiness.  She would shout at the drop of a hat, and sometimes she’d throw the hat down just so she could shout awhile!  You need to understand that Marianne is adopted.  Her parents were older when they got her as an infant.  At this point in her life, her daddy was in his late seventies and her momma was in her late sixties.  Now, being Fire Baptized Pentecostal Holiness, her mother wasn’t supposed to have a television in the house.  However, due to the fact that Marianne’s daddy was NOT Pentecostal Fire Baptized Holiness, her momma had a loophole!  And she loved watching wrestling on Saturday afternoon.  In fact, it was one of those Saturday afternoon’s when I walked up on the porch to pick up Marianne.  The front door was open, so I peered through the screen door and knocked.  Without even looking up from her wrestling, her mother told me to come in.  For what seemed like an eternity, I waited to be recognized.  However, she was pre-occupied weaving, bobbing, and body-slamming with the wrestlers on TV.  Finally, she glanced at me and then promptly turned right back to her wrestling.  Suddenly, she shook her head, as if to clear the cobwebs, looked back up at me, threw both hands in the air, and began shouting, “Glory hallelujah!  Thank you, Jesus!  You’re the one!”  By this time, I’m backing up.  I asked, “Ma’am, I’m the one what?”  She said, “You’re the one who is going to marry my daughter; God has already shown you to me!”  I said, “Uh-uh!  Noooooo!  I’m just here for a date!”  Six months later we were married.  Forty-four years, four children, seven grandchildren, and one greatgrandchild later, I’m still married to the love of my life!

So, what is the Spiritual application of my life story today?  It’s simple.  Even when we don’t see it, God has a plan for our lives.  God gave me what I didn’t realize I needed.  I was barely in the market for a girlfriend, much less a wife!  But God gave me one.  And she is without a doubt the best thing, aside from Jesus, that has ever happened to me.  I wasn’t a preacher, yet he gave me the best Pastor’s wife that has ever been.  I wasn’t a father, but He have me the best mother He ever created to be the mother of my children.  He gave me a best friend, a life-partner, and a love story that consists of the stuff of which books are written and movies are made.  In fact, I look at her quite often and say, “Baby, me and you are ‘The Dynamic Duo.’  We’re ‘Fatman & Robin!’”  (Misspelling intentional!)

If God has a plan for my life, surely, He has a plan for yours.  Let’s flesh-out that plan in 2019!

Brother Aaron