The first time I saw Jubilee was at our young adult’s group at Cornerstone Church. I saw her and was absolutely amazed at her beauty. I waited around till the end and then walked up to talk to her. What happened next can only be described as being completely shut down. I asked her what her name was and through some quiet mumblings I gathered that her name was Jubilee. I then asked her what she did for a living, which I learned through some more mumblings was that she was a teacher. Since I was carrying the conversation, I gave her a chance to speak. What I got next was a “nice to meet you Luke,” followed by a 180 pivot and a brisk walk away. As I said, crashed and burned. I decided to move on, but the next week we had a game night with our young adult’s group. As I said, I had already decided that I would let it go and give her some space, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t watching her. She barely said a word all night until the group started discussing theology. Anyone who knows me knows that I cannot stay out of a fun conversation like that, but apparently neither could Jubilee. All of a sudden, this girl who had not said a word was just going on and on and on. On top of that, the theology was extraordinarily solid, and I was hooked. The next Sunday, Jubilee was wearing a beautiful blue dress, and I can honestly say that I have no idea what the preacher said that morning. After the service, I decided that I was going to work my way over there, strike up a conversation, become friends, and see where that goes. I had prepared for every scenario, except for her B lining it straight for me and breaking into an obviously rehearsed conversation starter. We had a great conversation and it ended with us going on a date. I guess she had a good time because we are now getting married.

I first saw Luke on Sunday, June 4, 2023. I remember glancing up before service started at church and seeing him talking to someone thinking “oh hey, he’s attractive.” However, I figured he must already be married–checked his left hand and found out he wasn’t. Instead I convinced myself he must have a girlfriend that just wasn’t there that week or that perhaps a friend had brought him and he wouldn’t be back, so I just brushed it off for the week.

The following week he was there again which is when I became very interested. I figured that if he had a girlfriend she would probably be at church with him, so I decided he was single. Because he came alone, I knew he chose to be at church which was a green flag. His participation during worship and that he actively followed along during the message definitely caught my attention. Several weeks passed where I was hopelessly and desperately praying that he was “the one” and that I could at least find a way to meet him.

One Sunday, I heard him talking and eavesdropped his name before I ever even met him. I also found out that he was going to our young adults group at church, so I decided to start going to that again. I finally got to meet him July 9 at the young adults group on the lawn at Cornerstone Church. At the end, as we were packing up to leave, he talked to me. I told myself he was just being polite and making small talk to fill the silence. Luke will try to tell you that I shut him down–that I only said two words. I said more than that, but he simply didn’t hear me, so when there was silence I said, “Well, it was nice to meet you,” and left. I know, I know. It sounds bad, but I had been nervous for weeks! To my defense, Luke does an excellent job of making it look like he heard something even if he didn’t, and this is what happened.

Then the following Sunday was a game night. I remember stealing glances and texting my friend Grace in the bathroom about how wonderful he was and how everything just seemed to line up. I decided that next Sunday I would talk to him at church. Let me tell you, I felt so nauseous leading up to it. He recommended a documentary called What is a Woman at the game night, so I had watched it in preparation for the next Sunday so I could have something to talk to him about. After the service, I made my approach and started absolutely rambling, but I guess it worked out because he asked me out to lunch after and now we are engaged!