Although we started dating on November 9, 2023, our story goes back to the Spring of 2023. Bailey started working for the Charlotte Eagles the year before, and that Spring she came to help with a girl’s soccer program at the apartments where I live. Some of the girls playing were part of the program that I lead at Project 658, so I would hangout at the field during the games. One day, a girl from my neighborhood told me that I should date her soccer coach! I laughed and rolled my eyes, but asked the name of the girls’ coach. “Her name is Coach Bailey, the coach of the orange team” was the reply! The next time I came to the field, I immediately looked for the orange team’s coach. I recognized Bailey, but I had never talked to her and knew nothing about her. I was curious to know more, and from then on, I made sure I looked for Bailey whenever I came to the field. And then one day I was looking around the field and saw that Bailey was looking at me! Bailey has no recollection of this happening- but I believe God used “the look” to nudge me to talk to Bailey! We did not talk for the next few months, but God was still moving us closer to each other. Bailey moved into the Four Seasons Apartments, 4 traffic lights from me. And I was feeling the Lord calling me to make more time for friendships. At the same time, the spark created from “the look” was growing in each of our hearts- even if we did not know it! Receipts from the Project 658 coffee shop show that Bailey’s visits had a sharp uptick during the summer! Little by little, we started to become part of each other’s circles and our interactions started happening more and more. There were moments like at the Worship Night when Bailey invited me to get ice cream with a small group- I said no, which was a brilliant move of playing hard to get- and the time when I saw Bailey walking around 658 and asked her to "meet" to go over soccer programming- but in fact I just wanted an excuse to talk! God’s hand on our friendship was so clear, and it felt like the Lord kept opening doors for us to get to know each other. In October, in the Cookout parking lot, I asked Bailey out on our 1st date. I was so excited and nervous to ask her out, and I practiced my speech all day. I will never forget the look in her eye as her response to my long speech was an unwavering “Sounds great”! I will also never forget our 1st date, which felt like I was walking on a dream. As Bailey and I sat in a rose garden laughing and talking about our desires for having a life and ministry partner, I knew something felt different and that she could be the love of my life. One of our favorite verses is Ephesians 3:20, where Paul states that Christ is able to do abundantly more than “all we ask or think”. As I reflect over the past year with Bailey, it’s been unbelievable to see God do abundantly more than I ever could have imagined. I never could have imagined the friendship and partnership found in Bailey and all the ways that we click and love living life together. I equally never could have imagined the timing in which the Lord brought us together. We started dating in November, and in January my mom’s cancer started progressing- which ultimately led to her passing in May. I never could have imagined that the beginning of our love story would be surrounded by such grief and pain, but I also could have never imagined the goodness found in this timing- the conversations it brought about, the ways in which it led us to look to the Lord, and the ways in which it has given me deep empathy and understanding of Bailey’s experience of losing her mom when she was young. Through our story, God’s love, deep care, and faithfulness is so evident- and as we get married and continue our story- it is our prayer that we would be led by deep trust in His abundant love for us and for our community, and that through this trust, others would be pointed towards a God that is always working to do abundantly more in every situation.