God's Story
Question
God created
Answer
In His holiness and out of His love, God created all of us, male and female, to exist in a perfect relationship with Him. We were designed to bear His image in the world. God is worthy of ALL of our worship and affection.
Question
We sinned
Answer
We choose to direct our worship and affection away from God and toward ourselves and God's creation. Instead of viewing God in His rightful position as creator and king, we reorient our lives with ourselves on the throne. Romans 3:23 says that ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. On our own, we can not have a right relationship with our Creator.
Question
God provided
Answer
Romans 6:23 says that "the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Because God is perfectly just, we deserve His wrath for our misdirected worship. No matter how hard we work or how "good" we are, we will never meet God's standard of perfection. God sent His Son, Jesus, to meet that standard on our behalf. While we were still rebelling, God provided a way for us to have a restored relationship with Himself (Romans 5:8). Jesus lived the perfect, sinless life that we could not and was killed to take on the punishment that we deserved. He rose from the grave three days later, declaring victory over death and creating the only path to a restored relationship with God through trust in His perfect sacrifice on our behalf.
Question
We respond
Answer
In light of this Truth, we are ALL left with a choice; continue to trust in ourselves or trust in the righteousness of Jesus. When we continue to trust in our own ability to cover our sins, the debt is left unpaid and we must take the penalty on our own. We miss out on the relationship that we were created to be in. Romans 10:9 says "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." When we trust in Jesus' perfect life and resurrection, this becomes how God views us - covered in righteousness and restored into perfect relationship with Him as adopted sons and daughters.
Question
How we met
Answer
We met in the fall of 2018 when Audrey began her freshman year at the University of Nebraska. Our circles naturally overlapped as we both competed on the track & field team, were involved with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and attended the same church. This time was definitive in our relationship as we both grew in our understanding of the Gospel and our need for a personal relationship with our Savior. As we each grew individually, our friendship grew as well. We had the opportunity to serve alongside one another at high school FCA camps and in college FCA huddles while competing together as teammates. God was writing a beautiful story, one that began on the foundation of a growing awareness of who He is and who He says we are.
Question
Our story so far
Answer
Our growing friendship led to our first date playing miniature golf, where Bailey quickly learned that Audrey does not like to lose, but beat her anyway. It didn't take long to realize that God had something special in store for us, beyond our already sweet friendship. God continued to graciously provide a community around us that saw how He was moving and encouraged us to keep pursuing this gift. On May 5th, 2023, Bailey asked Audrey if she would marry him. She said yes!
Question
Looking ahead
Answer
On May 26th, we are excited to celebrate what God has been doing in our story over the last few years, but even more to join together in the story that He has always been writing. We are praying that our story and love will be a reflection of the GREATEST story and love that has been shown to all of us. Displaying the relationship that we get to have with our Creator is the reason that we want to get married. We are praying that this image will become even more evident as we continue to grow together in marriage.