The Greatest Proposal of All Time!

Did you know that I accepted a proposal at the age of 16?  I know, sixteen is pretty young, right?  Let me tell you the story of the greatest proposal of all time and why I’m still not married.

Actually this story starts back when I was twelve years old, and I though I briefly touched on it in my post, Treasures, back in September, I want to take a moment and share the rest of the story.

You see, even though I was a shy little middle school girl, I attended church camp with two of my friends from church.  (Side note: remind me to someday tell you the story about how I managed to arrive there.  What a trip, literally and figuratively!)I grew up going to Sunday school and church.  I had heard the stories of David and Goliath (my Dad tells it best) and Jonah’s fish story.  I knew about Noah and the Ark, that Jesus was God’s Son and that He died on a cross because He loves me.  What I didn’t know was the depth of His love.

Camp brought those stories to life and for the first time in my life, I really felt the love that God had for me.  Maybe it was the setting or the songs around campfires, or just the fellowship with other believers, but it suddenly became a lot clearer to me of what it meant to be a Christian.

Through the years I continued to attend camp, meeting up with friends that I hadn’t seen for a year and reveling in God’s glorious nature.  We went on night hikes, we developed crushes on the cute boys from our cabins (or sometimes the counselors) and we cried on Friday night because we didn’t want it to end.Then something changed during my last week at camp as a camper. Teenage hormones were running high that week and it seemed like everyone was pairing off into couples.  I’m pretty sure my friend Eli was “dating” two different girls within the span of six days!

I developed a crush on a beautiful Irishman, Brian, who was the counselor for one of the other age groups.  I was in his group for one of the all-camp activities that we participated in and stuck close by his side.

The afternoon ended with a water battle at the pump along the trail and Brian grabbed me up and held me so that the other guy counselors could drench me with a bucket load of icy spring water.

Afterwards, our group returned to our cabins to get cleaned up and to take a nap. It was then, while the rest of the cabin was sleeping and I lay restless on my bunk, that I was asked something that I never expected to hear.

It was a simple question, posed by a guy that I thought was pretty incredible and by the way he posed the question, I understood that he felt the same way about me.

I didn’t answer right away.  I think I was a little shell shocked by the experience.  However, I did tell my counselor, Deb.  And that is when she invited me that evening, under a blanket of stars, to go and pray at the foot of the cross in the meadow before giving my answer.After praying and crying enough tears that would have filled up one of the buckets we had used earlier in the day at the pump, I answered him.

I said, “Yes, Jesus, I will give you my heart.  I have loved you for a long time and now I understand how much you love me.  Take my life and let me be yours.”

At the age of sixteen, at the base of a sixteen foot cross, I accepted the greatest proposal of all time.

And today, over a decade later, as I went to satisfy my cravings for some local grub, I heard on KLOVE one of the greatest explanations of how Jesus’ words at the Last Supper were much more than a plea to remember, but of a promise for tomorrow.

Watch this video of Mike Donehey of Tenth Avenue North give his explanation.