My Ever-Convincing Husband

11 yrs ago last month I met S. Taylor. He immediately disregarded (& nearly mocked) my insistence that I not date. If only I had known what I was up against! His idea of giving me space was bringing "non-flowers" to assure me that "this isn't a romantic relationship". (These included baby's breath with no flowers, and real estate magazines re-fashioned to look like a bouquet of flowers.) We just "happened" to run into each other all over campus and "yes I'll go to coffee" just "happened" to turn into an 8 hour dinner date. It wasn't long before I realized whether I liked it or not this was a relationship and I didn't have much to say about it. But like anyone else who has fallen for S.'s vision, ideas, and grand plans, I loved every minute of it. It was faith building, stretching, exhilarating, and just plain fun.

See, S. has this effect on people. Since being charmed on our college campus, I have watched S. come up with hundreds of ideas and manage to get large groups of people on board with him. In our neighborhood he managed to convince a group of teenagers that a fun Saturday activity is neighborhood clean up. Somehow everyone who comes to work on his '63 Fairlane leaves thinking it was a privilege to work on S.'s car with him. He acquired a '69 Dodge Van that no one wanted & told everyone what a great ministry tool it would be. Somehow he managed to get an x-box donated to mount in the back, flashy lights for the top, full vinyl wrap to advertise on the exterior...and the ministry machine was born.

Once we bought a house that was out of our means because S. swept into our 900 square foot cottage, kissed my cheeks and proclaimed, "I've found our dream home! Get in the car!" He walked me through the acre at 911 Hampton Rd, peeked in the windows of the sadly deteriorating 1936 farmhouse and whispered the vision in my ear. I caught the vision, God blessed it (in the most unique way funding a remodel), and again it was faith building, stretching, exhilarating.

I try to be the rational, practical one in our relationship but I confess that I love S.'s ideas. They have sometimes caused me tears, frustration, and an empty checkbook. But we have also had some mountaintop experiences because he is all-out, full of faith, passionate, never bored, and out for adventure.

On a much smaller scale S. told me this week, "you need to start a blog." I protested saying "There are too many blogs out there already...I'm not eloquent or as profound as many blogs I read...I probably wouldn't even keep it up..." My arguments fell on deaf ears (& were met with eye rolls). While I said "probably not" S. started listing blog names, putting together my blog page, and finding pictures to accompany the creative names. While I fed kids lunch and did dishes, a blog was created and handed to me by a visionary who has better ideas than I do.