Central Abbotsford

This week, on August 25, our family celebrated the 21st edition of an annual tradition that has come to be known as “Blizzard Day”. Blizzard Day is a simple celebration; we all head down to the local Dairy Queen and enjoy our favourite version of soft serve ice cream blended with crumbled up candy of some kind or another. As you might have guessed, there’s a story behind Blizzard Day, and as all good stories go, it’s one where I look a little foolish…

It was the waning days of the summer of 2005. Having recently completed a Master’s degree in History, I was living in Vancouver, but somewhat directionless in life, having gone back to work at my old job at a furniture store. There was one area in my life, however, where I did not lack direction. On August 25, I had plans to ask Andrea to marry me.

I had arranged most (but not all, as you will see) of the details. Andrea was visiting family in Abbotsford at the end of her first year of medical school. We made plans to get together for dinner at a nice restaurant in Langley that evening. Unbeknownst to Andrea, that morning, I had arranged a meeting with her parents to honour them by formally asking for their permission to marry her (I did not have a contingency plan in place if the answer was “no”). I had the ring at the ready. All that was left was actually asking the question.

We met for dinner, which is where the lack of detail in my planning first started to show. I had hoped (but for some reason not asked) that we would have a relatively private table, so that I could pop the question at some point during our dinner. However, we were seated at a table right in a high-traffic spot. Not being one to make a scene, I didn’t ask for a different table; instead, I thought I’d wait to see if there was a quiet enough “perfect moment”. If not, I’d just figure out another plan. Unsurprisingly, the perfect moment did not materialize.

As a result, dinner went off relatively uneventfully, so when we were done I suggested that we find a nice park to go for a walk, figuring that there would be a romantic enough location in nature on a pleasant August evening to serve as an appropriate proposal backdrop. However, neither of us had spent much time in Langley over the years, and 2005 predated the smartphone by long enough that there was no way to pull up Google Maps (which was then only six months old) to find a nearby park. The idea was vetoed. Still no “perfect moment”.

Plan C, therefore, was dessert. Why not find a nice, cozy, dessert place to ask Andrea to marry me? Again, though, neither of us were familiar with the offerings available in Langley; plus, we were driving two cars and there was no easy way to communicate with one another even if we decided to drive aimlessly around town to find something. So Andrea suggested that we just go to the nearby Dairy Queen – the one near the mall that shared a parking lot with Safeway. As romantic as it gets, but I had backed myself into something of a corner. So, DQ it was.

We ate our Blizzards and sat chatting in the front seat of Andrea’s car as the sun set behind the grocery store. The evening was clearly drawing to a close; I had to work in Vancouver the next day and Andrea was going to have to head back to Abbotsford, where her family was expecting some big news. There was no more waiting for a perfect moment: it was time to act.

And that is how I ended up asking my wife to marry me in the passenger seat of a grey 2003 Chevy Cavalier in a parking lot outside of a fast-food restaurant. I maintain to this day that the ends have justified the means, but the story is certainly memorable enough that we can celebrate it yearly!

Why tell this story (aside from the humblebrag that my personality must be something really great if I could still elicit a “yes” in those circumstances)? Perhaps you have sensed a call on your life to take some additional steps to grow spiritually  – it might be a big change, or it might be a small one. Maybe it’s something as simple as starting a daily Scripture reading, or maybe as life-altering as moving to serve in ministry far afield. But it doesn’t feel like the “perfect moment”, so you have resisted.

Ecclesiastes 11:4 reads “He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap.” What the Teacher is telling us in this verse is that there is no such thing as the “perfect time”. We can study and analyze all we want, and we can make educated guesses, but at the end of the day, our best efforts will not guarantee success, and we might sometimes even slip into something great entirely by accident (some would say by God’s divine providence!).

Does this mean we should not thoughtfully and prayerfully plan? No! Does it mean that we should follow every whim immediately? I don’t believe so. But, I do think it means that when we sense a prompting from the Lord to do something that challenges us spiritually, such as joining a Bible study, beginning a regular time of prayer and fasting, or taking a leadership role in the church, and find ourselves coming up with a list of reasons why “it won’t work right now”, we should examine our hearts and ask “why?”.

We like to think that we have sufficient control to create our own “perfect moments”. But the truth is that we have much less control over the timing of these matters than we actually would prefer. Instead, let us listen for the One who does control all things, and work all things for the good of those whom He loves. And recognize that the only perfect moment to obey Him is the present one!

See you Saturday,

Eric