First Thought

From the first time that I heard about Nicole, my interest was sparked. I overheard a conversation that her roommate and someone else was having, and her roommate said, "I wish I was as disciplined as Nicole when it comes to reading the Bible, I see her reading it every morning." I of course wasn't head over heels for her just because I heard this detail, but it definitely made me begin thinking. It's not everyday that you hear girls speaking so highly of others when they are not around, especially about devotion to Christ. My philosophy when it comes to searching for a future wife comes from Proverbs 31:30, "Charm is deceitful, beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised." It wasn't necessarily confirmed that she was this kind of woman, because I never even met her, but it was my hope.

When I heard this, it was the start of fall semester of my sophomore year, her freshman year. But it was not the best timing, as I felt I was unprepared and too spiritually immature to be in a godly relationship. So this interest was placed on pause for a while, as I needed to grow in my relationship in Christ and be sanctified by the Spirit in particular areas of my life. In retrospect, I am grateful that the Lord placed this desire on my heart, because I may have made damaging mistakes in the relationship if it was by my timing, not His.

First Impressions

His timing for the relationship to begin came half a year later in the spring semester, as she just so happened to start introducing herself into my friend group. She also just so happened to be in the same Old Testament class as me, which was a blessing and a curse. It was a blessing because I got the opportunity to see her twice a week, which led me to form a crush on her, even if it was while we learned about archeology of Biblical artifacts. On the other side, it was a curse, as I did not retain any information that I learned about archeology of Biblical artifacts, instead, I was thinking about her.

But even though I was thinking about Nicole and her devotion to Scripture reading, I still never really talked to her, and the only things I knew about her came from other's conversations. This finally changed one day in the dining hall though, as Nicole and her friend joined me and my friend during a meal. The conversation was pretty surface level between us four, just typical dinner talk, until my friend showed the group a simple magic trick. I understood how the trick worked right away, but Nicole struggled to get it for a while, which caused a detrimental mistake on my part. Between the silliness of the trick and my nervousness that I was sitting with my crush, my mind for some reason thought it would be a quality move to call her a, "dumb blonde". I of course would never call her such a blatant insulting name again, but I guess I have a knack for terrible first impressions. Eventually when we were in the relationship, she told me that she was slightly hurt by that, which then did lead to my repentance for my past stupidity.

After my great first impression moment, we still didn't really interact, even though she was attending the hangouts that our friends held. But I then received some news that boosted my confidence majorly. Our friend group went on a ski trip for a few days, which I did not attend because of being broke. And while they were on that trip, Nicole told one of our friends that if she had to date someone from Lancaster Bible College, then she guess it would be Devyn Kintzer. Of course, the friend told me, and I knew there was no chance she would reject an offer to go on a date. So after that, my plan was to go up to her after class one of the days and shoot my shot.

First Date

Of course, my cowardice got the best of me, and every time I told myself that today was the day I was going to ask her, I backed out. Until... there was only 5 weeks left in the semester. I finally told myself that there was no backing out, I had to do it that day. The whole class, I was shaking and sweating, and didn't hear a single thing the professor said. But right as the professor let class out, she darted out the room, and I still had all my stuff on the table in front of me. So I quickly scrambled out the door after her, and saw her way down the hallway, so I called out her name in a awkward voice. I asked her to coffee, and she said yes, and the first date could not have gone any better, as conversation flowed effortlessly.

First Commitments

Just for a quick snapshot of our dating journey, we dated for a year and eight months. During this journey, we like any couple had our ups and downs, but it was evident from the start that we meshed extremely well. We also had the same philosophy of dating, that so many people quit so quickly, but we desired to talk through things and commit ourselves to each other through thick and thin. Another piece of our philosophy is the person you should marry is the person who commits their life to Christ wholeheartedly, and doesn't compromise for anything less. Of course there's caveats to that, but Nicole is extremely committed to Christ, which is the most attractive thing in a Christian woman.

First Steps

Moving on to the engagement, which happened on December 8th, 2024. The weeks leading up to the engagement, Nicole continuously hinted at how I needed to propose soon because of when we wanted to get married. If I continued waiting, it would be more difficult to book a venue. So, that was my motivation to begin planning a proposal, which many of you know I am not necessarily a good planner. So the week of the proposal, I told Nicole that the student ministry that I work for asked if I could go pick up Christmas trees from a tree farm for the youth room. I asked if she would want to join me, as I knew she would say yes because she likes those types of places. After that part of the plan was complete, I visited a tree farm and got in contact with a photographer. The tree farm was measly, and not picturesque, but it was the closest one to the church. So I settled with that farm and told the photographer about it. I then had to get past the issue of her being dressed nicely, because I didn't want to ask her to dress nice because she would have known what was happening. I told her that we were supposed to do it that Sunday, that way she would have already been dressed nicely from church.

After that, I had to coordinate with her father a good time for me to pick up the rings. The rings we have are her grandmother's, who desired the rings to stay within the family. After getting them refitted and having bought a new band and setting, they were given to her father to hold on to until I asked for his blessing. So I drove to her house, with my location off, had a good conversation with her father, got his blessing, and was given the rings. I then stopped at a different tree farm on the way home, just in case it was better than the other. Turns out, it was perfect, the scenery was just what I wanted. Unfortunately, it was much further than the other farm, but I just told Nicole that one of the other workers from the church I work at also works at this tree farm, and gave the church discounts, so that's why it was so far away. So at this point, everything was set, and on Saturday night, Nicole and I had a meal together, which had a coincidental turn.

During the meal, Nicole questioned me about why I haven't proposed yet. If I wasn't proposing the next day, I would have gone the route that I did, but I saw the opportunity and took it. I told Nicole that I am just too busy right now and don't have time to be thinking about that right now. I told her that maybe I could do it next month when things slow down and I have time. This struck a nerve on her, and she said, "If I didn't know any better, I would think you just don't care very much." I felt bad after she said that, but I knew she was going to be happy the next day, so I doubled down. She then asked why I haven't gotten the ring from her dad yet, because I had opportunities to at thanksgiving, and I told her I just didn't think it was a good time.

That night, I did not sleep well, even though my manipulation was working out all too well. I was nervous, I wanted the plan to work exactly the way I pictured it. Sunday morning came, and I was even more nervous, proven by my constant sweating. Then I got a text that was dreadful to read. Nicole told me she was going home to take a nap, which was bad because I thought she was going to change out of her nice clothes. The plan was that she would come straight from church and pick me up, so she wouldn't have had time to change. But at that point, I was proposing no matter what even if she was in sweatpants. But my prayers were answered, because when she showed up, she was still wearing her church clothes, which she napped in. We got to the farm, and I told her we were looking for trees that had tags on them that said, "CSM" which is the ministry I work for. We searched for a while, and then I told her that I thought I found one of the trees, but the handwriting was very bad. She came over and read it, which I actually planted a piece of paper on the tree asking her to marry me. She turned around, with tears in her eyes, I said some gushy stuff, asked her to marry me, and she said yes.

N&D

Wedding Reception