Why I Waited 'til Marriage to Kiss My Wife

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Why I Waited 'til Marriage to Kiss My Wife

I had a close friend once tell me that there are two times in your life where those you know will really show up to support you, at your wedding and at your funeral. 

When my wife and I were married, it was a party, but it didn’t come easy. We paid for most of it out of our own pockets. We had the right music, the right cake, and had waited for the right moment to kiss each other for the very first time. 

Yes, before our wedding day, my wife and I had never kissed. 

It wasn’t because we didn’t want to. Trust me, we REALLY wanted to. I certainly wanted to. I would consider myself as much of a man as any guy, so when I say I wanted to kiss the woman I loved, I really wanted to kiss her. In fact, there was plenty more I wanted to do too. (Cue Marvin Gaye music).

But before I say too much, you need to know something about our story.

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Year in Review

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Year in Review

So, we knew we wanted to share about this past year. We wanted to share where we are coming from. But first, I want to say that this past year has been a “butt kicker”. There have been moments where we loved it and where we hated it. I’ll be honest, the majority of the time I hated it, but for what we’ve learned and how far we’ve come, I wouldn’t change it for the world.

This past year we also started MissionBrand. This is a company specifically designed to support missionaries through the sale of custom apparel that my incredibly talented husband designs. We learned a lot from this experience, too. Things don’t always go the way you expect them to. We received an incredible amount of moral support and encouragement. A lot of people have said that we inspired them to take steps of faith out into the unknown. This meant so much to us! Would I do it again? Um…Oh God, please don’t ask us to do this again. Will He ask us to do this again? Probably.

In January 2013, we said goodbye to some incredible students that it had been our privilege of ministering to since 2009, both as volunteers and then as their youth pastors. This was one of the most challenging things we have ever had to walk through. During that season, we had some of the most rewarding and heartbreaking experiences of our lives. We learned a lot and we didn’t do everything perfectly but, by God’s grace, we did our best.

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We Are The Vigilant

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We Are The Vigilant

What is “We are the Vigilant”?

Or, perhaps the more appropriate question is “what does it mean to be Vigilant?”

About a year ago my husband and I sat down to talk about what we wanted. We have these conversations often. But this conversation was different. We were taking a giant step. We were launching a business that would seek to support missionaries through the design and sale of apparel. Those we knew thought it was a great idea. We thought it was a great idea. In fact, we still think it’s a great idea. We know that our mandate as Christians is to “go and make disciples of all nations” according to Matthew 28:19. We believe we will one day go abroad to do some of the work we’re so passionate in supporting. But in the midst of that conversation we had to admit something was missing. We were leaving vocational student ministry to strike out on our own, only our passion for students and reaching younger generations had not changed. Even now, we are still just as zealous to see students serve God with passion and consistency. It was out of this conversation that the idea for We are the Vigilant was born.

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