More Than a Love Story

It’s that moment you start walking down the aisle when time comes to a stop and you’re not sure whether you’re still walking forward or not. Everyone and I mean everyone, is looking at YOU; all the people you’ve loved, all the people who you look up to, all the people who have been rooting for you for so many years. It’s at that moment when you can tangibly taste heaven. It’s so close and yet this isn’t even the best part of all. It’s him. Standing there looking at YOU with love, more love than you ever knew was humanly possible. This love is being poured out freely upon you. From all your guests whose eyes are locked upon you, from your father standing there holding onto you just as much as you are holding onto him, and from the man you are staring at whose about to vow to spend his entire life loving you without conditions. Whatever did you do to deserve all this? To have so much love being lavished upon you? And that’s just it, you did nothing at all. It was a gift. Given not by your parents, or friends, or mentors, not even your husband-to-be. Rather it is given by your Heavenly Father whose only son loved you to death and back. Wow. And what is this? It’s a picture. A picture of The Wedding Day still to come. A picture of the day you and the entire church will stand in white; beautiful and blemish-less before your King whose eyes are locked upon you ready to love you fully forever with no death-till-you-part clause. He defeated death itself to be with you and love you for eternity. All we need to do is fix our eyes upon Him and walk down that aisle. 

Our wedding day opened my eyes to this analogy in a whole new way. And as I walked down that aisle I not only loved Tanner in a new and deeper way, but I loved my Savior more than ever before as I realized for myself what it meant when he called us His bride. And as I said my I do’s, it wasn’t only to Tanner, but it was also a declaration to Christ and a new commitment to Him for our life together. So here’s a short summary of how Tanner and I’s story began and where our I DO to one another and to Christ has taken us! 

I met Tanner when I was about 15, walking around the hallways of Eden High School. Our mutual interest for ultimate Frisbee and banana milkshakes quickly turned into a mutual interest in each other. This grew deeper and deeper as we discovered a shared love for following Jesus and adventuring. By time graduation came along, we were high school sweethearts to the definition. Yet at that point, we both acknowledged that our love for Jesus and desire to follow him was greater than our feelings for one another. This drew us apart for nearly a year as I was called to complete a Discipleship Training School (aka DTS – YWAM’s six-month mission school) on the island of Maui followed by outreaches in Taiwan and Indonesia. During this same period, Tanner traveled throughout South East Asia and then completed a DTS in Australia with an outreach to Brazil. We returned to Canada as two very different individuals grappling with the idea of whether our love for Jesus and adventure would continue to send us in different directions and whether or not we should continue our relationship. This season of uncertainty lasted nearly a year and began to come to its close as I decided to pursue a degree in business in Canada and Tanner decided to continue with YWAM by taking a secondary bible course in Switzerland. We talked about our relationship less and less, neither wanting to bring up the inevitable that was staring us in the face. For despite God leading us in seemingly opposite directions, our love for each other had not lessened but had grown deeper still. As winter turned to spring, I began searching for a way to spend my summer break. I knew I needed to leave Niagara once again but wasn’t sure how or where. Then an opportunity fell right into my lap—learning to sail in Greece while serving at a refugee camp. The timelines and funds all fell into place too coincidentally and I soon completed my application; all without telling Tanner. I was already vainly attempting to distance my heart from him. Now here’s the hook. During this same time, Tanner had not been accepted to the Swiss Bible school since it was full and had been searching for a replacement. Then while at a young adult’s church gathering, our pastor came over to us and asked Tanner if he had received the reference he sent for…have you guessed it yet? None other than the same sailing school in Greece!! Tanner and I had quite the interesting conversation as he drove me home that night. At that moment, we realized our own foolishness as we attempted to control our lives, thinking our own ways were better than God’s. His plans are higher and greater than anything we could possibly attempt to dream up ourselves! What we had once thought was leading us apart, He used to bring us closer together (additionally, it was quite the lesson about the importance of good and honest communication). 

Greece was awful and amazing, hard and wonderful all at once. We saw the reality of the refugee crisis and with it, the horrors and hopes of humanity. We learned how to navigate and sail with a mission to further God’s kingdom. We fell deeper in love more than ever before and made the decision that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. Our love for Jesus and adventure had brought us together not just for a season, but for every season. And amidst learning nautical knots, God revealed how a cord of three strands cannot be easily broken; Jesus, Tanner, and I against anything and everything the world could throw at us. 

A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.

Ecclesiastes 4:12

Not three months later, Tanner popped the question of a lifetime under a waterfall with the most beautiful ring hidden inside a seashell. And I screamed YES without a hint of doubt. Not because of confidence in myself, or even him, but because I knew God’s fingerprints were already all over our story. And, this was really just the beginning. The next 10 months that lead up to that “walking down the aisle moment” were filled with nervous-excitement and planning upon planning. But not just wedding colour schemes and cake flavours; what did God have for us as a married couple? Where would he take us and what would we do? We wanted to begin our life together with hands and ears open and ready. From our previous experiences, we knew His plan was always the best. Our prayers for guidance were answered with an unanticipated invitation to teach the same sailing course we took together in Greece…but in Hawaii! The south pacific being the place we both loved so much. Without even trying, God again placed the perfect opportunity right into our laps. Some thought us crazy and some still do. But within a month of being married, we packed our bags and flew to an island in the middle of the ocean without knowing anyone but each other. 

What has happened since? Well in the last two months that island has become our first home together and many of the once-strangers have become lifelong friends. We have mentored six students who have grown from being landlubbers to sailors. And not just ordinary sailors, but ones with a heart to use ships as a tool to reach the isolated with God’s love. We have learned to work and serve together as a team. We are still learning and growing and loving and laughing, and at times, crying too. But we are doing it together, the three of us – Jesus, Tanner, and I. And it has the been the best adventure yet. 

So thank you for listening to the beginning of this story of ours. I might be biased, but so far it’s just about my favourite one. And I hope you are even just a smidgen as excited as I am for what is to come next! One thing’s for certain, we plan to keep fixing our eyes upon Jesus and saying I DO to whatever and wherever He takes us.

Love Always,

Melinda & Tanner